Flexible deadlines - Squeeze the most out of FAST - The payoff

Writing FAST - Jeff Bollow 2012

Flexible deadlines
Squeeze the most out of FAST
The payoff

My own experience with this book tells me two things.

First of all (to bend a famous quote), “Deadlines are a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies...”

Without my self-imposed deadlines, you wouldn’t be reading these words. If you think you’re a pretty snappy procrastinator, I assure you, I’m better. I procrastinated for five hours today! Even after I told you yesterday that I shouldn’t do that!

Deadlines are incredibly valuable. So valuable, that I don’t think you should even start a project without one.

But the second thing my experience tells me, is that by giving yourself too narrow a deadline, you cause undue stress. Unless you’ve got a hard deadline from an editor or professor or someone else leaning over your shoulder, make your deadline flexible.

I gave myself a five-week deadline for this book.

I planned three weeks to write (to Focus and Apply), and two weeks to rewrite (to Strengthen and Tweak).

Jeez. I was clueless. It wasn’t anywhere near enough time.

Instead, it took four weeks to Focus and Apply it.

And as I approached the five-week deadline, my nights were sleepless, and my days were filled and worry. And it got worse.

When I started Strengthening (something I had never tried to do on a book before!), I discovered that it took me considerably more time than I expected.

I pushed back my deadline. And I didn’t even set a new date.

I spent three weeks Strengthening and Tweaking.

And now that I’m done, I wouldn’t mind another three weeks, to be honest.

The lesson is simple. Set a deadline. A hard deadline — and really push to get it done. (You’ll never finish, if you don’t.)

But don’t go crazy in the process.

Particularly when you’re just starting out (or writing a style you’re not used to), keep it flexible.

The goal is to train yourself to write faster and faster.

Not to race to an early grave.