Remember when you were in school and were assigned to write a paper? Remember how you put it off…and put it off…and…?
Maybe you were unclear about what you wanted to say, probably you were in resistance and certainly you made other and probably less valuable things more important. And then, in the 11th hour, you marshaled your resources, got sufficiently clear about what you wanted to say and did the work. Time was up – do or die.
Another way of thinking about this is that the closer you got to the deadline the more important the paper became to you and the stronger you fixed your intention to write it. What seemed necessary in the moment supported you becoming intentional enough to do it.
If you are like most people, you continue to repeat this pattern today. It is more common than not for people to put the tasks, communications and actions that they resist, or about which they feel particularly challenged, on the back burner (these are, incidentally, often the ones with the highest payoffs). Then, as an established deadline approaches, or people reach their emotional limits of incompletion, fear and uncertainty, they fix their intention (make it important enough) to get it handled and “just do it”.
I often hear people justify this approach. They say they work better under pressure or are more creative in the face of a deadline. Perhaps this is true, but probably not. I think they just experience relief that they got it done and confuse relief with excellence.
I believe that when I fix my intention to handle what is most important first – to spend my time to my highest and best use – I work just as well as when I am under pressure and I am equally creative. And, the benefits are immense. To name a few, I lead rather than react, I spend more time on what matters most (I further my purpose), I have more time to check and adjust my initial results so I ensure excellence, and I avoid excessive stress.
When necessity is the mother of my intention, it is because I allow it. Rather than waiting until I think, “I have to do it now or else…”, I believe I am much more effective when I fix my intention early (make a conscious intellectual and emotional choice to do it now) and handle first things first.