We all encounter a set deadline from time to time, it may be from our teacher, our boss or or parents.
Nearly all the deadlines are set by other people and all of them produce a healthy amount of stress. Some people can’t stand deadlines and crumble under the pressure or avoid it all together. But what if you figure out a way to succeed at all the deadlines and even to beat the set time? An example my boss asked me on a friday to look into something small on a friday just shy of the end of the workday. The deadline was set to be somewhere in the next week. Why would you allow such a small task to be haunting you for the weekend and next week. Instead of postponing the pain finish what you are doing and the important things. If there is some time to spare take it in between. Before you know it the task has been completed the same day.
The ultimate inspiration is the deadline. – Nolan Bushnell
The reason people set deadlines for you is because they are afraid that you will not finish them in a timely manner. The time they set for it is more often than not a big overestimation of what time you will need to complete it. Because they don’t want to overstress you and allow you to do it on your own time. Do you remember that school task that was set for over 3 months? Most people will only start at it over 2 and a half months. Why do we do this? Because it is easy to postpone something.
If you have a deadline nothing forbids you to get a head start on. Instead of just doing nothing you can start doing research on the topic. It will help you find out all the ins and outs of it. Which in turn will help you create a better end result, especially if delivering a presentation is a part of the task. You will have no doubts about the subject and will have no problem talking about it without having to learn it by heart.
A great method to improve the deadline is by setting yourself a stricter deadline. If the deadline is the 15th of March, then set yourself the goal of completing it before the 10th. Now you will manage to finish it early and if you encounter any problems you can still succeed with it. The last day of your deadline is always the most efficient day to finish it. Rather have this efficient day a week before the due date rather than the deadline that they have set for you. In our next article we will expand on the topic of planning ahead.