5 Things You Should Know – Part 284

jazz

May 5, 2019

Here are 5 things you should know.

1. “ASAP” (as soon as possible) is not the same as “do this right now.” In the business world, it is much more effective to provide a clear deadline so a person can properly prioritize whatever it is you need, such as “We need this by 11 am today.”

If a person has a lot of other things to do in any given timeframe, the phrase ASAP to them does not necessarily indicate urgency on their end. They’ve got their own stuff, and what is “soonest possible” might be the end of the day or in a few hours. It is much better for everyone to provide a deadline so they understand what you need. You will be a much more effective leader and communicator if you are direct about when things are needed.

On the opposite side, when someone asks you to do something ASAP, or even just asks you to do a small project of some kind, it is always helpful to ask them for what the deadline is, that way you can manage their expectations of when you can complete something because, let’s face it, you’re busy! Often times you will find that what was being presented as urgent is actually fine for the next day.

2. Cinco de Mayo isn’t Mexico’s Independence Day, but a commemoration of Mexico’s victory of France at the battle of Puebla in 1862.

3. If told you cannot cite Wikipedia as a source in your papers, you can look into which academic paper Wikipedia cites and use that instead.

When writing papers, we are often told that Wikipedia cannot be used as a source, which I guess is fine. But if there’s something useful you found on Wikipedia, just look at the references and find the paper they cited and either cite that paper or you might find even more useful content on the paper. Wikipedia marks their sources really well too!