“My biggest challenge is keeping my Executive on task in order to meet deadlines. I like to complete my work ahead of time and she likes to start working on them on the day it’s due, creating loads of anxiety in my office.” — Lori Kimble
First, Lori, the anxiety is valid and completely understandable. You and your executive are running on two different clocks. You get peace from a clear desk; she gets her best thinking from the pressure of the wire. Neither of you is wrong, which is exactly why this is so maddening.
Adam Grant has written about this: early finishers shut down the swirl by getting to “done,” while some people delay on purpose because the incubation makes their work sharper. You will not out-argue her brain, so stop trying to change when she works, and start building a system that protects your deadlines and your nervous system at the same time.
Set an internal deadline she’ll actually meet
The single most useful move is to give her an earlier internal due date than the real one. In a classic study published in Psychological Science, Dan Ariely and Klaus Wertenbroch found that people hit external deadlines better than the ones they set for themselves, especially when those deadlines were spaced out instead of dumped at the end. Translation for your desk: build in a buffer. If the board packet is due Friday at 9 a.m., her deadline is Wednesday at noon. You hold the cushion, not her.
Break the big ask into bite-size check-ins
A single scary deadline is a procrastinator’s favorite thing to avoid, so don’t hand her one. Workplace expert Lynn Taylor recommends a series of pre-deadlines: instead of “review the whole deck by Thursday,” send section one Monday, section two Tuesday, the final pass Wednesday. Smaller asks feel doable, and each one is a tiny finish line she can actually cross. Put every request in writing too, a short calm email she can resend to herself, never a “did you see this?” with an edge on it.
Pre-block the work onto her calendar
You likely control her schedule, so use that. Drop a 30-minute “review block” on the day before your internal deadline and label it like any other meeting. Labeling it that way gives the task a real home on her day. Pair it with what Taylor calls the countdown, a one-line update that states the deadline, what you need from her, and what happens if it slips. “I need 15 minutes of sign-off by Wednesday noon to make the Friday filing comfortably.” Specific beats vague every time because vague is where she finds her wiggle room.
Protect your own system from her adrenaline cycle
Her last-minute rush can hijack your body even when your own work is done. When the deadline panic isn’t yours to carry, give yourself a reset. A 2023 randomized controlled trial out of Stanford found that just five minutes a day of slow, exhale-focused breathing measurably calmed mood and arousal, more than meditation alone.
Box breathing works too: in for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four. Do a round before you walk into her office. Her timeline doesn’t have to become your heartbeat.
You can’t reprogram how your executive works, and you don’t need to. You just need to engineer the runway so her last-minute lands on time, every time, while keeping your own calm intact. This is the job at its highest level, and you’re already most of the way there.
Upcoming Events
Work Wisdom of the Week:
