Deadlines are amazing. They are the single best thing for boosting productivity. I’m sure you’ve experienced this yourself. When you have a project that you know needs to be finished by 3pm in the afternoon, your focus increases, your concentration skyrockets, and you get as much work done that day, as you do all week when you’re not under a deadline.
This is so common in fact, that there’s a natural law written about it. It’s called Parkinson’s Law and it states that – and I’m paraphrasing here – that work expands to fill the time allotted. If you have 2 hours to get a blog post written, it will take you 2 hours. If you only have 25 minutes because you want to head out to meet a friend for coffee, you get it done in 25 minutes.
The next question, of course, if tight deadlines cause reduced quality in work. They usually don’t, unless the deadline is so tight that you have to cut corners right and left to meet it. The majority of the time though, if the deadline is somewhat reasonable, it will help you increase your focus and concentration. That not only allows you to work faster and get things done more quickly, it also helps you produce better work.
There are a couple of reasons why deadlines help you to do better work. The first and obvious one is of course that when you concentrate on getting things done, you’re more focused. You work harder and the end result is better quality in a shorter amount of time.
Deadlines force you to cut out any and all distractions as much as possible. That means you’re interrupted less often and can keep a train of thought. Even more than that. Being focused helps you get into the “flow” where you’re totally immersed in a project and the work seems to almost do itself. You’re able to concentrate completely on the task at hand and do the best possible job.
Think about how you can build deadlines into your workflow. These can be self-imposed ones where you give yourself a set amount of time for each task on your to-do list, or you can ask your boss, client, or project manager to set deadlines for you and hold you to them.
No matter how you do it, I encourage you to experiment with deadlines so you can see for yourself how much they can help you focus, concentrate, and do your best work in the shortest amount of time.
About Shanna A. Jefferson
Hey there Entrepreneur!
I’m Shanna and I understand your journey as an aspiring or emerging entrepreneur in building your business and brand.
As a Mental Health Therapist and Business Coach, I teach entrepreneurs how to plan, strategize and monetize💰 their vision without sacrificing their mental health🧠. I aim to serve as a beacon of hope, light, change, and Greatness!
