Well friends, I think the title speaks for itself this week considering this post was meant to go live over two weeks ago. Procrastination - reinforced by third trimester exhaustion and loss of stamina - has gotten the better of me this week. Between a beautiful baby shower, jumping back into renovations, and the daily maintenance of a full time job and household, my husband and I are running just slightly ragged, and we know - baby isn’t even here yet!
Suffice it to say the creative life has become one of planning to do instead of doing. However, when this happens I always find that leaning into deadlines can actually be more helpful than hindrance. Instead of feeling like they are pressing in on me as constraints and demands, they offer a calm expectation, a reminder that in order to enjoy creativity we have to do creativity. Having that time in place to say this is when you want to enjoy the finished product or the result you have to put in the creative effort prior to that point.
The biggest example of this right now is our Ravenclaw diamond art piece I have been talking about for months. I want to have this last one hanging up beside the other three in the nursery before baby boy gets here. I have about five estimated weeks to get this done. How do I get to this moment of blissful enjoyment? I have to sit down and put the tiny little gemstones onto the sticky pattern paper. I already farmed out two of the four house crests to my Dad who is amazing and got them done for me in record time, but I want to finish this one.
For me, the key with deadlines, for example when it comes to the weekly blog posts I am trying to uphold as best as I can, is that I need to combine deadlines with grace. I understand that in the real world, the realm of careers and scheduled activities, deadlines are not moveable, they are concrete structured entities that ensure things get done because they need to get done. However, in my creative life, that is not always possible, especially when those other real life deadlines have to be dealt with first.
When to use a deadline
In a work situation where others rely on you to do your part in a timely manner.
This one makes a lot of sense to most people, and if it doesn’t then you are not a deadline kind of person, and that;s okay! However, whether you are part of a creative team, a business arrangement, or relying on others to help give feedback or receive something from you, time is of the essence and deadlines can help us prioritize and manage our time to ensure we stay on track and efficient.
When you want to reach a point of enjoyment of a product or outcome that you must create.
We all want to make it to the light at the end of the tunnel. There are times when our creative projects and efforts feel like they are all in vain. If you are engaging in the act of doing because you want to see something manifest, it usually means you have to be the one to get it done. If enjoyment in the final result is your motivation, I may argue that we need to work on some more process related motivation, but wanting to enjoy the result of your creative energy is more than enough reason to impose a deadline. That way you are able to manage resources effectively and know that there is an end coming, that the process is not endless, and that there is an endpoint in sight.
When you want to use your time more efficiently for a specific task.
Deadlines are a great way to increase efficiency; they force us to prioritize resources and keep us accountable. If you find yourself using your creative time for other activities or other aspects of your hobby or business, having a deadline of a piece, project, or step may be useful in maintaining focus. It can also lead to less time spent or required for any given project as it narrows the focus. Instead of feeling pulled to do everything at once, a deadline helps us laser in on what essentially needs to be done before progress can be made. In essence, the deadline gives us the blueprint and the building blocks instead of the finished sketch we’re working towards. When we can see the progress in this way we can better manage ourselves to see it through instead of stalling out with overwhelm.
How to Make and use a deadline
If you have the luxury of making one for yourself for the goal of enjoying the output of your energy, make sure it is achievable and mildly flexible.
As always, grace must be part of the deadline mindset. That is not to say we make deadlines all willy-nilly and never have to stick to them, that would render them pointless altogether. What I mean to say is that a deadline made for our own sense of enjoyment cannot be a source of shame in our creative lives. It is a goal we strive towards, not a goal that will make or break our experience. If we find that we set deadlines we are consistently unable to achieve, we need to recognize that we may need more time to complete this task. If we are consistently twiddling our thumbs, we may be working on too long a leash. When we begin making deadlines we need to use them on a trial and error basis to gauge how we can harness them to work for us and our practice.
Use it as a marker, not a schedule maker.
Having a deadline does not necessitate you creating a schedule to meet that deadline. Sounds wrong, but it works! I use a deadline as a milestone marker, a point I want to get to, however, in an effort to integrate, I try to use it as a reminder that when I have five minutes, or am sitting staring at a wall with my cats, that I can use this time to meet that deadline. I do not immediately plan hours or squirrel away minutes in a spreadsheet to track when and how I will make myself meet said deadline. The deadline is not meant to create a pressure cooker situation, it is meant to give us a sense of accountability and show us how we use our time.
Use it as an accountability partner to hold you to task.
Deadlines in relation to creativity cannot be built for the purpose of pressure, shame, guilt, or coercion. Creative deadlines need to be firm yardsticks by which you measure your ability to complete a task and then, based on either meeting it or missing it, adjust your expectations of yourself to reflect a realistic timeline of your process that actually works in your life. Deadlines hold us accountable to ourselves and to our work. They help us navigate our lives to see how we perform and where we need to make changes. Using them as an accountability partner as an opportunity to reflect and pivot on our creative journey is using a deadline to its fullest and most productive potential.
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