The process failure when we 'save it for later'

I’ve been noticing a specific type of process failure recently.

And it started on the sofa in my office.

For several years now, I think, the sofa in my office has been in constant use as the family’s in-tray. Not by everyone, I should say - just by me.

The main files for our household are in my office (some might say this is the process failure!). And the common pattern has been this: transfer paperwork that needs filing from wherever it comes in to the sofa in my office, where it can later be filed as a batch into the relevant places.

This of course sounds like a solid administrative process, until you realise how much leeway the word ‘later’ is giving to someone with avoidant tendancies like me.

A solid process would be: ‘until Sunday evening’ or ‘until the last day of the month’ or even ‘until the last day of the quarter’. As long as you actually do the batch filing on that day.

But ‘later’ allows months and months to pass, with the paperwork slowly piling up.

The solution, when I slowed down, seemed obvious: this process as it is doesn’t work. It needs to be changed. Someone might be able to work in the way the process assumes, but I am not. Therefore, I need to move to a different process: when I bring the paperwork into the office, I will file it. Right then.

In the original process, I was making an incorrect assumption about effectiveness. Confusing it - as I would normally teach people NOT to do - with efficiency. Peak efficiency might in fact be to batch file everything once a month. But that doesn’t account for the impact of the pile of papers.

The constant bleed into the rest of life of that mess. Into how I feel; into who I see myself as. Now I could (and mostly do) fix that kind of bleed by responding differently to it, by not letting it bother me in the way it would many people. But there’s no denying it: my life and work are undoubtedly improved by the clear(er) sofa.

‘Later’ is the type of word that, in an agreement or in a process, causes all kinds of problems.

It’s the problem managers fall into: I’ll have this difficult conversation later. And even if they do catch the difficult conversation at the annual review, they are still making a mistake: because of the constant bleed of the conversation not being had in the months up to it. The constant pollution of the relationship; the continual impact of the feedback not given.

Now some of you may be thinking: this is just Robbie’s stuff. He’s the avoidant type; I’m not.

But I bet that if you look closely, you are.

Somewhere in your work is a difficult conversation avoided; put off for later.

Somewhere in your intimate relationship is a desire unspoken; saved for another day.

Somewhere in your mind is an idea calling you - one that might just tilt the world towards heaven; waiting for the day when you’ll get to all that.

When you’ll get to the messy pile on your sofa of the things you’ve been avoiding.

And, constantly, the bleed of that into your life.

Into your sense of self.

Into the people you care about.

Into the wider world.

Saving things for later is a huge risk in a process.

Better to get to them now.

—

PS My latest book is The Power to Choose: Finding Calm and Connection in a Complex World, is out now. Get your copy here: https://geni.us/powertochoose

This is the latest in a series of articles written using the 12-Minute Method: write for twelve minutes, proof read once with tiny edits and then post online.