Just in Time

Hagar the Horrible was once told “never put off till tomorrow, what you can do today.”  His response was “that’s good, I was going to have tomorrow off.”  I really do not think that was the intended consequence.
I have done both.  I’ve done things early, and I have done things at the last minute.  From my experience, last minute can be fraught. I put something off till the last minute that had huge consequences for me.  I thought, it is a piece of cake.  I’ve done it before, and this will be no different.  Unfortunately for me, it was very different.  Things had changed, and I had not left myself enough time to learn the difference and respond correctly.
That was the worst for me.  Mostly I like to do stuff early.  I guess it is a case of not wanting to presume.  The other day I had an appointment.  I needed something for that appointment.  I got ready for it really early, and I am so glad I did.  For the life of me, I could not find what I needed for the appointment.  I looked high and low.  It took a couple of hours.  I visited places in our home I did not know existed.  I still have not located it.  Fortunately for me, an alternative method was suggested.  It was one I had not even thought of.  I pursued that.  I got what I needed.  It still took longer than I had hoped, but a solution was found.
If all this had been left to the last minute, I would have not had what I needed and been left with egg on my face. Not only that, I thought we were going to one place, and it was only the early investigation that revealed the right place to go.  What could have been a disaster turned out ok.
I was once asked why I was doing something, and my response was that I had been asked to do it, and I may as well do it now.
For many things, just in time is appropriate.  But not always.  It is the unpredictability that I need to factor in.  When something is known, just in time works.  Besides, I have found that when something is done early, it allows for improvements.  There are applicable things I only think of later.  When something is just in time, it is too late.
To me there are few things worse than having something hanging over the head. That is knowing I need to do something, and delaying it because I can.  Besides, getting something done allows me to do other things.