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This is the fourth part in the series I've been writing about getting my life together.

"Deadline." What a terrible word.

I used to hate everything about deadlines: the word, the meaning, and the implication. The word sounds as though there are terrible consequences unless it's adhered to, and generally it implies an unpleasant task. While it's true that there can be consequences for missing deadlines, I've decided that the concept is actually a friend rather than a foe.

A deadline, when adhered to, means one of two things: either you got something you wanted to accomplished, or something that you didn't want to do is now done and out of the way. I starting setting deadlines for myself a while ago because I found that I never got anything done that I wanted to do unless I did so. As much as one wants to do something, there are very few people that will actually do whatever it is they want to do unless they set a timeframe for themselves. See people take the path of least resistance, as I've mentioned in the past. It is easier to do nothing than it is to do something, even though doing nothing may lead to unhappiness and discontent.

Ironic, but I found it's better to simply accept one's limitations and work around them.

Most of my goals are fairly straightforward, because I have a relatively uncomplicated life. I have several longer articles that I want to write for OnThePharm, and so I've made notes about them, and then I set my goals. Generally one article per week, depending on what my work schedule is like. I put them on my calendar, and since I reference my calendar several times a day, I always know what my next two weeks look like. My typical routine in the morning involves launching 3 browser tabs: email, my home page with my ToDo list, and my calendar.

This is what my calendar looks like in terms of my deadlines. (The version with just my deadlines is here.) While I do deviate from the timeframes I have set, I don't do it often, and I try to have a very good reason for doing so. For instance yesterday I was going to write and post this entry, but instead I was feeling rather strongly about my "reinvention" kick, so I wrote that instead. It's good to be flexible without just letting the deadlines slide indefinitely. I'm afraid that the structured procrastination method won't work for me because I don't really have a heirarchy of deadlines — everything is equally important and equally moveable.

Chunking

Adding things to your calendar or ToDo list is quite easy. It's easy to say "write X article" or "do Y" but often these things are big. Breaking them down into chunks helps. For instance last year we destroyed the pool in our back yard, and our yard is still a giant mess. There's a huge pile of dirt sitting in the middle, and we need to build a four foot retaining wall in one corner of the yard before the yard can look nice.

Now, I hate doing yardwork and just about all other forms of manual labor, save mowing the lawn, so I actively procrastinate when it comes to doing anything related to cleaning it up. I will sit down and think about the sub-jobs that I have to do. Buying the interlocking bricks for the retaining wall one day. Planning to have one of my buddies come over and help me set them up on another. Having several loads of fill dumped in the space a third day, etc.

Putting "Finish the back yard" on the calendar is simply too big to have it be meaningful. Breaking unpleasant tasks up into many smaller, more achievable ones helps me get them done in a timely fashion without killing myself all in one day or two and hating my life while I'm doing it.

Results

I have found in the 4 weeks or so that I have been setting and following deadlines that I have gotten far more accomplished for myself than I ever have in the past. Those things that I truly want to do that take effort to accomplish are getting done, and it makes me feel good about myself and the work I'm doing. I've found that instead of running out of time late at night, 24 hours is more than enough time to get everything I want to do, done. Work expands to fill the time allotted to it, so don't allot gobs of time and you'll find yourself with more time to do more rewarding things.

Another strange phenomenon is that I find that as the day is winding down, and I've come home from work or what have you, I truly have nothing left to do. I don't feel somewhat guilty about sitting down and watching the baseball game. Because I got everything done that I needed to or wanted to. Now I have to work on truly figuring out how to relax at night without my brain constantly searching for something that I should be doing instead. Instead of unwinding, every 30 seconds my brain says "surely there must be something I should be doing" — but there isn't. That's the hardest part so far with this whole getting things done thing: really relaxing when I am done.

time management, gtd, life hacks, procrastination

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