When we give ourselves a deadline, many people make the mistake of doing the work as the deadline approaches. Some authors give themselves a month to write a book they were supposed to write within a year. As the deadline approaches, we put in more work than we have ever put in before.
Instead of living the crunch time lifestyle as the deadline approaches, why not do the work in the beginning. I was recently listening to one of Seth Godin’s lectures, and he explained what happens when people work in the beginning and when people start working as the deadline gets dangerously close.
The people who work in the beginning are able to get their goals accomplished before the deadline. Working in the beginning and finishing before the deadline will give you the overdelivering effect which is always good to have.
The people who start working towards the deadline create an overwhelming schedule that is virtually impossible to implement unless sacrifices are made for that period of time. Some bloggers who try to write a book sacrifice updating their blog to add content to their books as the deadline approaches.
Working in the beginning will save you a lot of time and stress. Starting to work towards the end will result in deadlines that are not reached. The reason most people do not get their New Year’s resolutions accomplished is because they start working to accomplish their resolutions with 6 weeks to go before the New Year.
There are two choices that you have. You can either start early or rush in a desperate attempt to get some goals accomplished as the deadlines approach. Your best bet is to start early so you aren’t cramming everything in later.
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