Do things at earliest opportunity

I like doing things at the earliest opportunity instead of putting them off till last minute. This has helped recently.

Middle of June I receive my car registration renewal notice. For this, I need to do a smog check and then I need to pay registration fee. Due date for this was August 28. Since I was going on vacation, I was first tempted to postpone the entire registration process. But I resisted the temptation and went for a smog check. For some reason, my car failed smog check. I needed to perform some car tune-up service before I can complete the smog check. Then I was left with no choice but delay it till my return. I made sure I put completion of this on my priority list after my vacation.

At least, I was glad that I went for the check before vacation which enables to plan well ahead. If I had done this after my return, I would have very less time to complete everything including car service.

After coming from vacation, I took the car to service station within 1 week of arrival. Completed the service and then took it again for Smog Check. It was cleared and on the same day I paid the registration fee also online. Within 10 days of arrival, the job was done. I felt happy for completing this ahead of time.

Unless we put our learning into practice continuously, we don't reap the benefits of our learning.

Bonus tip: My efforts in improving my time management skills start as far as 12 years when I used to have a single poster which had three words on it. It just said: DO IT NOW.

If you want to motivate yourself, print this and post it where you can see it everyday.