Did you ever have a home or work project that just lingers?  You know, you intend to get it done, but somehow, you never get around to finishing it – or even starting it?  I can probably tell you one of the main reasons it never gets done.

It doesn’t have a “deadline”.

The addition of a deadline to any task makes it a priority.  It crystalizes one’s thoughts, provides focus, and spurs one into action into either getting the work done or taking the time to think about ways in which to complete the proposed problem without distraction.

Deadlines can be self-imposed (for say, that yard project that needs completing or that closet that needs reorganizing), or created by others (think submitting your taxes or a project requested by a supervisor at work), but either way, they create a time frame in which priority is given (or made) for the task at hand.

For example, I recently finished the manuscript of my latest novel.  Before you start saying “congratulations” – you have to understand that it took me six years to write it.  Why six years?  Because I didn’t have a deadline.  I’d work on it here and there, adding a few chapters when inspiration struck me, but it was lingering on a corner of my desk since 2016.  So how did I finally manage to finish it?

I gave myself a deadline.

I made a resolution back on January 1^st that this winter – I was finally going to finish writing the darn thing, come hell or high water.  I’ve plugged away at it for the last month and a half on an almost daily basis, and I’m pleased to say that all sixty chapters and 233 pages were completed just this past week.  Now, I may never publish it, but whatever the next steps – I got it completed, and all because I had a deadline.

This blog as another example.  Having a weekly deadline instills the discipline in me to sit down and focus on writing a piece once a week, whereas if I didn’t have a publishing deadline of Monday morning, I doubt that I’d still be doing this week after week.

People handle deadlines in different ways.  Some freak-out, while others thrive.  I’ve worked with some people who can’t get anything done unless a deadline is looming.  They are at their best when under-the-gun.  These are the same adults that pulled the “all-nighter” (back in their school days) to study for that Final Biology exam in college or spent forty-eight frantic hours in the university library on the weekend before their term paper was due.

In most cases, I like to handle deadlines with what I call the “get there early” mantra.  For example, if I have a flight I need to catch?  I’d rather sit at the terminal gate (because I arrived early) rather than be stuck in traffic with a death-grip on the steering wheel, gnashing my teeth because I may miss my flight.  I don’t mean three hours early (like those GEICO commercials), but early enough to where a small delay in either airport security or road traffic isn’t going to jeopardize my travel plans.  Believe me, I’ve run through an airport in Texas once lugging shopping bags of china (that were falling apart) in an effort to make my gate on time – it’s not a scenario I ever want to repeat.  It was like a bad Buster Keaton movie, but the language I was spouting definitely made it a rated “R” flick.  Other passengers thought I was losing my mind.

Do you know someone who is bad with deadlines?  Sure you do.  They’re habitually late, constantly out of breath, always carrying something, are going prematurely gray, and have an overall frazzled appearance.  They live on self-created stress.  Honestly, they are just a hot mess.  Trust me, you know one or two (or maybe even see one in the mirror every morning).

How do you handle deadlines?  Drop me a comment in the box below and let me know!  Have a great week!