I’ve always found deadlines to be strangely helpful when needing to come up with new ideas and content. This would definitely fit into what Scott H Young calls the Push.
What he’s established are the misuses of deadlines, as well as when to use deadlines for completing projects.
Attributes of a Good Deadline
Objective – Have you reached your goal? If the answer can’t be answered with either yes or no, you need to rephrase it. Vague goals are useless candidates for deadlines. Possible – Does your deadline fit your plan or is it wishful thinking? Don’t buy groceries on an empty stomach on don’t set deadlines when drunk with motivation. Elimination – Can you eliminate parts of your plan if there isn’t time? You need to know what to abandon if you run out of time. Chunked – Break your deadline into components. For this article, I’ve given myself forty minutes to write and ten to do an image.
Budget Your Time: How to Use Deadlines – [ScottHYoung]
That’s a pretty interesting way to break down a deadline. Usually I go about the deadline and finish it up before it is due, but never break it down the way you have it. Probably will take a little practice to divide up to similar components as written in this entry.
Breaking up seems like a good idea to me.
[...] track when you have a lot to do, but when they pile up they can leave you stressed and desperate. LifeHack.org has linked to a post that offers advice on how to use deadlines effectively so that you can avoid [...]
I totally agree that deadlines can motivate action. I also think prioritizing by start date is really important.
What I like to do is pick a due date, then work backwards from that date (adding buffer to budget against Murphy’s Law) to assign myself that date I should get started.