My Lesson On Setting Deadlines

Awhile back I was in San Francisco and I linked up with a friend. While we were catching up, I told him that I wanted to take up surfing and for Christmas I was going to get a Wetsuit. He loves surfing, and he told me, “Dude! I’m going to be in San Diego in two weeks, we have to get a surf sesh”.  I had worked out with my mom that I would choose a Wetsuit I like, that fit well,  and get reimbursed for it. What this did was it created a deadline by which I needed to get my Wetsuit, in order to use it when my buddy visited, and it motivated me to take action on it much quicker than I normally would have.

What this helped me realize is, deadlines help you prioritize and take action. I could have done months of research and stalled my decision. I could have put choosing my Wetsuit off for a less hectic time. But, the deadline held me accountable to a certain date, and it forced me to expedite my process to meet it.

It’s no surprise that setting deadlines are really effective at driving action and boosting productivity. So, after this experience what I did was I went out and bought a calendar whiteboard, and got to work on setting firmer deadlines for those more ominous elements of my work and life. I look forward to seeing how the rigidity and structure help me to be more on top of the things I need to get done!