Ah, deadlines. If you are a freelancer of any kind, they are part of your reality, like it or not. Sometimes it seems as though they are there to taunt and tease us, as if to say “So you think you can actually get that project done by this day and time?” For some reason, it can feel like whenever there is a deadline coming, things get all wacky. Things keep getting in the way of your work or, if you are able so get to your desk your inspiration is nowhere to be found. Before you know it, you are sitting at your desk typing frantically as the clock keeps on ticking. You feel almost like you’re playing “chicken”, your pulse races and you begin to sweat. Fortunately, this time you finish the project and hit “send” just as the last grain of sand drops through the hourglass. You vow never to cut it that close ever again, yet the next time a deadline is looming you realize that it is happening again.
I have had this happen, and I am sure that I’m not the only one. It makes me wonder why, despite planning out my daily work in advance; things still get done so close to the deadlines. I am really very careful, and I break the projects up into small pieces and select specific days and times to work on them. Perhaps the problem is that I see the deadline marked on the calendar and say (subconsciously, of course” “I have until x day to get that done”. This is entirely possible, and since I tend to be a bit of an optimist I sometimes underestimate how long it will take me to write things. I also tend to underestimate the possibilities of distractions and other things that pop up that could derail my carefully timed work schedule. I think that it may be time for a new strategy. My new strategy is to write the deadline on the calendar as being a day or two ahead of the actual deadline. A similar strategy worked for me in the past when my husband and I were dating. He was chronically late, very late, so I started telling him that that events were earlier than they actually were. It worked for us then, so perhaps it will work for me now. Does anyone else do this, and does it work? I would love to hear about it!
Photo by Dave on morguefile.com.