Setting Deadlines Key to Success

The older I get, the more convinced I am that the human species is fundamentally lazy. Yes, that comment will likely annoy or even outrage some people out there who consider themselves productivity machines.

Labor saving device

It recently occurred to me that the term labor-saving device has been out of favor for some time. But when I was a kid, it was still close enough to that time when the phrase really meant something.

For example, my mother hung clothes on the line to dry not out of any environmental concern, but because clothes dryers were expensive, not all that common, and we lived in Southern California. I remember when we got our first color television set. And I still own a handful of vinyl record albums that are monoraul monaural, before everything went to that newfangled stereo.

So if inventors come up with ideas to save us effort and time, that seems to indicate an inherent laziness in the race. You’ll notice I haven’t actually said that’s a bad thing, though I suspect that you may have felt a little twitch in your Puritan gene when you read the first line of this post.

The problem with laziness

There are times, however, when our basic desire to sit in front of a television set, a computer game console, or to just lie on the sofa staring out the window for hours on end can indicate a problem. One big problem is that we’re not moving toward completion of our goals.

We all know that goals don’t complete themselves. Unless you have just started setting goals for the first time in your life, it’s probably already clear to you that the act of setting a goal must include setting a deadline for completing the goal. Without a deadline, a goal is nothing more than a wish or a dream.

Ok, nothing new here, I realize. But, when setting your goals and deadlines, I’m willing to bet that somewhere in the back of your mind you have the idea, “Well, if I don’t make that deadline, I’ll just push it out a bit.” That idea is the kiss of death.

The solution

Simple solution: don’t set your own deadline. Get somebody else to set it for you. Scary idea, isn’t it?

You may have noticed the steady growth of personal coaching as a profession. There’s a reason for that. For many of us, it’s just not realistic to set our own deadlines, because we’re always willing to cut ourselves some slack. When you’re only accountable to yourself, you’ll probably let yourself off the hook more often than not. You need somebody else to hold your feet to the fire. And not somebody you can ignore, like your spouse, a friend, or a parent.

It’s actually a good idea to tell several people about your goal and your deadline. Because even if others don’t really hold you accountable, your own fear of humiliation and failure will drive you to work harder. And believe me, once you miss a goal badly, you’ll make sure that your next goal is also achievable before you go spouting off to the world about it.

The power of deadlines

Deadlines have a wonderful way of crystallizing your intent. Example: a friend and I are teaching a couple of classes this month and next. We’ve been working on the course, have it pretty much set up, but frankly, making real money has taken precedence over getting these classes fine-tuned. Suddenly, we discovered that we’re to host the first class in less than 2 weeks.

That realization was great motivation and a stunning example of the transformative effect of a deadline. When we still thought we had 4 weeks, we were hardly concerned. But make it 10 days and the adrenaline starts pumping. And guess what? We became ruthless about how to structure and run the class. Things started falling into place. We feel really good about it now and we know they’re going to be great classes.

The deadline is powerful mojo. Use it.

Links

If you want a way to write down and track your goals, try one of these free online tools:

I Want Sandy—Clever, but also quite useful reminder service.

30 Boxes—Very bare-bones UI but popular.

Ta-da List—A simple and sharable online to-do list from the guys at 37Signals.

Remember the Milk—Another popular reminder and task list site.

Toodledo—This one also has a big following.

Tagged as: deadlines, laziness, procrastination, Productivity