Defeating Delays

Delays are inevitable, and though we wish otherwise, we are bound to experience times when even our best plans have to be put aside. With a few basic strategies, you can finds ways to make an annoying situation better.

We all encounter delays that keep us from doing what we planned to do. Life is often what happens to you along the way when you are planning otherwise.

We can be delayed in traffic, waiting for the dentist, in an airport, or in a line at the bank or elsewhere. You cannot always control what happens to you out there, but you can exercise control over how it will impact you. You do not have to let delays defeat you.

I offer you six tips to defeat those delays.

1. Don’t get frazzled. A lot of people use their delay time for being crazy. Look around when you are delayed and see how others are reacting. They may be screaming, hitting the steering wheel, and flailing about. They are fulfilling their crazy time. When your flight is delayed or you are stuck in traffic, the delay is upon you and there is little you can do about. There is much you can do to avoid being caught up in a similar delay in the future, but for now, when you are delayed, you are delayed. Your being upset about it, telling yourself that this should not be happening, only makes a bad situation worse. You are not only delayed but are unhappy too. Your unhappiness will not make the delay shorter.

2. Bring important projects with you. Always have stuff with you that you can work on if you experience an unexpected delay. Perhaps a work project or two, some business reading, your laptop, or the envelopes for your Christmas card list. If you get delayed, it gives you the option of making what could be wasted time, productive time.

3. Bring an unread book or two. 95% of the books people purchase are never completed. Why? Because we don’t have the time to read. If your flight is delayed for three hours, you can read a lot of pages in that book you purchased but never seemed to have the time to read.

4. Bring your telephone contact list. Think ahead of where you are going and ask yourself what telephone numbers would be useful if you were delayed. Friends? Family? Business associates? Your travel agent? Make sure you have these telephone numbers with you so when you get delayed, if you can access a telephone, you give yourself more choices to be productive.

5. Bring some entertainment. What do you like? Are you into crossword puzzles? Crafts? Game Boy video games. If you are prepared for it, delay time can be playtime.

6. Sit and think. In our hurry-up-world we have little time just to think about our lives, where we have been, where we are now, and where we are going. Use delay time to reflect upon your life and celebrate the good things that are happening and commit to changing what needs to be improved.