The Last Minute

If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done. – Rita Mae Brown

The most productive time of day may be the last minute.

We cram for exams, prepare reports, and write papers at the last minute. I know a few people that do almost everything last minute. I can’t wrap my head around why or how some people function this way. It causes me much anxiety to do things at the last minute. I am the kind of person who feels they are running late if they aren’t at least 5 minutes early. Last minute is just not my jam.

And yet here I am, writing the blog for tomorrow the night before it posts. I pen these comments just 13 hours before they go live. I am currently working at the most productive time of day, i.e., the last minute.

Part of the reason for writing this last minute is that I just returned from a trip and couldn’t write the blog before I left. Part of the reason is that I have been resting and napping to recover and refresh my tired soul and haven’t had the drive to write before now. Part of the reason is that I have many ideas to write about but don’t feel a significant pull to write on any of them right now. As I walked home tonight after having dinner and drinks with a friend, I decided to talk about the last minute. I had procrastinated writing my blog for the week, so it seemed an appropriate topic to write on.

All of this brings me to this moment. Writing my blog at the last minute.

Obtained from Canva

I believe waiting until the last minute is a tango with disaster. I encourage my students to not wait until the last minute for this reason. If you start writing that lab report 2-hours before it’s due, you are begging Murphy to have a field day with you. There is no time to ask questions and receive an answer before the assignment is due. There is no time to spare if your computer decides to act up or the internet goes down. There is no room for error, for the unexpected. Completing the work before the last minute leaves space to navigate when something goes wrong. This is an anxiety superfood that I chose to steer clear of as much as possible.

I am also risk-averse, so I prefer to be ahead of schedule than fall behind and risk the consequences of failure.

Thankfully, this blog isn’t a school assignment that accounts for 10% of my grade, nor is it critical to my job. I write this for fun. If I miss a week or a month, it’s not a big deal. However, I also think of this as a discipline and practice in writing, communicating, and creating. For those reasons, I do take this relatively seriously.

As much as I don’t care for the last minute, I also see that it can offer benefits. A healthy amount of stress comes with doing things last minute that can spur creativity and even provide clarity of thought. For example, waiting until the last minute gave me more time to think about this week’s blog and come to a topic I felt most compelled to write about. If I hadn’t pushed this to the last minute, I might not have arrived at this topic.

Perhaps if the consequences of failing are small enough, the last minute can be a boon rather than a hindrance for me.

I don’t plan to make it a habit to draft my blogs the night before; however, I am thankful for the muse the last minute provided this time. Tomorrow, I will continue working on next Saturday’s blog post. I hope to have that one completed well before the last minute comes around again.