Past Due

Yesterday I decided to organize my bookshelf, and a few other things. I’m not particularly sentimental, but I do keep some mementos from the past. In the relics from years gone by, I found old ticket stubs, letters and papers, my college diploma and transcripts.

In the small stack of papers, I found the award certificates from my college journalism dinner just before graduation. One of the awards I received that day was for The Worst Abuse of Deadlines. My stories were always a day or two after the deadline, but well before the paper went to print for most of college. I’m not sure why I didn’t prioritize turning my stories in on time. It’s not like I ever turned in homework late.

I got away with it because my work didn’t require too much editing before the paper went to press. And I did get better about turning things in on time during the second half of my senior year. But that wasn’t until my editor, my roommate and my friend, stood in the door to my room and told me how stressful my neglect of deadlines was for her. After that, I was only late with my stories occasionally. And when it would happen, I’d apologize profusely as I ran past her to my room to finish my past due story.

I guess it’s fitting that I found that certificate yesterday. On the first Tuesday in months that I didn’t share a short something that I’d written. Like all those times in college, I don’t have a good reason for why. Simply, I just didn’t get to it yesterday. So I’m getting to it today.

We will all miss deadlines at least some of the time. And sometimes we’ll miss deadlines often enough that we get recognized for it. That award I won in college was already named The Josh Bennet Award, so I know I wasn’t the only person to ever routinely miss deadlines at the paper. And luckily for me, the award named after me that day lets me have a different legacy at my college newspaper: The Best Nose for News.

While it is likely only a handful of people that remember my lack of punctuality during college, I remember it. And what I take away from that time is that I was also known for being reliable. It might have been known that I would likely turn in my work after the deadline, but I also had the reputation that it would be good work. And that’s the legacy I’m proud of.

Often things take longer than we expect. And I’m sure I’m not the only one that tends to overestimate how much I can fit into a day. But that doesn’t mean we should walk away with the work incomplete. Just because we’ve missed the deadline doesn’t mean we can’t still get quality work done. Even if the only person it matters to at that point is you.

Chances are that the late work will still matter to other people too. A handwritten thank you note still means something when it arrives months after the moment inspiring it. And I’d rather receive a belated birthday phone call than wondering if someone forgot about me entirely.

But even if getting the work done only matters to you, that’s when it might matter more. Because other people will move on, but you will know what kind of person you chose to be. And I like to be the kind of person that always gets the important [to me] work done anyway. 

I’m the person that will mail that thank you card two months later, and I’ll give a housewarming gift months after a friend moves to a new home. Maybe I won’t want to run at 10pm after a long day, but I do because I still want to put in the miles. And sharing work on Wednesday doesn’t make it any better or worse than if I got it done on a Tuesday. The point is, that I want to always be the kind of person I can rely on. And hopefully that other people can rely on too.

So, for the first time in months of sharing my writing I missed a deadline. I’ll try to keep being punctual, but I’m sure I’ll be late again one day. And at least this time I think the work might actually be better because of the one day delay.