Start it badlyEveryday life

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Start it badly

A short book about putting off work that matters until the deadline does the deciding for you

16 chapters11,622 wordsAbout 53 minFirst edition

What's inside

·Before you startThis is a short book. You can read it in two or three sittings, and you don't have to finish it before acting on it. If something is due and you feel like…2 min
1A week on FridayIt's Sunday evening. The proposal is due a week on Friday at five o'clock. You've had the brief for three weeks. There is a document. It has a title, your…3 min
2What putting it off buys youNobody keeps up a habit for years if it pays them nothing. Putting off the proposal pays you, and it pays at once. Go back to the swerve. You opened the…3 min
3"I work best under pressure"This belief holds the whole habit up. It deserves a fair hearing, because it's built on something that has happened to you many times. The last night is…4 min
4What the deadline decidesA deadline is supposed to decide one thing, which is when the work gets handed over. Leave the work until the deadline is the only thing making you do it…3 min
5Why it's always the work that mattersHere's an odd thing about your working day. A colleague asks you to look over their slides, and you do it within the hour and do it well. An expenses form…4 min
6"I'll start when I'm ready"You look at the week ahead and see that Thursday has nothing in it. Thursday, then. A clear day, a clear head and a proper run at it. This feels…3 min
7Longer than you think, and less awfulTwo wrong estimates keep this habit going, and they point in opposite directions. The first is about time. On Sunday you tell yourself the proposal is "a…3 min
8Start it badlyHere is the instruction. On the day a piece of work that matters arrives, spend fifteen minutes making a bad version of the whole thing. If it arrived a…4 min
9"If I start early, it'll eat my life"The late start has one real virtue, which is that it caps the job. The proposal took one night because there was one night. Begin two weeks early and it…3 min
10"I've always been like this"You probably have a story you tell about yourself, and it may be a good one. The dissertation written in the final four days. The pitch finished in the…3 min
11Work that nobody is waiting forTake, as an example, a man who fits kitchens for a firm and wants to work for himself. He's good, and customers ask for him by name. To go it alone he…3 min
12The decisionEverything so far has been explanation. This chapter is the practical one. It's short on theory, because you have the theory now. The decision is about…3 min
13When you've left it late anywayIt will happen. There'll be a heavy month, or a job you dreaded more than most, or a bad start that never got its second session. You'll look up and it's…4 min
14Sunday evening againIt's Sunday evening. The proposal is due a week on Friday at five o'clock. You've had the brief for three weeks. Here's how those weeks might have gone…2 min
·NotesThis book gives general information. It isn't medical or psychological advice, and it's no substitute for a doctor or therapist who knows your situation.…5 min

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