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How to Make Deadlines Less Stressful and More Motivational
Set more urgent deadlines
If you lack motivation and don't manage to meet your deadlines, try to set a more pressing deadline for yourself. This will give you a sense of urgency to complete the task.
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Set multiple deadlines
A way to create less stressful deadlines is to break large projects into smaller tasks. Set a deadline for each task instead of just one final deadline.
Regularly spacing the deadlines out will give a sense of moving forward, which can motivate you to complete the task.
Yerkes-Dodson law
The Yerkes-Dodson law states that the more mental arousal there is in doing a task, the more efficient a person becomes. After you get to a certain threshold, your performance begins to decrease.
An appropriate quantity of stress should inspire increased productivity.
Your ideal stress level
Difficult tasks require low levels of stress, while easy tasks require high levels of stress to trigger mental arousal.
The next time you set a deadline, try placing a rush deadline for easier tasks and set your deadline far out for more difficult projects.
Set more urgent deadlines
If you lack motivation and don't manage to meet your deadlines, try to set a more pressing deadline for yourself. This will give you a sense of urgency to complete the task.
Share your goals and progress
While we recognize our own procrastination and try to curb it via self-imposed deadlines, these aren't always as effective as deadlines set for them by others.
If you don't have a boss or project sponsor who's setting deadlines for you, it might be worth asking someone to become your accountability partner.
Turn deadlines into a game
It is naturally harder for us to concentrate on a task or measure progress on a project when we're bored.
To overcome this, turn the task into a game and include rewards, to make it more fun and motivating.
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Deadlines aren’t a perfect solution
Though deadlines can often help you avoid procrastinating, research also shows that they don’t always work, and there are situations where increased flexibility can be better, in terms of person...
Why deadlines are effective
- They can reduce the likelihood that you will procrastinate.
- They help make your goals feel more concrete, by attaching them to a specific timeline.
- They help you pursue your goals and complete tasks in a timely manner by serving as a precommitment device.
- They can also help you get things done on time by providing you with structure.
How to set effective deadlines
- Deadlines should be concrete. You are much more likely to abide by concrete deadlines.
- Deadlines should be realistic. When choosing a deadline for a task, you should pick one that gives you a sufficient amount of time to complete the task.
- Deadlines should be meaningful. You should make sure that you can’t just ignore your deadlines, and that there is some motivation for you to adhere to it.
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Procrastination Paradox
This is similar to Parkinson’s Law, which states that “work expands so as to fill the time availab...
Urgency Bias
When we are facing multiple deadlines, we often tend to focus on the tasks in front of us rather than the ones that seem far off, regardless of how important they might be.
Planning Fallacy
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The Dip
Extraordinary benefits accrue to the tiny minority of people who are able to push just a tiny bit longer than most.
The Start before the Dip
The Start is a much bigger problem since you can’t reach The Dip if you don’t get through The Start, and many more people fantasize about doing something than actually do it and give up.
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