Never Rush It
I’ve realised twice now, with two different projects, that you should never rush something if you don’t have to. Here’s why you should never rush it.
‘Every domino falls wrong when I try to make something go faster than it actually can sustainably’
It happened again.
Maybe it takes two times for me to realise.
But I was victim to my own idiocy once again.
Before I get into it, let me use One Canada Square as an example.
There are some factors, amongst countless more, that I’d like to highlight.
Project management.
Weather.
Workforce.
These three factors.
For construction of a building will make or break it.
A solid project management team.
The weather to be on your side.
And the workforce to be plentiful and skilled.
Now this iconic building didn’t come to be overnight.
It took years of design and consultation.
If the project could be delivered, let’s say a week earlier, and the executive committee wanted to move up the deadline by one week and it looks logically possible.
It would be one of the worse moves that they could make.
Why?
The new delivery date might have horrendous weather halting any progress and it might have booked off the workers with the skills required to put the finishing touches together.
This all comes down to project management.
Measuring expectations.
Take my GIS project due tomorrow.
I stayed in for most of the day to get the final part completed.
I knew that the School of Geography office closed at 5pm so if I wanted to save a trip to university tomorrow, I’d have to get it in for then.
At 3:30pm, I had 80% completed.
I decided to make my way to university.
DLR was fine.
When I got to Canary Wharf, I noticed the road was empty of cars or buses.
There were flashing police lights up the road.
A road had been closed diverting my bus and causing delays.
Needless to say, I got on the bus but it was going the wrong way so I got off and waited some more.
After a while, it was around 4:25pm at this time, I took the Jubilee line towards Stratford.
The tube was held at a red signal at West Ham for over 3 minutes, I got off and took the District line to Mile End.
When I got up to the top of the stairs, it was 4:50pm.
Too late.
I realised it wasn’t going to happen when I got off the wrong bus at Canary Wharf.
I tried to force something that wasn’t going to happen today.
I ended up sitting in the library finishing it off ready for tomorrow.
The same frantic rushing happened the last time.
Once again, I missed my self-imposed deadline and came back to university the next day.
Maybe it’s just me.
But when I rush and try to meet a self-imposed deadline, I think I can move the Earth.
In reality, I should be more logical.
Understand that I planned to be ready latest by Friday and anything before is a bonus.
By rushing, I piled more stress than what was required.
Another example related to this is sleep.
A week ago, I tried to wake up early after days prior of limited sleep.
I suffered a massive migraine for the rest of the day.
Today, I tried to wake up early but could feel the onsets of a migraine.
So I realised that if my day started 20 minutes earlier than it had planned to, then it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
If you don’t need to rush, don’t.
You’re only hurting yourself.
Never rush it