I have a weird relationship with deadlines. And yet one I'm willing to wager a lot of people share.
Take yesterday, for example. The deadline for the SRA entry was 5pm. I've had since May (actually probably somewhat longer) to sort this out and yet it came right up to the line - and I mean literally within seconds of the deadline.
It had been on my mind for weeks, months even, but the real work didn't even start until about a few days ago. Then I worked almost solidly for two days and got in by the skin
of
my
teeth.
Oh yeah, and it's a pattern.
Sound familiar?
I hope so.
Well I was thinking about this. Why does this happen. Is it a motivation problem? Am I scared of completing it lest it unleash some horrible demon? Am I just a rubbish person? No.
The problem is that I focus on the deadline as being part of the work period; I naturally "plan" in my head to have the work done on the day it's due. Maybe I start early, but the work I do is minor and only increases to a significant amount when the final date starts to approach.
The solution is to practice disassociating the deadline from the work, and creating my own personal deadline. And stick to it. This is another one of those things that's easier said than done, I know.
But not impossible.
Any thoughts on this? Have you had similar problems that you've tried to overcome? Please leave a comment with your thoughts on this.
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Oh dude. This is SO familiar. I am exactly the same with - almost any kind of deadline you can care to name! And I find that setting my own personal deadlines is very difficult, because there is some part of your brain that KNOWS when the real deadline is and doesn't care about the "fake" one you made up! I have never been sure how to get around that problem!
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