Deadlines With Teeth

The very first “deadline” worked.

It was back in 1864, in the American Civil War and referred to a line prisoners would be shot for crossing. Hence the term ‘dead line’.

In business, deadlines are far less extreme, but they can be equally effective in creating pressure to get things done.

A promise to a client that we’ll “deliver the project by 5pm Friday” is usually enough motivation to complete the work.

But when you’re working for yourself, most deadlines we create are artificial. We set them to keep us on track to deliver our own objectives. And when the stakes are low, these deadlines are easy to ignore.

We end up making judgment calls about how important the deadline really is.

Does it really matter if I start my business plan next week, even though it’s due today? Probably not.

Deadlines without consequences hold no power over us. The trick is to give them teeth by creating real consequences.

I write this newsletter every week because I’ve told everyone that’s what I’m doing. I made a public promise by writing it all over my website. I’ll look bad to all my subscribers if I don’t. I want to avoid that.

Publicly sharing deadlines is an effective way to create real consequences.

Tell your spouse, partner, colleagues, suppliers, followers, anyone who’ll care enough to listen.

If you find that thought a little scary, that’s a good indication that it will work.