This is one of my pet peeves. Have you ever worked with someone who rushes through a project just to meet a deadline, giving no thought to the quality of the project? They must have been thinking, ‘let me just put something together so I’ll have something to show and they’ll think I’ve been working.’

It just doesn’t work. When a project is not done properly you’ll undoubtedly have to do it over which will take even more time than if you did it the right way in the beginning.

Time management is critical when working on projects and it’s sometimes hard to gauge how long something will take to complete. I’ve become better at estimating projects over the years, but I always give myself extra time to finish just in case I encounter problems or setbacks. Depending on what I’m working on, I push my deadline out a couple of days to a week in the event the project gets sidetracked or derailed. It’s better to under promise and over deliver than not to meet your deadline at all.

It’s also important to set the proper expectations. When a client sets unrealistic expectations on a project, I don’t have a problem pushing back and letting them know there’s no way they I can get it done in that timeframe unless I compromise on quality. They usually get the point.

So when you’re tempted to rush through a project or assignment, think about this question — If you don’t have the time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?