The Most Helpful of Lines

When we hear the word “dead” in a conversation, most of us automatically start to imagine some really bad stuff because dead is something we try to keep away from in most of the ways the word is used. But there is one use of the word “dead” that can, and does, add so much to our lives when used in one particular way — when it’s linked with the word “line”, as in “deadline”.

The origin of the word deadline is very interesting. It came about during the US civil war when prisoners were surrounded by barriers or sometimes just simple lines drawn in the dirt. If a prisoner crossed over these, the guards we under orders to shoot them dead! These boundaries were called deadlines.

These days, deadlines are defined as the time by which something must be finished or is a line or limit that must not be passed. So, it’s not as scary as the original meaning of the word but it can motivate us to get things done so we don’t cross over that line which, today, usually means we’ve failed, or we’ve missed an opportunity.

The good thing about deadlines now is that they can make our world a more organized and efficient place. They force us to push ourselves a little bit harder to do more and be more. Even though this is true, we still often need that little extra push even though you’d think that just the idea of how short life is would make us want to hurry up and get things done.

Sometimes I think that if none of us ever died then we would probably not have a clue why anyone would want to set time limits or deadlines on themselves, since time would not be much of a concern. Why? Because we’d never run out of it. But, of course, we all have a limited amount of time in our days and even in our lives. I mean, the average person lives less than 30,000 days or 720,000 hours. So, it’s important to use the time we have wisely and efficiently. Deadlines are one of those great things that help us do just that.

Just think what it would be like if we didn’t have deadlines for things like:

• Starting or finishing the workday.
• Starting or finishing a school day.
• Business deals or real estate offers to sell, buy or close a deal.
• Expected departure and arrival times for airlines, trains and buses.
• Meeting up with friends or doing things for family.
• When we want to accomplish goals that we’ve set for ourselves.

I think the last one on that list is particularly important. Sometimes those deadlines for our goals are not as immovable as, say, the departure of your flight or when you have to start work each day, but they are just as important. And they should be considered rigid and nonnegotiable. Why set deadlines for goals if you don’t work hard to meet them?

We don’t always make our deadlines but that’s no reason to stop setting them or stop trying to meet them. They give us something to reach for, something to motivate us and they give us a sense of urgency. So, you want to have those deadlines no matter what. Just don’t let those times when you don’t succeed in meeting your deadlines keep you from trying again or trying harder next time.

So, my message for you this week, and really for all of you who would like a productive and more satisfying life, is to keep setting big goals for yourself and be sure to include those deadlines so you can push yourself to use your time wisely and more efficiently. But don’t shoot yourself if you step over the deadline a bit. Just re-boot and try again.

Getting Serious About Deadlines

While I was making plans for a trip to Kauai recently, I was hit by a pretty powerful thought. I was thinking about how I am really organized and efficient when it comes to traveling. I make lists of items I need to take, the things I have to do before I leave, and the people that I need to meet with, email or call before I go. My trips can be lengthy sometimes, so I know all these things need to be done, without question, and there is always an immovable deadline to meet — my flight out. This kind of deadline pushes me to become an almost perfect picture of efficiency and effectiveness.

In other words, when I am truly motivated, I can plow through dozen of tasks quite quickly and smoothly. The motivation for this when I travel is usually that very fixed and non-movable deadline that I couldn’t easily change without a huge expense and hassle. And so, it’s a deadline I am not willing to miss.

Especially now, still early in the beginning of a new year when setting big goals is still on my mind, I get to thinking about how important this is — having goals with deadlines we are not willing to miss. Deadlines, ones we adhere to, are a huge part of what pushes us to be more effective, more efficient, and ultimately more successful!

Think about that for a moment.  Look at your own habits and behavior when you know you have a flight or other seemingly immovable deadline to meet. Don’t you get done what needs to be done? The great lessons here are:

1. We all need to recognize how very beneficial it is to have deadlines attached to our goals.
2. We need to be serious about setting goals with absolute time deadlines that will drive us to do what needs to be done.

Never forget that you and I only have maybe 700,000 hours to get things done in our lifetime, so it’s important to use our time wisely. If you want to accomplish a lot in your life and do big things for yourself, your family, your friends, and for mankind, you need to be efficient and well-motivated.

So, with your next goals, pretend that your deadline is like a flight you have booked to Paris or Hawaii and if you miss it or have to postpone the flight it will cost you a lot of time and money.  Depending on what your goals are, missing a time deadline may actually be more costly than changing a flight. In the long run, a missed goal could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars or even worse if you have a huge loss of confidence or damage your self-esteem. 

The bottom line here is that you should make time deadlines your biggest friend, helper and partner by seeing them as the important, unnegotiable deadlines they really are.

The One ‘Dead’ Thing That Makes You LIVE More LIFE!

Most of us when we hear the word “dead” we automatically think it’s something real bad, and many if not most of the time it is just that. But there is one use of the word “dead” when applied to your life that can and does add much more ‘life to living’; that is when it’s linked with the word ‘line’, as in the word ‘deadline’.

The origin of the word deadline is very interesting. It came about during the civil war when prisoners were surrounded by barriers or sometimes just simple lines drawn in the dirt. If a prisoner crossed over these, the guards we under orders to shoot them dead! These boundaries were called deadlines.

Now deadlines are used to make the world a more organized and efficient place. They force us to push ourselves a little bit harder to do more and be more. Think about this: If none of us ever died then we probably  would not even have a clue why anyone would want to set time limits or deadlines on themselves, since time would not be much of a consideration or may not even seem to exist, at least when wanting to get things done.  Why? Because we’d never run out of it.

But, of course we all have a limited amount of this thing we call time (remember, the average person lives less than 30,000 days or 720,000 hours) so it’s important to use it wisely and efficiently. Deadlines help us do just that.

Think what the world would be without deadlines. What if we didn’t have deadlines for any or all of the following?

1. Time to start or finish work.
2. Time for school to start or end.
3. Response time on business deals or real estate offers to sell, buy or close a deal.
4. Court deadlines for filing document.
5. Departure or arrival times for airlines, trains or buses.
6. Times or dates by which we want to accomplish goals that we’ve set for ourselves.

So my message for this week, and really a message for a productive and more satisfying life, is this—Always set goals for yourself and be sure to set those deadlines as well so as to push yourself to use your time wisely and more efficiently.   But don’t shoot yourself if you step over the ‘deadline’ a bit. Just re-boot and try again.