Last minute change
Not the first time, either!
Time is running out. The newsletter I’d planned to run today fell apart. I need to find a replacement, and fast.
As the reader you’ll get the last word, but I think I can pull this off. Who among us doesn't sometimes get called to bring our A-game with little notice?
Salespeople have to close deals with incomplete information. Lawyers have to try cases without enough preparation. Entertainers have to fill in for ailing colleagues in roles they don’t know well.
They suck it up, they get excited, and they get into the ring. Don’t they?
So let’s see if I can both assemble this newsletter and live its message at the same time. Here are a few rules I've come up with when you’re called on to perform your best but you have nowhere near enough time to prepare.
1. Stop and look around.
Don’t just do something! Stand there!
Yes, this can be the opposite of your initial inclination, but when you’re called on to perform at the last minute, the best thing to do at the start is absolutely nothing. Panic gets you nowhere, so take a breath, take a moment, and assert calmness and control.
Unless you’re being called on to defuse a ticking bomb or rush into emergency surgery, the few seconds you take to get your stress and emotions under control probably won’t make much difference anyway. The game can't start without you.
2. Assess and triage.
Next, prioritize. Define the essential things you have to accomplish, and strip away the things you can do without.
The essential component of this newsletter, for example, is providing value: good advice, smart takeaways and a writing style that will let you get through the whole thing.
So, it might be nice to interview some kind of fun celebrity or find a unique personal story that I can share here with a brilliant moral —— but without a whole ton of typos and copyedit mistakes.
But at 11:30 p.m., that’s probably not going to happen.
3. Fall back on your strengths.
The pressure of acting at the last minute can inspire creativity. For example, President Roosevelt was rewriting his Pearl Harbor speech to Congress even in the car on the way to the U.S. Capitol.
(If he hadn’t, we’d remember December 7, 1941 now as “a date that will go down in world history.“)
That said, under pressure, the smartest move can be to go with your strengths. If you have to give a speech with no notice for example, this is a good time to keep it short and fall back on words you’ve used before.
Let’s just say that after 20 years as a writer, with more than 1,000 newsletters and close to 2,500 online columns, this isn't the first time I've been in this situation.
4. Ask for help.
One of my assistants is editing my work on a ghostwriting project that I’ll have to finish soon. Meantime, my wife not only worked all day and made dinner for us tonight, but she’s now also cleaning up the kitchen. (I’ll have to make up for that later in the week.)
Nobody does anything worthwhile alone, and when you’re pressed for time, you’re going to need help from other people to perform. Don’t be afraid to ask; just remember how much you needed them and how generous they were with their time.
5. Charge ahead.
Let’s be honest. It can be exciting and gratifying to be called on and to come in at the last minute and save the day. Some people truly find they’re more focused under pressure, and that they perform better than when they have all the time in the world.
My dad used to hate when I said I worked best under those conditions, but still.
Regardless, there comes a point when the waiting is over. Forget about the time crunch; forget about not having enough time to prepare. Just go ahead with whatever you’ve got -- and perform.
And maybe, just maybe, resolve to be better prepared so that it never happens again.
But who are we kidding?
7 other things worth knowing today
Harvard announced on Monday that undergraduate tuition will be free for students of families who make annual incomes of $200,000 or less in a move to make the prestigious institution "affordable to more students than ever." (NBC News)
Israel resumed the war in Gaza with a series of massive airstrikes against what it described as Hamas targets all across the enclave overnight. The strikes come exactly two months after the signing of the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal that the Biden administration brokered with the help of the incoming Trump administration. (Axios)
Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer postponed book tour events amid anger over his handling of the government funding fight in Congress. “Due to security concerns, Senator Schumer’s book events are being rescheduled,” according to a statement. (CNN)
President Trump says he's voiding all the last-minute pardons former President Joe Biden made because they were signed using an "autopen" device. “The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden,” Trump wrote. “He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime.” Trump also warned that members of the former Jan. 6 House select committee to whom Biden issued pardons would be “subject to investigation at the highest level.” (New York Post)
It used to pay to switch jobs. Now it doesn’t. The salary difference between those who stay in their roles and those who change jobs has collapsed to its lowest level in 10 years, according to the latest federal data. “We’re not in a recession obviously, but things are not as good as before,” says Yongseok Shin, a professor of economics at Washington University in St. Louis. “People are responding by staying put.” (WSJ)
Russian agents set fire to a huge Ikea store because ‘the colors are same as Ukraine flag’, Lithuanian prosecutors have alleged. The Kremlin’s military intelligence has been accused of orchestrating an arson attack on the shop in Vilnius in May 2024, which will now be tried as an act of terror. (The Telegraph)
When the parasitic blob known as Henneguya salminicola sinks its spores into the flesh of a tasty fish, it does not hold its breath. That's because H. salminicola is the only known animal on Earth that does not breathe, scientists said in a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Live Science)
Thanks for reading. Photo by Agê Barros on Unsplash. I wrote about some of this before at Inc.com. See you in the comments!
Regarding Harvard’s tuition: that’s nice, but two things. One, you first have to get into Harvard - the school has a .05% acceptance rate. Two, with a $50 billion endowment, the school is not cutting back on their lawn-mowing contract to do this. Forgive me if this comes across as cynical, but I’m way more impressed with the budget-challenged cities that waive tuition to their community colleges for local residents. Those Harvard kids will be successful with or without tuition waivers. For community college kids, that tuition waiver literally changes their lives.
After 25 years in marketing legal, and politics I can confirm: the last minute is still the BEST minute!
I’m re-certifying to be a lifeguard in my 50s. In one of our first-aid classes yesterday, we talked about what to do when faced with an emergency situation where you simply don’t know what to do. We all agreed that the best thing in that moment was to just do nothing. Hitting a big, magical pause button so that everyone could take a breath, was the best possible way for most of us to feel like we could deal with whatever emergency situation we were dealing with.
I’m trying to come up with a superhero name for whoever that superhero would be - the one who just gets everyone to chill out for a second while the rest of the world is losing their minds….