The Pitfalls of a Self-Imposed Deadline

on FreeDigitalPhotos by Stuart Miles

My family and I drove from Iowa to North Carolina back to Iowa again in a week...so I decided to post an oldie, but one that still applies to me at this very moment! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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From the time we enter a classroom at the early age of five, we begin to set our feet toward goals...goals to learn the alphabet and sightwords, goals to climb across the monkeybars and jump off swings.

As we grow, we make goals for good grades and fitness tests, goals to get the lead in the play or make the team. Some of us made the goal to be an author way way way before we could even read a full-length novel...Goals, goals, goals.

While many of us were given goals by our teachers, our parents, our advisors, as we trek along in the great wide world on our own—without a publishing contract, perhaps without an agent-- we are sole initiators of our goals. During this process, we all have certainly stumbled upon a type of goal that can motivate us or trip us up, or both:

The self-imposed deadline.

Even the mention of it makes me shudder.

Not that it's bad.

No. It's what gives us the edge most of the time. It's the symptom of an inner drive to make ourselves competitive and productive. A self-imposed deadline is usually a stepping stone to reaching that next level on our journey.

It's the polished entry for a contest... x number of days before to be sure you have it just right.

It's the tweaked proposal ready for your agent's eyes when you are ready to reveal your next idea.

It's that date to finish that final sentence of a manuscript you just know will get you a contract.

It's the date YOU'VE committed to in your heart, without the suggestion from anyone else, without the expectation of anyone else. It's YOUR timeline for YOUR journey, crafted on YOUR very own.

on FreeDigitalPhotos by photo stock

So why does it make me shudder? Why? When self-motivation is often key to keep going forward on this rigorous writing journey?

Because, I have landed heart first in the pitfalls of self-imposed deadlines, and know that they are a very tricky and sensitive type of goal-setting. 

• First, there is a chance that a deadline like this might rush you by key points in the writing process. 
• Second, you risk the chance of unreasonable expectations on those who play on the receiving end of your met goal.

Pitfall #1:  Missed Opportunities- When I had a project in college, I would brainstorm quickly and focus in on the first idea that came to mind. I took it and ran. I would get so deep in the project with that focus on my original idea, that I didn't take the time to entertain other options. If I did come up with something else, I was usually too far into the project and too close to the actual deadline to change anything. I'd look around at my classmates projects and remember that even thought they were slow to start, their final products were strong ideas with well-thought out execution...sometimes mine lacked those things.

As a writer, I often catch myself zoning into a self-imposed deadline, trucking along on a story, and feeling the pressure of the deadline pushing me past any idea that might hold me back from my goal a few days, weeks, or even months. When we force ourselves to stick to a self-imposed deadline, we can forget the fluidity of such a goal, and miss the maturing process of newborn ideas and complex building blocks that might slow us down, but give us a more refined (and desirable) product in the end.

Pitfall #2:  Expectations of the Un-expecting- If I finished a project before the deadline, I could hardly expect my professors to set aside time to grade it and critique it ahead of the rest of the class. It just doesn't work that way. Just because I might have reached my goal, doesn't mean that everyone affected by it are waiting on the edge of their seats to pat me on the back.

This is something that can drive me absolutely batty in the writing world. You mean, I spent all this time working on this manuscript or proposal, and have urged my crit partner to abide by my deadline (and she is so great at getting it back to me), and I sent it to my agent (I so appreciate her responsiveness as she is very quick in sending it on when it's ready)...but the receivers aren't anxious to meet me at my next self-imposed goal of a contract by such and such date? WHAT??? 

Crickets...a rejection here and there...and more crickets.

But I wanna, but I said, but I set a...hmph.

on FreeDigitalPhotos by Clare Bloomfield

The risk of weighting these self-imposed deadlines so heavily, is that we expect others to step in line with them and play the game OUR way. And more often than not, we will be sorely disappointed. We are placing undue expectations on people and situations we cannot control.

Self-imposed deadlines drive us, but they can also drive us CRAZY if we let them become the steadfast rule. Remember, a self-imposed deadline should be fluid and adjusted according to your creative process and life circumstance. And always remember, that a self-imposed deadline is only imposed by you, so don't expect everyone else to mark their calendars too!

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Angie Dicken is a full-time mom and lives in the Midwest with her Texas Aggie sweetheart. An ACFW member since 2010, she has written five Historical Romance novels, has a Historical underway, and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Agency. Angie also spends her time designing one-sheets, selling Jamberry Nail Wraps, and drinking good coffee with great friends. Check out her author page at www.facebook.com/dicken.angie and her personal blog at angiedicken.blogspot.com