Deadlines ensure work is done in a reasonable time or faster than it would have otherwise been done. They’re powerful, create extra pressure and get stuff done, but they can be hard to stay on top of when you have multiple deadlines running simultaneously.
This is more a lesson for myself:
In the last few months, I’ve found myself constantly reacting to workload and deadlines. The result is that deadlines are close or missed. This is due to a lack of organisation on my part.
When you’re faced by so many ‘priorities’ with different deadlines, it’s easy to prioritise the one screaming the loudest (someone pressuring you or the deadline itself). This means little time gets spent on the most important work and little of importance is done.
The way to avoid this is to work backwards from the deadline or if there’s no deadline, find out, or create one and work backwards. This way you know when you should be 50% done and what should be done by then.
It also means planning your week and month so you have at least 2 blocks of deep work time per day to work on the most important assignments.
You also need to think about who else will be involved and allow time for their part (e.g. translation, proofing etc.) way before the deadline.
I would set artificial deadlines to allow for these eventualities.
In terms of working on multiple projects through the week, it’s important to know what to work on, when and for how long.
If a piece of work will take 12 hours to complete the first draft, you’ll need to factor in translation, proofing time and rewriting time for example. Assume for this example that this takes you to 20 hours. If you have a month to complete it, don’t count the final week. You’ll have 3 weeks and will need to allow at least 12 hours per week or 2.4 hours per day to work on it and then send it straight on to whoever else is working on it as you finish each draft. This builds in a buffer to make sure it gets done.
This is where time-blocking comes in. You build 2x 2+hours where you focus on one important task only. Set a flow routine and get going. Turn off notifications and tell people not to disturb you if needed. Email and other admin should be scheduled outside of these times and should be minimal. Your meaningful productivity will grow fast.
Have a calendar or visual reminder (ideally physical, but Trello works fine if you use it daily). This visual reminder tells you everything you have on, when you’re going to work on each thing and the artificial and real deadlines.
Tick off everything you’ve done to give you a motivational boost.
Productivity takes planning time, but it’s worth the time and effort. You’ll be amazed at the results.
Afterwards, reflect on what went well and what you could do better next time.
Finally, look for ways to put your creative stamp on it and have fun!
How do you deal with multiple deadlines?
Let’s start a conversation.
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