How to Avoid Deadlines - Teen Tips
Don't set yourself more work than you can manage.
That way, you'll be able to work at your own pace in a stress free manner, knowing that you will be able to get it done exactly when you need it done. If you've got the right amount of work in your hands, any deadline for it won't seem so pressing.
Don't become a writer.
Deadlines. Deadlines everywhere. It's raining deadlines. I'm swimming in deadlines. I'm breathing in the deadlines. I'm dreaming of deadlines. Deadlines have become a part of me. I have become a deadline.
Because I'm a writer.
And my God do writers have a lot of deadlines.
If you don't like deadlines, find a different career path!
Do you get stressed with deadlines?
Ignore them.
But you'll probably get fired from your job.
Or you'll fail college.
If you've got deadlines you can't really ignore them. And that's why you need to get rid of them.
Getting rid of your deadlines.
Become less attached to your work.
If you're not working for a client then don't set yourself any deadlines that you don't need, just work for yourself without pressure. You'll find that without the pressure you'll probably actually get more work done than if a deadline were stressing you out.
Are your goals that important?
You need to become aware of the importance of your goals. Give some goals higher priority and let the others get done when they get done. It doesn't matter how quickly you do things.
If deadlines make you stressed you aren't living a healthy lifestyle and your work isn't making you happy. So just organise things correctly and you'll get everything done and the deadline will still be weeks away.
Successfully avoided! Yippie!
Get things done before the deadline.
If the deadline is a month away, don't leave it for three weeks because that's when the deadline starts to taunt you. Instead, do it now, give yourself a leniant deadline of a week that you would like to hit, but know that it wouldn't be a disaster if you didn't. That way, you've got plenty of time for overspill if you don't get things done when you'd have liked to.
Knowing you've got extra time will mean the deadline will seem less intimidating.
Become less attached
You don't need to work to deadlines. Life is too short to become attached to this sense of duty that you feel to get things done. So just drop if for a while, chill, do something that makes you happy. You don't need a responsibility. You don't need a goal. Just work as you wish to work. And when you're ready again, be open to the idea of deadlines and welcome them with open arms.
Don't treat them as your enemy.
Work with the deadline and it will be your friend. Soon enough you won't feel the want to avoid it.
The way I see it, nothing is permanent. Once the deadline has passed that's it, it's over and you never have to worry about it again. So just see it as the start of freedom. The deadline is your goal that you are so damn excited to reach. Once you've made it you're free!
Thank you deadline for freeing me.
See? Optimism is great.
Don't worry.
At the end of the day, the deadline isn't going to be with you forever.
Comments
Heather, I love your Emerson quote, Every artist was first an ameutar. A friend, who also attended the conference, and I were just talking about that subject. In any creative endeavor, periods of verbal self-flagellation are inevitable. When I was painting, we called it the Uglies. That term still works in my writing. I force myself to work through it. Writing everyday (with occasional exceptions) is a rule. I put pen to paper, or fingertips to keys for at least an hour. That usually turns into two or four. My mantra is Just do it. (By the way, I used that term before Niki!)
