“Goals are dreams with
deadlines, and without those deadlines, our dreams are dead in the water.”_Mark
Batterson
What do we
call “the time by which something must be done or completed?”
It is a word
which many people—students, writers, artistes, entrepreneurs, politicians, etc—sometimes
fear: deadline.
Even though,
it may sound less attractive in our ears, deadline has great value for anyone
who is proactive enough to work on the right kind of things— as soon as
possible—whenever results do matter.
Indeed,
there is huge potential in both setting and honouring proper deadlines.
The power of
deadline lies in its tendency to compel us to take the most vital action— in
pursuit of our goals— as opposed to merely staying in motion.
Being in
motion is quite different from being productive. To a large extent, motion is
what happens when we are only thinking, planning, and strategizing.
Not that
anything is wrong with engaging in all these practices. In fact, they are essential
in many cases, provided they are done in due measure.
However,
many people confuse seeming to do with actually doing, so they spend too much
time on preparation mode, instead of truly getting things done.
To bring
sanity to such a subtle confusion is the reason I am writing about deadline today.
Deadline is
the tool that can crystallize our focus to gain absolute clarity on what really
matters. It is the
tool that will compel us to engage in the most vital of all actions: the only type
of behavior that will deliver a tangible result that we seek.
Without a deadline,
a writer can spend weeks or months—sometimes years—contemplating, researching and
analyzing concepts about a great book he or she intends to write: with nothing
to show for it in the end.
But with a
tight deadline, a committed writer is forced to move from deceptive moves of motion
to doing the critical thing; the most important action that will get him the outcome
he wants, which is: to write. No wonder Nolan Bushnell, a cofounder of Atari,
Inc. concluded that “deadline is the ultimate inspiration.”
To prevent preparation
from turning into a different form of procrastination, we should learn to begin
our tasks with a deadline in mind.
Begin with a Deadline in
Mind
“Everything is an experiment
until it has a deadline. That gives it a destination, context, and a
reason.”_Brian Eno
To turn our great
intentions into vital actions that can deliver the result we need, we should
start every project with a deadline in mind.
This concept
will help us develop a necessary sense of urgency on any important goal. It
will urge us to create some target dates in the present for a goal that may
take a long time to actualize.
Personally,
I apply deadline to my life in the form of a schedule. As a result, I get
certain critical things done, every day, every week and every month,
respectively.
Doing this
makes me both efficient and effective. Since I have a concrete yardstick for
measuring performance, I don’t spend too much time on mere accessories to
output.
Deadline is an
aid; in that, it can train us to aim for the bull’s-eye on every project,
instead of wasting precious time to run in a circle of motion.
You see, our
days have a deadline, our months have a deadline and our years have a deadline.
Even our lives counts toward a deadline from the moment we are born.
Therefore, we
shouldn’t be afraid of deadline but rather embrace its potential power to make our
dreams come true.
