bahrainthismonth.com | OCTOBER 2026 OPINION 76 There is rarely enough time to do something properly - yet somehow there is always time to do it again. There is a peculiar contradiction in modern life. We are constantly short of something. Not enough time. Not enough money. Not enough people. Not enough resources. Not enough energy. And sometimes, if we are truthful, simply not enough inclination. Something needs doing but today is inconvenient. So, we postpone it. We take a shortcut. Apply a temporary fix. Tick the box. Move the problem from today’s list to tomorrow’s and convince ourselves that progress has been made. Then tomorrow arrives. The problem is still there - usually bigger, more expensive and considerably less convenient. And suddenly we find the time, money and resources that apparently did not exist when the job first needed doing. We have been warned for centuries that procrastination is the thief of time. But procrastination has an even more expensive relative: doing something badly simply so that we can say it has been done. Procrastination steals time. Poor workmanship steals it twice. The leaking pipe that was patched instead of repaired. The report hurriedly completed and returned for correction. The maintenance problem repeatedly deferred until it becomes an emergency. The difficult conversation avoided until it becomes an argument. Each creates the illusion of saving time. None actually does. Worse still, when we eventually act, we are often forced to rush because something we In his monthly series for Bahrain This Month, Bill Grieve casts his civic lens on areas of concern, offering an enlightening and engaging perspective on various issues affecting life in the Kingdom. DO IT RIGHT FIRST TIME WHEN DUTY CALLS could once have dealt with calmly has become urgent. And rushed work has an unfortunate habit of creating more work. The temporary repair fails. The incomplete report has to be rewritten. The cheap replacement needs replacing. The hurried decision creates another problem. We then spend twice the effort correcting something that could have been done properly once. There is an old expression: “Measure twice, cut once.” It isn’t really about carpentry. It is about discipline. Doing something properly the first time does not mean demanding perfection. Perfection can itself become another excuse for procrastination. It means understanding what the task requires, accepting responsibility for it and completing it to an appropriate standard. And there is an important distinction here. “Done” is not necessarily the same as “completed.” - An email is not dealt with merely because it has been acknowledged. - A problem is not solved because somebody has discussed it. - A repair is not complete because a contractor has attended. - An instruction is not fulfilled because it appears on a spreadsheet with a tick beside it. Completion means achieving the required outcome, checking it and closing the loop. That is where standards matter. Standards are the point at which “that will do” becomes “that is done.” Good organisations understand this. Good leaders understand it. And responsible individuals understand it too. - If something is reported, somebody owns it. - If something is repaired, somebody checks it. - If a commitment is made, somebody follows through. - If something goes wrong, somebody learns from it. That is not bureaucracy. That is responsibility. Duty is rarely dramatic. More often, it arrives disguised as something boring, inconvenient or easily postponed. - Make the call. - Answer the message. - Fix the problem. - Keep the promise. - Finish the job. Then make sure it is actually finished. Because there is a particularly cruel irony in saying, “We don’t have time to do this properly now,” and later discovering that circumstances have given us no choice but to find the time to do it twice. Perhaps, then, the question whenever duty calls should not be: “How quickly can I get this off my desk?” It should be: “What will it take to make sure this doesn’t come back?” - The cheapest job is often the one that only needs doing once. - The quickest solution is often the one that actually solves the problem. - And responsibility is not demonstrated by starting something. It is demonstrated by finishing it properly.
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