2021-22 Year-in-Review
Getting something done early can be a way to reduce stress by not having to rush and frees up one’s schedule for other tasks. However, as I learned this year, I can get overexcited and rush through tasks far ahead of schedule and both become disinterested in waiting for the rest of the project to continue and, since I rushed to get it done, experience a similar stress to procrastination.
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To give an example, I helped my parents and brother in a short move during the first quarter of 2022. When I first learned that they were going to move, the first way that I helped them was to create a shareable “moving checklist” that included items such as who to notify of the change of address and a list of tasks that needed to be done in preparation for the move. I finished that document within a week and shared it with the rest of my family. While they appreciated the document, they really couldn’t do much with it until the move became closer – the sale of the new house wouldn’t close until another 8 weeks at that point. While we were all doing some preliminary packing, the items on the checklist mostly had to wait until the move was closer (the change of address forms had to wait until the house closed, for instance). Therefore, it really wasn’t necessary to rush to get the checklist to them.
With the extra time freed by finishing the checklist, I began compiling a list of amenities near the new house, including restaurants, parks, grocery stores, and town services, to name a few. In all, there were over 100 locations on that document. While I spread out the workload from the time after I completed the checklist to just before the move, it was likely unnecessary to do so until after the move; they could have (and did) discover the local area when they weren’t stressed with moving. The list was also appreciated, but again, was several weeks too early.
Rushing to get these tasks done likely contributed to my elevated stress during the move. Moving is a large source of stress for most people, but I feel that the stress from trying to get things done as soon as possible combined with the anxiety of waiting for the times where progress could be made likely made me feel worse. I know from experience, though, that procrastinating can make the stress even worse, since now there is a looming deadline metaphorically weighing down on you. The best solution, like in other aspects of life, is a happy medium between rushing to get things done early and waiting until the deadline and rushing to get it done on time. Therefore, during my upcoming accounting internship with Plante Moran, one of my goals to accomplish this balance is to gauge how long it takes to work on projects so I can better set a schedule. The schedule should allow me to keep a better track of my time and to spread out the time I spend on each individual project and still allow some time before deadlines. If this is successful, I plan to continue planning my time ahead of time next semester and in my future accounting career.
