You’ve probably heard of “just in time inventory,” a method of inventory management where raw materials and commodities are received only as they are immediately needed. This inventory management system is widely used and reportedly has many advantages, including efficiency and profit (capital’s two favorite virtues). But it has problems as well, including supply chain disruptions and miscalculations of sales and customer demand.
“Just in Time” inventory is a perfect example of what Robert Chapman has called the ideology of executive function. How we define “dysfunction” is itself a function of where we are in a power relationship with capital.1
What industry experts laud for its efficiency and profit looks a lot like pROcrAstInaTiOn to me. Why is it ok for capital to “procrastinate” but not us? Why are the costs of capital’s “procrastination” written off, but we are shamed and pathologized for the costs of our own procrastination?
I have taken to practicing “just in time taxes” after a lifetime of anxiety and shame that ended up immobilizing me in all areas of my life.
Instead of resolving and inevitably failing to be more responsible and consistent, I now use a “just in time” approach. I engage in avoidance as a pro-active strategy to free myself to do other things that bring me joy. I use my anxiety as a gauge for finding the “just in time” tipping point. When the anxiety of avoidance becomes more debilitating than the anxiety of facing the dreaded task, that’s when I start working on my taxes. I then I set time aside, call in support/body doubling buddies, set up a series of pleasant rewards, and remind myself that I “can do hard things.” And then I get it done. Often not perfectly but I do my best without beating myself up.
Usually that tipping point happens around an urgent deadline, but urgency is as effective as stimulants at making us focus, as long as we aren’t overpowered by shame. As Devon Price has argued about other neurodivergent ways of working in the world, if you need urgency, then use it, rather than being ashamed of it.
Yes, there are downsides. Sometimes I end up paying penalties and late fees. Sometimes my credit rating takes a hit. In the world of capital, these are just considered the “cost of doing business,” and the only reason we can’t also write off these costs is because we don’t have the power that capital does.
If you haven’t yet, you should definitely read their book, called The Empire of Normality : Neurodiversity and Capitalism from Pluto Press, 2023. They are bringing a Marxist analysis to the neurodiversity movement, and it’s really exciting. Linked above, and also here, is a great podcast interview that Jesse recently did with them.
The acceptance of late fees as a convenience fee is a game changer. Grateful to have that privilege in some instances.
I used to think that incurring a late penalty meant I was an absolute failure of a human being. Now I realize that since the rules of this game are completely unjust and stacked against all of us anyway, I do get to *choose* which costs I will incur in this lifetime. Would I rather get my taxes filed today, or do I want to attend the concert a friend has invited me to and submit my taxes tomorrow night? Can I skip the board game night to finish the manuscript that has bewitched me? Can I reschedule the work meeting and annoy one person on my team in order to not leave my friend who is stuck at the airport left in the lurch? Is hunkering down to finish the task right now worth abating the anxiety? Or can I carry the anxiety with me to the grocery store, the birthday party? There is no perfection, and I'm not a failure for not attaining it. There's only benefits and drawbacks, every choice comes with a cost or a loss and some are easier to accept than others.