Get it Done, Setting a Deadline!

I have a lot that I want to do today! This is a busy week and I am excited, but I know that I have to get going or it will not all get done to my satisfaction. Something I learned a while back is that any task will grow to fit the time you allow it to have. Setting a deadline means getting things done!

If you are anything like me, you find yourself getting frustrated because you just can’t seem to get done in a week or a day what you wanted to. The time seems to fly by and suddenly you realize there is no way you are going to get it all done. Setting a deadline cures all that for me. It will for you too!

Parkinson’s Law states that any task will fill the time frame allotted to it. If you say that you want to cut the grass and you give yourself the week to get it done, then most likely, it will be the end of the week when you finally do it. If you say it must be done this morning, then that’s when it will be done.

I just read yesterday on Pat Flynn’s blog about procrastinators. He said that when he was in school, there were those who studied together for long periods of time to get tasks and assignments done and then those who seemed to do everything at the last minute. The last minute folks did fine. Pat says that it was about focus, but I think it was also about having a set deadline to get something done. The procrastinators would put the task into a time frame and do that task then. They played the rest of the time!

Try it out! Pick a task and set a date to do it and a time frame. I wanted this post to be done before breakfast today and so it is. What do you want to do. Let’s say that you want to get your exercises done early tomorrow. Make up your mind that tomorrow morning you will get out of bed and go for your walk, do your push-ups, whatever it is you do, first thing.

It will be easier to get out of bed and you will get done what you want, when you want.

If you are a naturally focused person, then you may not need this or you do it naturally. If you are like me, a little scatter brained, a little ADD, then set a deadline and see if it doesn’t work miracles for you. It does for me!