I don’t know about you, but I hate being last minute. I don’t like the flurried and flustered feelings when I’m scrambling to get something finished. Now, I’m not talking about assignments that have come in unexpectedly. To me those are little blessings from the Lord. I’m talking about knowing you have a deadline or a talk to prepare for, and you wait until the last minute to get things done.

With four kids and a husband and a writing career, my life can get pretty hectic. So I try to stay at least one step ahead of everything. If I have a talk coming up (which I do in about 3 weeks), I stay ahead by first jotting down ideas. Then when I have a few minutes at another time, I write up a rough outline. This continues, step by step, until I have my talk planned out including any handouts or props I need.

The same goes for other projects. I’m currently working on a study guide for my upcoming book, The Declaration of Independence from A to Z. I started by looking at other study guides to get an idea of format. Then I jotted down some topics I would like to cover. For games and activities, I looked online to find out how I could make my own maze, etc. Plus, I have taken several books out of the library so I can add tidbits of interesting information that I couldn’t include in the book itself. When I have finished gathering all these extras, I will put it all together.

If I waited to complete each project first and then move on to the next, I’d never get anything done, especially since some of my deadlines overlap. So I make the effort to stay a good step ahead. I find I can complete more things in a timely manner, and I can live a little stress-free.

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