Taking the Dread out of Deadlines
What do you think of when you hear the word “deadline?” If you are like most people, you probably get tense, stressed and get the “dread” attitude. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Deadline-oriented work from home projects can be your friend, and they can be a valuable motivator. As a solo-preneur, if you don’t set deadlines your goals will never be met. We know that’s not what you want.
So let’s talk about the types of entrepreneurs and their personality traits in regards to deadlines. There seems to be three different types of entrepreneurs when it comes to the topic of deadlines.
Type 1 Entrepreneur
You see a deadline, procrastinate to the very last moment, stress out to meet it, but you succeed with your best work.
Problem: While you’re producing your best work, your health and well-being begin to suffer due to unnecessary stress. Your family, home and other personal responsibilities may suffer from your poor time management as well.
Recommendation: Set your deadline in half: by hours or days. Make this your new deadline and stick to it. Complete your task, let it sit overnight for final reviews and revisions, and your best work will be met with time to spare. More importantly, you will have less stress and better health.
Type 2 Entrepreneur
You see a deadline, get to it right away, finish the job early with extra revisions, and produce your best work with time to spare. With the extra time, you seek out more deadlines and repeat your cycle, over and over and over again.
Problem: While you’re also producing your best work, you are prone to taking on more responsibilities and duties. You try to fit two or three more deadlines within the initial one deadline assignment. By over-committing, your health, business, and family life begin to suffer.
Recommendation: Finish deadline number one and pass it in prior to its due date if you’d like. Now, celebrate! Take a much needed break. Enjoy extra family time, personal time, or just relish in the luxury of having a silent moment to rest and relax.
Type 3 Entrepreneur
You have so many deadlines to don’t know what to do, where to start, and your completed assignment is sub par work.
Problems: By over-committing yourself, you’re constantly stressed out, your reputation and work begins to suffer, deadlines are missed, mistakes are made, clients dwindle, and you can’t manage your business, household and family relationships successfully.
Recommendations:
- Delegate work: outsource duties, utilize interns or paid professionals at an hourly rate lower than yours.
- Seek a business mentor, coach and/or advisor. Don’t know where to find them? At HBWM.com (Home Based Working Moms); we have a Panel of Experts available for general Questions and Answers, and individualized coaching for hire.
- Join a network organization with like-minded people and similar business structures. I find that other home-based working moms willingly share their tips, tools and resources to help you succeed in business as well as at home. For example, at HBWM.com, we have forums for you to network with thousands of moms so you can stay motivated, accountable and empowered.
I, too, found myself fall into each of the above categories at different stages of my business growth. Through trial and error, I found success in applying my own recommendations to meet my deadlines.
So, don’t hate deadline-oriented work at home projects—be motivated by them.
Lesley Pyle is the founder and president of HBWM.com Inc. which includes the national association of Home-Based Working Moms helping moms network, learn and grow in their role as a Home-Based Working Mom and HireMyMom.com connecting at-home Mom Professionals with home-based jobs and projects in virtually every career field. Pyle has been featured in numerous publications including Forbes, Entrepreneur, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Home Office Computing, and many others. Twitter @lesleypyle and @hiremymom.
Check out these other great articles about productivity / time management as a work from home professional. Also check out our current job postings for mom professionals.
Productivity & Time Management, Work from Home Success, Work from Home Tips