A Sense of Urgency

A task will expand to fill the time allotted.
-Parkinson’s Law

I had this weekend pretty much entirely free for the first time in a while, so I decided to try a little experiment with myself. I’m working on a web application project for a client, it’s a side hustle, and things have been going smoothly enough. I have agreed to an 8-12 week deadline, and so far we're on schedule.

Nonetheless, I decided to pretend that for some imaginary reason, maybe some non-existent investor had called, but the project now needed to be delivered in two days instead of two weeks. I wanted to create a sense of urgency, a sense of now! Now! Now! That seems to be a personality trait of the driven and successful. Also, I thought it was suspicious that the work was progressing exactly according to a timeframe that had been, admittedly, rather arbitrarily chosen. Was it going to take this 8-12 weeks because it actually had to, or because I’d guessed that it would?

With that, I spent a solid 14 hours this weekend working on the project where I otherwise would have spent five, maybe six hours tops. And the result is, the application is amazingly functional. All of the basic requirements are now working reliably. It is a living, working, embodiment of what started as a crude sketch on paper weeks ago. 

Huzzah! Naturally, I discovered over the course of the last two days a very long list of tweaks to make, edge-cases to account for, and various other things that make the app nowhere near ready for a presentation to our imaginary investor, much less an actual launch. I started with a to-do list, crossed off every item, and somehow, the to-do list tripled in length.

So I can’t technically say that I achieved my goal of having the app ready by Monday. I did learn that there is an amazing benefit to having that sense of urgency. There is also a part of my mind that wants to chastise myself for not being hardcore, for getting the app 80% done instead of 100%. Sometimes with a sense of urgency comes the feeling that every second you spend without your head down working is a sin. That delayed gratification is strength, and any desire for leisure is weakness.

Last night my buddy Beau called and asked if I wanted to come over and grill burgers and watch the UFC with some friends. I told him sorry Beau, I’m on a deadline. I have to get this app working by Monday!

I am kidding, I do believe that would be insane.

This weekend I spent several hours being very focused and working very hard, and then I stopped working completely, walked away even though it wasn’t finished, and made good memories with people I’m fond of. Because the savory, shared moments in life are what make us smile in the end. I'm sure we all have our own mix of a sense of urgency and an affinity for leisure that we could nudge one way or the other. Sometimes I wonder if I'm a little too good at leisure for my own good. This weekend was about giving myself a push in the right direction.

I'm calling it a successful weekend.