Over the Christmas – New Year break, I finally did a job that had been on my list for way too long.
When we bought a new bed, we looked at updating the rest of the bedroom furniture so it matched. Except we couldn’t find anything solid enough, or with the same features, that didn’t cost a small fortune.
What we had was good quality, but it was the wrong colour. It was also becoming less functional. Drawer pulls were starting to break off in our hands. We agreed we would renovate it when we had time.
That was four years ago.
After Christmas, my son drove back to Darwin to his Navy posting. My husband went with him. I found myself at home on my own for a stretch. There were lots of things I could have done. I could have taken time out and chilled. Instead, I decided to prioritise this thorn in my side.
My husband and son moved the full, heavy furniture outside before they left. I got stuck in, sanded everything back, and repainted all the furniture before my daughter and her partner picked up their dog. I took my payment in kind and made them help me move all the heavy stuff back in so I could finish the room.
When my husband came home, he walked into the bedroom, looked around, and said, “I should go away more often. You’ve worked magic.”
Why I’m sharing this
What struck me wasn’t that the job finally got done.
It was why it hadn’t been done earlier.
I wasn’t avoiding it. I was working around it. Every broken handle, every sticking drawer, I adjusted and moved on. It annoyed me, but not enough to justify clearing the decks.
It’s a pattern I often see with senior leaders.
There are things you know aren’t quite right, but they’re not broken enough to move to the top of the list. They’re not urgent enough to force a decision. So you compensate and make it work.
And over time, tolerating it becomes normal.
There’s evidence behind this pattern. Behavioural scientists call it the mere urgency effect where we tend to work on what feels urgent, even when the tasks we’re putting off are more important in the long run.
What this costs over time
The cost of putting it off persists because the cost isn’t always obvious.
It can show up as:
- extra time spent working around the same issue each week
- decisions taking longer than they should because something is missing from the foundation supporting the work
- you holding onto work that should have been handed over or redefined
- a sense of irritation that’s always there but rarely named.
None of this shows up on any dashboard.
But it does affect:
- how much headspace you have
- how patient you are in meetings
- how much energy you have left for the work that needs your attention.
It’s like driving a car with a warning light you know isn’t critical. You notice it. You keep going. You plan to deal with it when you have time. And because the car still runs, you put up with it far longer than you should.
Most leaders don’t lack commitment.
They get very good at compensating instead of stopping to fix what’s underneath.
Atul Gawande, a surgeon and writer on systems and performance, says:
“Betterment is perpetual labor.”
— Atul Gawande
So, before I move on to the next thing on my list, I want to leave you with these questions:
- What have you been telling yourself you’ll deal with “later”?
- What are you still compensating for that shouldn’t sit with you anymore?
- If you created a small pocket of space, what would you stop working around?
