Despite your best intentions, there are times when things others handle on your behalf take longer than you are told they will take originally, than you expect is reasonable, or because mistakes were made that have to be corrected.

Here’s a few solutions for dealing with these frustrating times that I’ve found works:

1.  Always give others a longer time to complete big projects, (I recently experienced this with a transition to a new computer).  Start the project only when you have the time to give it time.  That way even if the project completion takes longer than you expect, it won’t be as long as it would have been if you had given it a shorter completion date.

2.  Give yourself the energy fudge room to handle a growing or expansive project.  If you have so many deals going on that one is pulling dramatically for your atttention, it can seem overwhelming, when having the expectation that it could take longer, you’ll be more prepared to ready yourself for the task. (more…)

Most often in our busy business lives there are so many things to attend to that we invariably feel if we’re not on top of everything, we’re procrastinating, or worse – we consider ourselves unmotivated or lazy.

The truth is we’ve got alot going on and it’s more a matter of honoring our truer interests, setting priorities, being time efficient, or even letting go of things completely.

I recently had a deadline on a project I was moderately interested in completing, but I was still committed to do it. It wasn’t causing me stress when the deadline arrived, because it was actually the deadline before the real deadline.  That is, I’d set a date earlier to complete the project than when it was due.  So rather than feel as if I was procrastinating for skipping a day or two, I had given myself one extra day before I needed to begin work on it.  I used this to finish a project I was already on and enjoy some down time. 

No guilt needed for my so-called “procrastination.”

What is the true reason you put something off rather than do it now?

If you’ve ever been to a conference you know the break times are short and it’s only then you can check your office messages, make phone calls, and meet with others.  At a recent coach conference I shared a room and Internet line with an associate.  This was tricky and caused me to have to get even more strategic with how I did my outside communicating. 

If you have something you want to say to someone, but little time in which to do it, here’s a few pointers you may find helpful:

1.  Be sure the recipient of your communication is open and available to hear what you have to say.   If not, your words are falling on deaf ears and your efforts are in vain.  If they are able to listen, great.  If not, use this time to make an appointment for a better time to talk.

2.  Give some thought to your message on your way to delivering it (and more time if you’re not short of it).  Formulate a brief outline of the main points you want to cover (even if the outline is in your head), and what you hope the outcome to be.   This will save you time when you’re finally able to talk.

3.  Deliver your message in a confident, stable voice, rather than sounding hurried – or worse, impatient.  Be concise and on target with what you have to say.  (Note:  if you’re on the phone with someone, walking while talking isn’t a good approach.  One reason is that moving locations while on a cell can not only make you sound winded, but the line can become staticy or even disconnect, which isn’t the best impression and it wastes time reconnecting.) 

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Early this morning I woke myself up, knowing I had an appointment to get to.  While showering (my favorite spot for reflection), I thought back over my last dream before waking…

My client had shown up and was circling my office looking for me.  My gardener pointed him to the front door.  My husband was home and I heard their voices when he opened the door.  I was frantically getting ready and a part of me was chiding myself for having overslept. 

Thankfully, it was just a dream, but also a wakeup call for me.  Was it caused because I was overtired and wanted to sleep more?  Was it a foretelling that my client would call and reschedule with me?  (It could also be a connection with recently seeing the movie, Alice-in-Wonderland or maybe reading Sunday’s L.A. Times article, “Breaking Into Dreams” about the dream thriller film, Inception.  Or maybe it was my recent comments added to the Women Entrepreneurs group on Linkedin around this question, “How do you balance work and life?”). 

But more than likely it’s my own unresolved concerns about how I manage my time. 

It’s a personal value of mine to find joy in all I’m doing and not wait till I have time off or less things scheduled on a certain day to enjoy life.  Even so, it was refreshing not to have a busy weekend for a change, a rarity for my husband and I, since we spend much of our time with our families.  There will be busier days than others and I recognize it’s more about how I am being with those events at the time that is the real “time effectiveness” component. 

Life balance and time management are completely within our individual control.  For example, you don’t have to take on that extra project or work somewhere that expects you to put in 12 hour days – it’s your choice.  But if you do have to do those things on occasion, it’s about finding grace with it and working as fluidly with it as you can.  Not resisting it or plodding painfully through it.  And as my dream response reminds me, “leave the chiding aside.”  Some helpful tips: 

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10 minutes late to your doctor appointment?  “No problem, everyone waiting expects delays and half their day shot.”   Three days late in getting back on that email?  “Not a big deal.  They’ll understand, since their email is likely overloaded too.”  A week late getting a project complete?  “I got it handled.  Extra time was factored it in at the beginning of the proposal.”  Not exercising day after day?  “Not the best, but I’m getting to it.  Can’t get there when there’s so much to do.”  Etc. Etc.

Are excuses merely tolerated or do they rule?  Unfortunately they rule—because we let them.  As a culture, we’re so conditioned to the fact that someone will have a reason for not doing what they said they would, that we’ve told ourselves this behavior is natural and something we must accept…so we do.

It seems we’re no longer able to regulate our own time and we often operate as if we’re at the mercy of it.  We seem to have lost the ability to make firm commitments and stick to them. 

Look more closely at the source of your excuses and find more effective ways to self-manage.  Rather than overbooking so you’re running late, maybe you should choose not to do that one extra thing.  Instead of postponing responses to important emails, you could set a fixed time to review your inbox and ignore all other miscellaneous emails until you have time scheduled to get back to them.  If you set your most important projects at the head of the list, then wouldn’t your time be most devoted there?  The project might even be completed a little early.  What a concept!  And ignoring your exercise is just plain shooting yourself in the foot.  Afterall, you need your health to get all your stuff done.

But then, part of the problem is thinking you have to do it all.  Then when you can’t, you make up an excuse so you don’t tarnish your image as superachiever to others.  Try out saying instead, “thanks, can’t take that on right now, even though I’d like to help.”  OR don’t give any excuse at all.  French author, Jules Renard, said, “The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving an excuse.” 

Be courteous to others, but don’t confuse that with your reliance on lame excuses for not keeping your word.  If you’re confident in your behaviors and choices and manage your time more effectively, then you rule and not your excuses!