Christmas, Deadlines, and Procrastination
Christmas is a deadline that can’t be postponed.
4 benefits of deadlines:
- Focus.
- Urgency.
- Decisiveness.
- Action.
Deadlines don’t work when goals don’t capture hearts and minds. December 25 is just another day if you celebrate Hanukkah. But if you celebrate Christmas, you busily prepare to meet the deadline.
Own it:
People miss deadlines because they don’t own goals.
Goal-ownership makes deadlines meaningful and useful. Explain goals in terms that matter to others rather than you.
Discuss, clarify, and if necessary, sell goals.
Goal-ownership:
#1. How do current goals fulfill organizational mission?
How would your team members respond if you asked them to connect current activity to organizational mission?
Generic mission yields apathy.
Make mission clear enough to be actionable on a daily basis.
A note on mission:
Mission is about the people you serve, not the benefit you receive. “Making a profit,” is the RESULT of fulfilling your mission, but profit isn’t a mission.
When profit is your mission, it’s a mask for greed.
(Neglecting profit is doom. The issue is the way it’s earned.)
#2. How do today’s goals help you get where you want to go?
Deadlines motivate when goals have meaning. Connect goals with personal aspiration.
#3. How might your strengths help you meet your goals?
Build on the strengths and skills that enable performance.
10 reasons people procrastinate:
- Goals seem unattainable.
- Deliverables are insignificant.
- Poor time management skills.
- Lack of follow-through from leadership. Missing deadlines didn’t matter in the past.
- Poor alignment between skills and activities.
- No compelling ‘why’. Goals are not tied to mission or vision.
- Discouragement.
- Fear of failure. Lack of confidence causes foot-dragging.
- Perfectionism. A perfectionist uses perfection as an excuse for delay.
- Deadlines are distant. A deadline set for the day after tomorrow has more impact than a deadline set a month from now.
What’s important about setting effective goals and deadlines?
Why do people miss deadlines?
I have learned over my nearly 40 years in the official work force to build goals that I can achieve. I start out by analyzing the situation and give prelinary expectations. I have learned to err on giving margin fro said goals and then to always over deliver in a shorter time than imagined. If changes occur along the way I communicate so the goal achievement date can be moved out. But then again I’ve gotten to this point by experiences so you must exercise the young ins with less experience so that they can also be so skilled. Merry Christmas everyone.
Thanks Roger. Sometimes we like to prove our competence and value by setting goals big goals. In an organization that expects people to reach their goals, this is counter productive. Your strategy helps us overcome this tendency.
Under-promise. Over-deliver.
Merry Christmas, Roger.
Generic missions yield more than apathy, they generate institutional chaos.
If you don’t really know where you’re going, any which where’ll getcha there, soooo….
the path of least resistance is …
Socializing/delegating the risk/costs while privatizing/personalizing the benefits/profits.
“Wouldn’t wanna be the vice-president of THAT f’up.”
Generic or poorly formulated missions FAIL because they don’t induce courage.
Thanks Rurbane. Your comment brings to mind the rigor of crafting a mission that degenerates into day-to-day action.
Love the idea of mission that calls for courage! One way to evaluate the usefulness of organizational mission is to ask, “How is this calling for us to act with courage?” Maybe, “What aspects of our mission cause discomfort and fear?”
What’s important about setting effective goals and deadlines?
1. Few is better than many–Don’t set too many goals! Just set three goals for 2020.
2. Explain the consequences if the goal isn’t met.
Why do people miss deadlines?
1. In some cases, people learn there are no consequences for missed deadlines.
Happy Holidays to one and all!
Thanks Paul. Love your insights. When we limit goals it forces us to consider careful. What do we really want to accomplish. It also creates better focus. We’ll be less likely chase shiny objects.
What happens if we fail? Now that’s a question.
Happy Holidays, Paul.
After Christmas there was always a let down….a kind of, “was this all worth it?” When goals are set and attained that feeling of success vs. let down is hard to differentiate. It all becomes a way of life.
Thanks Mark. Very interesting insight. The attainment of goals can cause let down, maybe, apathy. Brief celebration and new goals seem in order.
It seems that the pursuit of goals is more powerful than attainment. I want to attain, but day-to-day pursuit is the pattern of life.
“I love deadlines. I like the wooshing sound they make as they fly by.” Douglas Adams (author)
Wonderful post Dan
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with us.
Wishing you all the best for the festive days and for the upcoming New Year !
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