Can we talk about that time I missed a filing deadline by 2 hours?

Last Tuesday I had a client agreement due to the state by 5pm and I thought I had it handled. Got distracted helping a contractor with a scope change and didn't hit submit until 7:12pm. Ended up paying a $250 late fee plus had to file an extension request. Has anyone else had a deadline slip through the cracks because of a simple calendar mistake?

3 comments

3 Comments

andrew_rodriguez2mo ago

Got distracted helping a contractor with a scope change" - I bet you think that was such a good excuse. But here's the thing. You set a hard deadline for 5pm and you chose to prioritize a scope change over it. That's not a "simple calendar mistake." That's you making a bad call and then blaming the tools. If you'd set a couple of phone alarms for 3pm and 4pm, you wouldn't have been in that spot. The late fee and extension request are just the cost of learning to own your schedule instead of your distractions.

murphy.linda2mo ago

Blocking off two hours before deadlines saved me.

fiona_young1mo ago

I read somewhere that our brains treat time blocks as suggestions, not commitments, unless we add pain or reward. Linda you've got the right idea about blocking time, but the person who got distracted by the contractor needed some kind of penalty built in. That whole "helping a contractor with a scope change" thing is just another way of saying "this felt more urgent than my deadline" even though it wasn't. A friend told me she uses a physical timer and sets it across the room so she has to stand up to turn it off, which makes her think twice about breaking focus. Honestly, if you're gonna block time, you gotta treat it like a doctor's appointment for yourself, not a suggestion.