- Scott H Young - https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog -

Budget Your Time: How to Use Deadlines

I have forty minutes to write this article. Do I need to limit my time? Probably not, but I’d like to illustrate a point:

Deadlines are useful tools.

Deadlines are a budget for your time. It makes sense that budgeting your money would be more efficient than spending whatever you feel like. A budget forces you to prioritize. Give yourself a limited amount of money and you will use the resources more efficiently than if you buy on impulse.

The same applies when budgeting time. Since time is limited, giving yourself a deadline forces you to prioritize what is most important and cut away what is least.

Ways to Misuse Deadlines

If deadlines won’t make you a genius or dynamo and can actually cut off faster solutions what good are they?

When to Use Deadlines

It’s taken me a bit of practice to know when I should set deadlines for myself and when I should allow results to come naturally. These aren’t specific rules, but they are guidelines I use to make the decision:

Attributes of a Good Deadline

Be thrifty with your time because you can’t save it or buy any more.