The Power of Deadlines

Deadlines: the bane of the writer's existence, right? At least, that's what you'd think to hear us complain sometimes...but I think we may be missing an important benefit of the world of deadlines. Deadlines can be a pain, sure, but they can also be a terrific tool to boost your focus and productivity.

In this way, writing is analogous to running: you can’t improve your speed and stamina by running the same route at the same speed day after day after day. If you want to become stronger, faster, better, you need to do sprints and long distance runs and hill intervals. You need to push yourself.

In the writing world, deadlines give you that extra push.

Here are some benefits of the Dedlinus dreadicus, otherwise known as the common deadline:

1. Increased focus. If you're on a deadline, your sense of urgency increases. Increased urgency activates your fight-or-flight response, which ups your ability to concentrate. Ask any kid with ADHD—heck, ask any college student: it’s a hundred times easier to focus when you’re studying the night before the exam (or writing the paper the night before it’s due) than when it’s still two weeks away.

2. Increased productivity. We tend to work harder when someone else is pushing us—which is why athletes work with coaches and personal trainers. You might think you're working as hard as possible, but a deadline can encourage you to push just a bit harder...rise an hour earlier, work an hour later, or add an evening writing session in lieu of an evening sitcom. 

3. Increased resistance to distractions. This is probably a subset of #1, but I thought it deserved its own mention. When you’re on a deadline, it’s easier to skip that lunch out with friends, postpone that visit to LOLCats, or scribble notes in the doctor's waiting room when you might otherwise spend the time reading one of those shiny magazines. A distraction provides a bit of whip-cracking to keep you on task.

4. It helps you move past writing humps. I’m not sure why this works, but according to my highly scientific poll of writing friends, it does. Maybe it’s that, when you're on a deadline, you don't have time to be stuck—and so even though you still hit those bumps in the road, you tend to push past. I suspect this is a reflection of Anne Lamott’s instructions in Bird by Bird: you have to give yourself permission to write a sh*!y first draft. Once that draft’s in hand, the rest is downhill.

4. It shows you that you can do more than you thought you could do. This is the pot of gold I’ve discovered at the end of my recent deadline: I rewrote a book in less than a month. 80,000 words, changing from first person to third, changing from present tense to past, eliminating a character, adding scenes, clarifying plot points…When I started, truthfully, I didn’t think I could do it. I only started because, well, what else was I going to do? And somehow, at some point, I realized that I was doing it. Really, honestly doing it. And that knowledge gave me the boost I needed to push a little harder and reach the finish line.

When you meet a deadline—especially an impossible-seeming deadline—it wraps you up in confidence. You know your writing has importance, because you made it a priority. You know you can do the impossible, because you did.

And you know you can do it again—and that the next time, it will be a little easier.

What about you? Do you give yourself deadlines? Or do you have deadlines imposed on you externally? Any suggestions for creating effective deadlines?

PS: I wrote the first draft of this post—363 words, to be exact—on the Write or Die website in ten minutes. Thanks, S Wesley Steam, for the recommendation!