Procrastinating and putting things off is something most of us do once in a while. Longer deadlines means we can keep putting things off a little longer. Shorter deadlines means any procrastination period is shorten substantially and sometimes that can be rather good.
Next week I’m speaking over at the Dublin Web Summit and though I’ve done a rough outline of my talk the plan was to do the deck on the flight home and then spend some more time on it once back in London and, most likely, the day before the Web Summit begins whilst I’m actually in Dublin. An email on Monday morning put a stop to that plan as all presentations, if planned to be used, had to be submitted by midday Dublin time this Thursday. Right, onwards and upwards. No time to procrastinate and get myself into the general pre-conference-is-my-deck-good-enough nervousness. I better get on with it and I guess, use the flight home for watching movies and catching some sleep instead.
The shorter deadline did mean that I wasn’t physically able to spend as long as I normally do on putting the deck together. Other commitments whilst over in New York also stopped me from spending too much time initially trying out different visual treatments and styles (something I love). Instead I had to be really focused when I was sat working on it but that in turn meant that I soon got the deck to a state that I was happy with whilst still leaving some review and digest time for final tweaks.
At times a long deadline is beneficial to the end result but quite often we have a tendency to over think things if time is in abundance. With a deadline that can’t move things have to get done and though I’m not a believer in the combination of cramming in as much possible before a deadline, I am a firm believer in and advocate of setting shorter and more frequent deadlines. Not only because they in my experience tend to accomplish more, but also because by setting realistic and frequent deadlines you gain the benefit of having more frequent and positive accomplishments. And that in term helps with motivation where as procrastination often does the opposite by making you feel guilty for not having done enough yet.
Tomorrow – Day 284 | Building & crossing bridges
Image source: www.flickr.com/photos/hikingartist/5726836277
