Deadline? Don’t Delay!

Work patterns are developed at a surprisingly young age, long before actual paid employment. Chances are that the child who procrastinates with schoolwork will most likely continue on with that same approach to deadline driven projects. The cause for waiting and then racing towards the finish line could stem from lack of focus, disinterest in the subject at hand, being under-qualified or ill-prepared for the task, or desiring adrenalin to help propel them forward. For the intelligent and lucky students who don’t really give their all but make good scores it can’t help but validate their haphazard approach.

Habitual procrastination as an adult can be a detriment to both personal and professional relationships. Even without meaning to, it shows a lack of interest. Other reasons procrastination can be problematic:

• Last-minute, thrown-together work gives no opportunity for finishing touches and corrections
• Poor prioritising and lack of time management can easily spill over into other facets of life
• Stress is not good for a body—yours or your client’s
• Hair-tearing toward a deadline procrastination is not fun for loved ones to witness
• It adds unnecessary drama that makes clients question your work ethic and organisational skills
• If a parent, it’s a very poor example to offer to kids
• If something can go wrong, it will—leave a cushion of time for unexpected troubles

Thankfully many unsuitable patterns can be broken, because there are plenty of reasons why it doesn’t pay to delay. Yet many key time robbers are very difficult to avoid, such as Web surfing, social media, texting and messaging, day dreaming and more important things like the need for food, sleep, family time etc. Breaking the pattern of procrastination more about a proper mindset and effective time management than anything else. It also has to become a learned discipline.

How to Manage

First off it’s important to start running life like a business:

• Get a smartphone and then utilise helpful features like calendars, office programmes, etc.
• Keep a clean work space—or conversely, a cluttered one. Everyone has specific routines and surrounding that help or hamper progress. Find out which are which and then adjust accordingly.
• When working on a project, limit distractions by shutting off phone, logging out of Facebook, hiding in a secluded room, etc.
• Get up and move! Stretch, run around, do some yoga, play fetch with the dog, but briefly.

Remember, too, to create a winner’s mindset:

• Create a mini rewards system; spend so many hours working then take a fun and quick break.
• Set alarms when trying to pick up speed on any particular component of a project.
• Stay fueled with healthy snacks; poor blood sugar often leads to impaired judgment and lack of focus.
• Limit sleep but get what’s needed.
• Save the partying for another day; being hungover will not help with focus or productivity.

Celebrate!

Meeting goals and deadlines and finishing big projects should never be ended with silence. Working hard and pushing through to the end deserves a little joy and celebration, right? So once it’s all done, go out with friends, buy a new pair of shoes, have a massage—whatever it is to help you feel proud for work well done, do it. It’s admirable to continually aim for what’s around then bend, but if always looking forward there is no end destination—no way to measure progress. So take some time to acknowledge accomplishments, however insignificant they may seem.

Being a grownup has its perks but also plenty of downsides. Yet being adult enough to recognise work patterns and then make the effort to change them will most assuredly pay off in a number of positive ways. Who doesn’t want to know the competent and punctual person? In relationships it shows interest and initiative and in work it shows attention to detail and strong leadership abilities. If life it shows a person in on-point and in control.