Missing deadlines? This could be the reason
In 1955, an article appeared in the prestigious magazine - The Economist. It was by a British historian who had spent the previous years of his life in relative obscurity studying and writing about Naval History.
Interestingly, the present witty, funny and insightful article that made him famous was not about ships or sails—it was about a keen observation he had made related to productivity. And that observation is the basis for the productivity hack I share in this article.
The historian was Dr. Cyril Northcote Parkinson—creator of the famous Parkinson's Law. The law states that "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion."
The details of the work of Parkinson were more complicated and nuanced, going into the dynamics of civil service and the tendency for bureaucracy to bloat and erode efficiency.
But unless you are a large government organization or corporation, this might not mean as much to you as the poignant opening lines of Parkinson's essay -
It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Thus, an elderly lady of leisure can spend the entire day in writing and despatching a postcard to her niece at Bognor Regis.
An hour will be spent in finding the postcard, another in hunting for spectacles, half-an-hour in a search for the address, an hour and a quarter in composition, and twenty minutes in deciding whether or not to take an umbrella when going to the pillar-box in the next street.
The total effort which would occupy a busy man for three minutes all told may in this fashion leave another person prostrate after a day of doubt, anxiety and toil.
It is this tendency to over-complicate and procrastinate that we are concerned with here. It why so many of us are missing deadlines. In part because we don't set the right kind of deadlines. And also because we don't understand how our minds play into the equation.
How the law plays into missing deadlines and procrastination
Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay
Whenever we feel we have plenty of time to complete a task, we are more likely to spin our wheels and over-complicate what needs to be done. As deadlines approach though, things take on a magical simplicity. It becomes obvious to us what needs doing and we often complete it in record time.
...since procrastination is the thief of time, it is no wonder it abandons you when you run out of what it seeks to steal.
A lot of my coaching clients admit that the deadline of our sessions is like a shot of productivity juice injected intravenously. A few days leading up to the session, they are procrastinating and over-complicating. A day to a few hours before? Clarity magically appears. They somehow know exactly what to do. And they do it!
In other words, the deadline - even if it is only a milestone deadline on the way to their bigger goal - helps them get the work done!
After all, since procrastination is the thief of time, it is no wonder it abandons you when you run out of what it seeks to steal.
This dynamic is at the heart of this productivity hack to help you meet and even beat deadlines. Let us go through the simple 4-step process involved.
1. Clarify the goal(s)
Your goal needs to be crystal clear otherwise you will struggle to get going. See more in this article.
You can use the SMART framework to articulate your goals so that they are more concrete.
S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Achievable
R - Relevant (or Result-Oriented)
T - Time-bound
For example, a bad goal is I will read more. A better goal is I will read 4 books a month for a year.
With your goals clarified, you can move on to the next step to break the cycle of missing deadlines. Set your milestones
2. Set milestones and habits
Image by TeroVesalainen from Pixabay
Milestones are powerful productivity tools. If your goal has been set the SMART way, you already have a time factor incorporated (the T in SMART). But usually, that is the end goal time boundary. For example, if your goal was to weigh 20lbs less by the end of the year, then the time boundary is December 31.
However, it is highly unlikely you will loose all the weight overnight on December 30th to wake up 20lbs lighter in the morning. If you will have any chance of losing the weight, you would have been doing some things along the way - exercising and eating more mindfully perhaps. In fact what is almost certainly going to happen, if you are to achieve your goal, is that you will lose the weight gradually over many months.
This is where milestones come in. You can set milestones at one month, 3 months, 6 months etc. Your aim for doing this is not necessarily to be at a certain weight at those times. For this hack to work, you must shift the focus not to the outcome, but to the activities that lead to the outcome.
So that your milestone for the first week might be - clock 3 hours 3 times a week at the gym. And/or replace sugary and processed snacks with 1 piece of fruit for 7 consecutive days.
And now for the tricky part...
3. Engineer consequences for failure of missing deadlines
Our brains are good at tricking us; we, on the other hand, are terrible at tricking our brains.
If we know that we have created a deadline as a way to trick ourselves to do the work needed to achieve our goals, well, we are that much more likely to not take it seriously.
Our brains are good at tricking us; we, on the other hand, are terrible at tricking our brains
The solution is a simple one—create a consequence for failure to meet your deadlines. That will make it real pretty quickly. And pick a real consequence - one that will really hurt. Money is an easy one. Make the penalty large enough to matter though.
But for some people, money will not do - it might be more effective to commit to doing something you dislike for a period of time. For example, if you hate house chores, you may set the consequence of being responsible for all house chores for a month each for every day you go past your set deadline.
4. Get an enforcer
Image by BodyWorn by Utility from Pixabay
For similar reasons as above, we are also very good at letting ourselves off the hook. You are better off getting an enforcer - someone (or something) that will hold you accountable to complete the work.
You could for example, if you chose a monetary consequence from step 3 above, deposit the money with a (trusted) friend and then ask that friend to pay you back a certain amount for every hour you spend in the gym. I once used this technique to 7X my writing productivity. Trust me, it works like a charm. Or more like a whip.
If people are not your cup of tea, or if you feel confident in your abilities to sweet-talk your friends and family into letting you off the hook, you can try the impersonal and ruthless force of software. Sites like stickk.com can be very effective. They allow you to set a goal, a timeline and a consequence. You are in complete control of everything except enforcing the consequence.
The odds are therefore in your favour for completion - if only to avoid the pain of the consequence for missing deadlines.
Transcend Parkinson's Law.
I once heard a speaker say that you cannot break a law, but you can transcend it. Parkinson's Law gives a useful insight into our nature. That is, our tendency to over-complicate our work and to procrastinate.
You can transcend the law using the process shared in this article. Set clear deadlines, timelines and consequences. And hold yourself accountable to them. And if you still find yourself struggling with getting going, this article might help.
Until the next article, be your best and do your best.
