Pushing Forward: What To Do When Your Schedule Blows Up
Written by Dave Navarro on April 16, 2008
A common question I get about scheduling is “What do I do when my schedule doesn’t work out?” The truth is, unless you have a highly regimented, highly controlled life that other people can’t toss their urgencies into, this is going to happen to you. A lot. It sure does for me.
Schedule explosions are a fact of life - your boss, your spouse, your kids, your inbox, your immune system (cough!), your bad karma - they all attack your well-laid plans with a passion on a daily basis. When this happens (and it happens often), you have three choices:
- Get depressed/drained/angry, and resign yourself to falling behind.
- Pop open your planner of choice and rejuggle your schedule.
- Grit your teeth and decide to steer the ship back on course, no matter the pain.
Don’t Let Yourself Fall Behind
Choice #1 sucks. You don’t want it, not only because it hinders progress, but because it’s insane. Don’t be bummed that life stepped in and kicked down your neatly piled stack of to-dos … acknowledge that’s how life operates. You might as well be mad at your 2-year old for dropping crumbs on the floor. It’s how life works - and when you accept it instead of fiercely hoping it won’t happen, you don’t get sapped and you’re better equipped to handle better options.
As M. Scott Peck wisely said: “Life is difficult. … Once we see this truth, we transcend it.” Translation: Once you accept that schedules get smashed easily, it won’t grind you down. You can then roll with the punches.
Rejuggling Is An Option, But …
If your schedule gets hosed, you still want to get things done - you’ll just have to move them elsewhere. That’s one of the reasons I use an Excel spreadsheet for my planner - it makes it easy to drag and drop blocks o’ work wherever they need to be tossed to after the day has gone to hell. Since I accept the fact that life doesn’t honor my neat planning attempts, it doesn’t bug me so much.
But there’s a hidden danger here - using rejuggling as a crutch. If you get into the habit of saying, “Oh well, I didn’t get it done today, I’ll do it tomorrow,” it won’t be long before everything starts moving to tomorrow, again and again, and again … and you get desensitized to how much that sucks. And your progress slows, because you tolerate the need to rejuggle more and more.
So while rejuggling is a necessity, it can make your productivity muscles flabbier by the day. That’s why it’s a good idea to temper this strategy with controlled bursts of overtime.
Keep On Keeping On … Even When It Hurts
If life threw you a few curveballs today and you weren’t able to get a few things done, you could rejuggle … or you could push on after hours and decide that you won’t rest until you make progress. I’m doing that right now. I was supposed to write this blog article at lunch, but life got in the way. I was tempted to push it off to tomorrow, but I realized if I made myself do it tonight, after hours, a few things would happen:
- I would get the task out of the way (and make tomorrow easier).
- I would protect tomorrow’s schedule (rather than mess it up by my own hand).
- I would feel better about myself (because I rocked out, even though I’m tiiiired).
But there’s one more benefit to sticking around after hours to finish up the things that didn’t get done earlier: I get mad. Mad because I let a few things derail my focus today. Mad because I didn’t say no to a task I should have. Mad because I let a meeting run too long. Mad at the little things I flubbed on, things I know better about, things that force me to be typing at 11:25pm when I’d rather be sleeping.
But being mad is a good thing. Because if you’re mad enough, you take action to change.
Tomorrow’s going to be a much more efficient day, because I stuck around to finish today’s tasks and because tomorrow I’ll channel my dissatisfaction into a stronger focus.
Nobody likes overtime … but it can easily build your productivity muscles if you push yourself hard. Focus on keeping on course as closely as possible, even if you have to work personal overtime, and you’l be amazed at how you kick some of your habits in gear.
Try it today - you’ll thank yourself for it.
I’m having a very bad week. I can relate to this post. Situations beyond my control have shut down the daycare and plunked my toddler square into my workweek.
The result is a heap of guilt that I can’t play with her and have to work while giving her divided attention and a slowly increasing backlog of work. Like you said, it’s depressing.
Ugh.
You’ve just perfectly described my week. And guess where most of the issues I’m facing this week came from? Crap I tried to juggle from last week!
It’s a lesson I’m slowly learning, and I’m keeping this post bookmarked for those times I’m considering juggling work. If I’m too busy today or my schedule is frequently getting off-track, what in the world makes me think it will be any different tomorrow?
Great post!
@ Dave and James,
You both touched on the toddler thing and believe me, I know (having three of them in my house plus the 6-year old). It’s not easy, I feel like I’m always falling down and falling behind.
But then I look at them. It’s like watching some crazy Three Stooges movie, they are falling down and getting back up, again and again.
I figure I’m about two months behind where I wanted to be with my important personal projects. I agree it can be depressing. But I’m still pushing forward. It’s the only way I know.
If life hands you lemons, don’t make lemonade. Kick life in the ass and tell it you don’t want lemons. Put on your big boots and stomp all over the lemons. Then go get yourself a cup of coffee, and get back to work.
@James -
Time for a reframe: How fortunate you are that you’re not working for a employer who would fire you for having to work your schedule around to be there for your kid. Losing your income stream on the whim of an employer would be even more depressing, right?
I hear you, though. When the kids are around, it’s a lot harder to keep ahead of the game …
@Colleen -
)
Glad to see you’re recognizing the pattern. Hammer at improving it a little each week and you;ll be amazed how quickly progress is made. (PS - I hope you subscribed as well as bookmarked!
@Brett -
That last paragraph was awesome. I’m going to feature that in a post somehow …
@ Dave - thanks, I got a kick out of writing it. Feel free to use it as necessary
Brett, that last quote just made it into the next “overheard” post (thanks to Dave for suggesting it!). What a great image of stomping lemons!
Michael, that is so cool! I’ll look forward to seeing it up in lights
@James Sorry to hear about your bad week.
Try not to feel guilty, am sure your toddler is enjoying sharing your office space. I used to get my two to draw/ write while I studied - I let them use my books/pens and stuff, which made them feel very important. It was great … the only drawback really was when I got so absorbed that they wandered off and decorated the house. No, that wasn’t the worst thing (I quite liked the little crayon flowers cropping up all over), the worst thing was returning decorated library books!
Good luck! Hope your week gets better soon.
:o)
@Brett “Put on your boots and stomp all over the lemons” … love it! I’d much rather coffee than lemonade!
:o)
Dave, another awesome post, thank you!
Am often in this situation (though it’s more like 3am!) but it’s so nice to get up in the morning and be able to start a fresh day without yesterday’s demands hanging on!
:o)
When, oh, when, will I ever learn to just do something RIGHT NOW instead of procrastinating? That is the cause of most of my troubles. Quitting smoking was a walk in the park compared to getting over the bad habit of my own procrastination.
@ Diane: glad it made you smile (*raises his coffee mug*)
@ Michael: if I were a superhero, procrastination would be my Achilles heel… which makes it all the more difficult, not being a superhero and all…
keep on keepin’ on, and I’ll do the same.
@Brett Cheers!
@Michael At least you’re not procrastinating about giving up smoking (like some of us) … well done!
And anyway … Family man, teacher, coach, consultant, Remarkablogger, GoogleTube Video of the Day, Caramel Cortex, YouTub … good grief! If you procrastinate any less, we won’t be able to keep up!
:o)
@ Diane - exactly! On a bad day, Michael seems to be more productive than I am on a *good* day…
[…] Brett Legree (via Dave Navarro) […]
Glad I wrote this post.
I’m running behind, but I’m going to grit my teeth, follow my own advice and keep cranking …
Put on your boots, Dave. You know what to do.
Oh yeah! Still, the best quote ever award goes to Brett Legree:
“If life hands you lemons, don’t make lemonade. Kick life in the ass and tell it you don’t want lemons. Put on your big boots and stomp all over the lemons. Then go get yourself a cup of coffee, and get back to work.”
Amen to that, brother.
Thanks Dave. I actually just made that into a little sign, printed it out, and put it up in my office…
Time for a cup of coffee.
On the night I read this I almost went to bed without finishing all I’d planned to do. I literally stopped half way up the stairs and went back to the computer. Ya know - I finished that project I’d been putting off all day in only about 20 min.
Thanks for the kick.
@Kara -
YES!!! That’s the ultimate compliment. Keep rocking!