People who remain on top of their responsibilities are able to plan, prepare, forecast, and decide. Options can be considered thoroughly before courses of action are decided upon, and the consequences of decisions can be thoughtfully considered after the fact.

People who are chronically behind react to situations, find themselves stressed out, have no time to prepare properly, and are in control of very little in their lives. Mistakes (which come frequently when scrambling to always be “a little less behind”) sting, but real lessons aren’t learned in the wake of disasters because the next one is already looming on the horizon.

It pays to get (and stay) ahead.