Call me what you will. I am a Johnny/Brenda Come Lately who missed the boat. I had a deadline on the Inscribe page and I missed it. I forgot to send in my blog entry.

I am not a greenhorn, a novice or an upstart. That disqualifies me as a Johnny. I did, however, lose an opportunity, I guess that makes me a boat miss-er. I am shocked, mortified, and ashamed because I rarely (you can even say never!) ever miss deadlines.

I determined to find the cause and the cure. A quick web search revealed several diverse opinions/excuses. Some blame it on poor time management or a lack of priorities. Still others determine it is a lack of impulse control or even poor communication.

One writer insists that we aren’t busy enough and if we would only pile on more deadlines we would be better at keeping up.  Another says that if you missed the date, it’s no big deal, and anyway, consequences are few and far between. (Wouldn’t they make a great spouse?) That explains this quote.

“I love deadlines and the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” ~ Douglas Adams

I love InScribe and what it stands for. I appreciate all the effort that others put in to keep the blogs up and running. I manage my time better than most people I know and InScribe is one of my priorities. So what happened? I simply forgot and my forgetting let the team down.

The first ever “deadline” referred to: a line around a prison. If a prisoner was found beyond that line, he could expect to be shot. Shall you then all descend upon me with pen and ink? Demand my resignation from this volunteer post?

Or does my slip allow us to discuss keeping our writing ducks in a row? What hints do you have? Are you a procrastinator? What tools have you picked up over the years that help you stay on top of things?

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” ~ Parkinson’s Law

It does help to:

Do the hardest thing first.

Fool yourself by marking an earlier deadline on your calendar.

Announce your deadline publically.

Get someone or something to send you reminder emails.

“And why?” you might ask. The answer is that  deadlines are the only reason we ever get anything done.

Brenda J. Wood is a motivational speaker and author.
http://everydaychristian.com
http://heartfeltdevotionals.com
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