Deadlines can be powerful allies in the success of your business.
DEADLINES are things that ALL of us have to deal with, in some form or other, throughout our lives.
As kids, most of us were probably told things like: “It’s time to turn off the TV and get ready for bed.” OR “Time to come inside and do your homework!”
The deadlines that stick in my mind from school were usually related to term papers or large reports.
I wasn’t one of those kids who jumped in and immediately started working on the research and writing. I usually waited at least a few days (or a week, with bigger projects that had more distant deadlines), BUT I also knew it was important to not wait so long that my ability to do a good job would be affected.
* * * * *
Fast-forward 12 or 13 years. The way I looked at deadlines in my mid- to late 20’s was very different from the way I saw them as a teen. My job as managing editor of a monthly publication meant I had to be on top of our press deadlines every single month … no matter what.
Fortunately, having a month-long “turnaround” time for each issue was much easier to deal with than the weekly deadlines I had as a reporter in my early 20’s.
WHY DEADLINES ARE IMPORTANT
The TYPES of deadlines you deal with in your daily life and your business won’t be identical to the deadlines others may be dealing with. But ALL deadlines have some things in common.
Here are three of the most important:
EXPECTATIONS — Pretty much all projects come with a “due date” – the day by which a project should be completed.
SMOOTHER WORK FLOW — Projects involving multiple tasks can be arranged according to when each task must be completed. Smaller tasks can be done before larger ones are begun … or can be assigned to different team members, according to their expertise. When tasks are split up like this, it’s more likely that deadlines will be met.
MOTIVATES COMPLETION — Tight deadlines are great for motivating us to stay focused and make sure goals are met. But even when you’ve allowed plenty of time to complete a project, it’s likely that your attention will become hyper-focused the closer you get to the final deadline.
KEEPING TRACK
Understanding WHY deadlines are important is one thing. But unless you learn how to work with them – and make them work for you, they won’t do you much good.
The tips and tools I’ve listed below are only suggestions. (There are LOTS of tools out there, so I’m just mentioning some of my favorites – three of which are from Google!)
3 TIPS . . .
KEEP YOUR DEADLINES VISIBLE.
All four of the tools I listed below will help with this. In my opinion, this is the most important tip of all.
BREAK DOWN DEADLINES INTO SMALLER TASKS.
Deadlines involving a variety of complicated elements should be broken down into manageable tasks. And some of those may need to be broken down into even smaller tasks!
(Doing this will help you keep from being overwhelmed … and less likely to procrastinate.)
SET REMINDERS.
If your phone allows you to set up “notifications” for upcoming appointments, take advantage of that feature!
Seeing those reminders pop up on my phone 10 minutes before an event (or 30 or 60 minutes, depending on how the reminders were set up) has been a big help sometimes.
(I say “sometimes” because I occasionally miss those reminders … which is why I use other methods too, as you can see in the following section.)
4 TOOLS . . .
CALENDAR APP
Google Calendar is the calendar app I use. I love the way it syncs between my laptop and my phone.
(I recently learned how to color-code events and appointments. It’s a lot easier to quickly scan my calendar now, which helps me keep track of things better.)
NOTE-TAKING APP
Google Keep is a tool I use to help me keep track of several lists – including groceries, doctor appointments, books I want to read, future topics for social media / blog posts, and daily “to-do” items for my business.
PAPER CALENDAR
Even though I don’t always refer to this tool each day, I still keep one handy so I can keep track of weekly and monthly schedules.
(The one I’m using this year – a weekly / monthly planning calendar from Day Designer – has been great!)
SPREADSHEET
I may be in the minority for this tool, but I use Google Sheets for my spreadsheets (rather than Microsoft Excel). Using this tool, I’ve created a “tracker” that helps me see what I’ve done each week in regards to social media, connections I’ve made with new and existing clients, meeting notes … and more!
Every once in a while, I print out a hard copy of the spreadsheet, too. (I still like tracking things on paper.)
WHY DEADLINES ARE LIKE WD-40
Ann Handley has a great description of deadlines in her book Everybody Writes. Quoting marketer Doug Kessler, she says: “Deadlines are the WD-40 of writing.”
Why?
A deadline unsticks what’s sticking, because it makes you deliver.
This concept can be applied to ANY type of deadline.
Ann closes that section with this:
“Do the best work you can by the deadline you’ve set. And then consider your project finished, and let it go with love.”
