Set Them Early and Often for Success
As the end drew near, I could feel that my breathing was shallow, my pace fast. Super fast! I was working at full speed now, hoping to finish, cranking out nearly twice the output of my normal fast speed. But it wasn’t enough!
No amount of time would be enough. Because my boss understood that work expands to fill the time. So he always assigned twice as much work as he knew I could handle.
He also understood that without a deadline, without some time limit, there was no telling when the work would get done.
Imagine your boss giving you an assignment and saying, “Take as long as you need and come see me when you’re done.”
You might never get done!
Contrast that with a command to, “Have that report on my desk by end of business today!”
In book writing, you’ve got to be your own boss. And the tougher the better.
Deadlines deliver dependable results.
In order to get your book completed you need to set a completion date, a deadline.
It works best if you set a big, overall completion date for your book AND smaller deadlines for completing so many pages, or for completing the next chapter. The tighter the deadlines, the faster you’ll get done.
Once you set a deadline, you’ve been conditioned since childhood to meet that deadline. Even if the penalties are now only vague.
Your mind automatically links pleasure to meeting the deadline and pain to not.
This automatic mental conditioning will give you greater speed as your work. It will offer up greater clarity. It will be your internal cheerleader, spurring you on to victory!
But without a deadline, you’ll be a drifter. You’ll be a ship headed to ports unknown without a rudder. You’ll never get anywhere.
Let deadlines be your friend.
Setting tight deadlines let me write and publish over a dozen book titles in less than two years. And continues to drive my writing and the coaching I give to others.
This past January I made a public goal to post a new Profile Image on my Facebook page each week. We’re just about half way there, at week 25, and I’ve yet to miss one. I challenged myself. I set a weekly deadline because it works and doing this will help me to become a better photographer. You can see the latest photo here, maybe you’ll LIKE it… https://www.facebook.com/robert.schwarztrauber
My wife always jokes that we should host more parties because somehow, someway the house always gets clean and organized just minutes before the guests arrive.
And she’s not wrong!
Each day, millions of school children advance their education because there is a deadline for their morning arrival at school.
Each day, millions of workers arrive at their job and earn a paycheck to support their families, buy homes and cars, because there is a deadline for their arrival.
Deadlines deliver dependable results.
Why not set your own deadline now? Whether for your book, or some other important personal or business advancing project you know you need to finally get done.
Be your own boss. Be a tough taskmaster.
Give yourself a challenge and watch as you surprise yourself with greater results over and over again.
We can do all do more. Setting deadlines helps us be our best.
What deadline will you set now to begin moving forward?
by Bob Schwarztrauber
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