No More Deadlines

"Deadline" is a terrible word. Besides, it only exists because someone created and imposed a plan. I don't do plans anymore.

Merriam Webster defines deadline as follows:

1 : a line drawn within or around a prison that a prisoner passes at the risk of being shot
2 a : a date or time before which something must be done b : the time after which copy is not accepted for a particular issue of a publication

"A line drawn within or around a prison that a prisoner passes at the risk of being shot???"

And you want to use that word to describe your own date you impose on yourself?

I hereby declare that I won't use this word any more, nor have plans that impose them.

I may have "target dates" but never deadlines.

Don't need a plan either. We all can greatly benefit from desires and intentions, a.k.a. goals, but I reject the age-old wisdom that you need a "plan."

You need an approach, a strategy. You also need a clearly defined objective. But you don't need a plan.

And I wouldn't put dates on it either. That's too restrictive to the Universe. You never know when or how it might deliver your desires to you, possibly sooner than you thought, possibly later. If you're locked into a plan you'll probably miss it.

There's another age-old saying:

"All battle plans go out the window when the first shot is fired."

There's a lot of truth to that. If you don't believe it ask yourself the last time you planned any kind of project and it worked out as you planned -- in virtually any way. Be realistic now. Did you *really* need three dozen chicken wings? Or did three dozen fall short? Did everyone arrive "on time?" No. Did the event start when it was supposed to? No. Did it really take a month, or was it three months?

On a longer term project, forget about it. There are so many variables that you constantly have to change your "plan." So then what good is it?

The only benefits of a plan as far as I can see are:

• It gives you a sort of ballpark guess as to the future
• It acts as a motivator to focus your energy and drop the unnecessary
  
• It expresses your objectives (if done well)
• If reviewed regularly it reminds everyone of the objectives
• Lets you see how far off you were in the beginning

But guess what? You don't need a plan to have any of these benefits.

In large companies plans are required because they deceptively calm the fear of those in charge -- their fear of failure.

It also takes a lot of time to plan thoroughly. And you have to keep updating the plan. That's a waste of time. It never works.

So as I toss plans out of my life, I toss "deadlines" too -- a horrible word leaves me life, just because I decided it would be so.

So you ask, "What if a client gives you a 'deadline'?" I answer that it's still just an objective, a "target date." In fact, how many times have you seen businesses rush at the last minute, only to make mistakes or leave things out, in order to make an arbitrary deadline. Or how many times have you seen them deliver "late" but absolutely kill it. Who cares at that point?!

Besides, in most professions there's a lot of creative and evolutionary growth that happens leading up to a rich deliverable to the customer. You have great ideas in the middle of the process. If you're too stuck on the deadline, the plan, they won't ever happen.

Paul Newman had a sign up on the wall in the little shop where he started and ran the wildly successful "Newman's Own" brand:

"If we have a plan, we're screwed."

Over time, just through revenues from that company he donated over $120 million to charity.

The key is to act with well defined intention, and follow the creative ideas and opportunities the Universe presents to you daily. Don't lock yourself into a box.

So, goodbye deadlines. Goodbye plans.

Hello intelligent and creative doing, free flowing inspiration, with single-pointed intention to fulfill my desires and intentions.

-Forsyth