One of the biggest professional flaws an entrepreneur has is not being able to stick to the deadline s/he sets for themselves because of procrastination or lack of time-management. These are two evils which will wreck your professional life majorly if you fall prey to either.
To manage and complete work on time, most people follow a simple practice of setting deadlines which can be defined as “a time limit, as for payment of a debt or completion of an assignment.”
Deadlines are incredibly useful as they will you with read as soon as the time nears and they are very motivating.
Deadlines are more daunting if someone else sets them for us like a client, boss or a co-worker as in that situation, we’re responsible and liable to someone else regarding our work. However, one major problem faced by millennials in today’s professional world is the inability to stick to the set deadlines to an array of reasons ranging from laziness to emergencies. There are few very successful tips one can avail in order to stick to deadlines.
Mini-milestones
Instead of having a big deadline to adhere to, mini milestones are more effective as they give you a sense of accomplishment and a boost to complete the next task. All you need to do is break your work into chunks and set deadlines to complete every bite-sized chunk. This helps you track your progress and make the whole task a lot more manageable.
Set your deadline in days
This is a very easy and small hack one can avail in order to scare themselves into completing the work within the set deadlines. For instance, instead of saying that a certain amount of work needs to be completed in a week, always set your deadline to “within seven days”. This is a small tweak which will induce panic in you as each day ends and makes you do the work well within a certain deadline.
The reward-punishment method
There is no better way to fool the human mind than making it believe in rewards and punishments. While setting mini milestones for yourself, at the end of each deadline, place a reward which you are entitled to only if you complete certain work within that time frame. Similarly, the reverse, namely the punishment method can also be very efficient as no one wants a negative reinforcement for not being able to stick to self-set deadlines.
