Complete work on time, and, ideally, 

before it’s due. 

It’s happened to all of us.

Someone at work or in an organization we belong to fails to complete their assigned part of a joint project on time. Now it belatedly comes to us with a message that it’s up to us to get things back on schedule for the next deadline. Which is in six days. Including the weekend.

And so we work all day and into the night for the next several days, neglect our other jobs, frantically re-schedule prior commitments, and become frazzled. And extremely testy. Co-workers avoid us, and family members silently place our dinner on our desk then tiptoe out of the room.

Having gone through this ourselves, let’s not inflict it on others. This isn’t about better time management and not procrastinating, although they’re important.

It’s about respect—respect for those whose work follows ours. Respect for their time, their family, and all those we will inconvenience by failing to meet our responsibilities.