We all need them but do we have them?
I don’t necessarily mean one set by your boss for a work project or anything related to you being paid. I mean good old fashioned time restraints set by ourselves for ourselves.
Dictionary.com defines it as the time by which something must be finished or submitted; the latest time for finishing something: a five o’clock deadline.
I can’t disagree but have a lot to add. For me a deadline is a success, a goal to achieve and laugh at. At first it’s challenging, overwhelming and seemingly impossible but then you remember – I did it yesterday, I can do it again today.
If you don’t set this deadline you make excuses, forget about it, disappoint yourself and others. You let people down and if you’re anything like me that’s a terrible feeling. Some people may forgive you but I, for one, don’t easily forget it when someone forgets about something they promised me.
Deadlines set by others force me to act. Writing contests with scheduled goals to reach inspire me to somehow find the time to complete a new piece. But when it comes to something I’m doing for myself I hesitate at scheduling me in, even if it is for someone else but “can wait”.
And those times when I do set a deadline I always reach it. Far surpass it in fact. And I feel so alive when I do! Things get done around the house, I impress people, I enter contests and write some more. It’s easier to accomplish something when you set yourself up for failure if you don’t accomplish it in time.
Take this blog for instance, the deadline is every Friday and I very regularly find a few minutes in my week to get it done.
And now I’m off to set a new goal. When are you scheduled to accomplish something longstanding and great?
Thanks for reading,
Sarah Butland author of Sending You Sammy
