In trying to motivate ourselves, we constantly undervalue deadlines.
When it comes to working with clients, we see it as a necessary evil. But when it comes to our own work and projects, we tend to think of it as a jail sentence.
True, deadlines might be what some call “negative motivation.” Yet, they move us to action and inspire innovation.
Special effects designer Adam Savage said:
Deadlines refine the mind. They remove variables like exotic materials and processes that take too long. The closer the deadline, the more likely you’ll start thinking way outside the box.
Then, I decided I wanted to create a three-tier offer based on the book. So, I developed bonus content and started putting together what I called Pro Packs.
I wanted the offer to have some urgency, so I put a hard deadline on it. The sales page had a countdown timer too.
But this deadline wasn’t just for my prospects and buyers. It was also for me.
This deadline quickly moved me to action because it meant I would need to create the bonus content, set up the sales page and offers, and promote it in the timeframe I’d set for myself. After that date, the offer was going to go away. So, I needed to act with urgency.
This constraint helped me come up with a lot of great marketing ideas.
Screenwriter Martin Villeneuve said:
Problems are hidden opportunities, and constraints can actually boost creativity.
In total, there weren’t many takers for the most expensive tier in my offer. But because of these efforts, my book ended up having one of its best months.
Why Are Deadlines Effective?
Effectiviology says “deadlines can help reduce the likelihood that you will procrastinate both when they are self-imposed as well as when they are external.”
Basically, deadlines work just as well for personal projects and product creation as they do for client work or work in general.
Further, deadlines are effective because:
They can make your goals feel more concrete. When you don’t have deadlines, you don’t have to show up or do something by a specific date. But if you know you’re going to be running a marathon next month, you’ll spend time preparing because you must.
They can help you throw your hat over the fence. Which means to make a commitment in advance of the action or result. You’ll be less likely to procrastinate, because now you’ve got to chase that hat down.
They can inspire structure. As seen in the personal example I shared earlier, deadlines can inspire innovation and action. When you don’t have deadlines, your next actions can be murky and uncertain. Basically, without a deadline, you let yourself off the hook and allow yourself to be wishy-washy in its completion.
Are Deadlines Always Beneficial?
No, not always.
What matters most is that you use them to your advantage. Not try to create a reality distortion field a la Steve Jobs (unless you want to work yourself to the bone…).
Research has already shown that deadlines don’t always work. And to be honest, no one likes to live in deadline hell. You can set too many deadlines.
So, how can we avoid these pitfalls?
Herbert Lui’s article on The Freelance Creative offers some clues. These are my main takeaways:
Set aside adequate time to work on the deadline. Ensure that you aren’t scrambling to meet a deadline at the last minute. Allocate time to the project in your schedule. And if necessary, set aside the entire week leading up to the deadline just to work on it.
Set tighter deadlines. It’s altogether too easy to let yourself off the hook, work extra buffer time into your deadline, and make it too easy on yourself so there’s no need to innovate. Moving up deadlines can force inspired action.
Minimize unrealistic deadlines. Finishing too soon can end up creating a problem, especially for freelancers. Because if you meet one unrealistic deadline, you will often be rewarded with another unrealistic deadline. You can only pull so many all-nighters, so this is unsustainable. Know when to say “uncle.” Too much can be too much.
Experiment and have fun. You can set deadlines just for fun. See how it feels to set deadlines. Notice how it sharpens your thinking and how it has a way of clarifying your purpose and eliminating distractions.
As human beings, we are much happier when we’ve committed to our partners, friends, businesses, projects, and so forth.
In terms of productivity, deadlines help us focus. They eliminate choices by default, including those that have a tendency to distract us in our daily lives.
What has your experience with deadlines been like?
Do you have too many deadlines? Do you live in deadline hell?
If you’re looking to increase your productivity, you should try batch processing.
It can help you focus on similar tasks for longer without the need to constantly switch tasks and lose productivity.
But in my experience, batch processing can be a little shortsighted if you aren’t doing things the right way. It can even leave you scrambling at the last minute if you aren’t looking ahead.
Here’s how to use Weekflow to improve your batch processing.
What is Batch Processing?
Batch processing is where you group similar tasks together to reduce the productivity loss resulting from task switching.
Let’s say your week looks a little like mine. Most of your time is spent on writing, but aside from that, you also format and schedule posts in WordPress, record podcast content, schedule social media posts, syndicate and distribute content, edit images and videos, and so on.
So, as much as possible, you’d try to group similar tasks on the same day. This is a crude example, but since I do a lot of writing, I’d probably want to batch my writing on Monday through Wednesday. I could make Thursday social media day. And I could make Friday multimedia day (graphics, audio, and video). Finally, I would work on my all my newsletters on Saturday (which is what I already do).
But why would you do things this way?
Jory MacKay, editor of the RescueTime blog found that context switching can affect your overall productivity by 20 to 80%, depending on how many tasks you’re switching between. The more context switching you’re doing, the less productive you are!
If you’ve ever wondered whether there’s a trick to getting more done in your day, it’s this – batch processing.
What is Weekflow?
It’s a concept I came up with a while back (no relation to the app of the same name).
I like batch processing a lot. The main issue I often ran into was accounting for days where task switching was inevitable unless I planned for it far in advance.
Blog posts would sometimes need to be written and scheduled the same day. Which meant I would need to spend time inside Microsoft Word writing the piece, in Photoshop designing a header graphic, and in WordPress formatting and scheduling the post.
I’m used to having to do things that way, but it sort of defeats the purpose of batch processing, because you find yourself having to task switch regardless.
Basically, it’s not enough to think in terms of tasks. You must match up your tasks with your schedule and deadlines to be effective.
That’s why I came up with Weekflow. It’s the process of thinking about what needs to be done by when, and ensuring minimal task switching while engaging in batch processing.
Getting Started with Weekflow – Task & Deadline Breakdown
First, we need to think about the tasks we’re engaged in as well as their respective deadlines.
I’m going to use myself as an example here. Here’s what’s usually on my calendar each week:
I publish a new blog post daily on DavidAndrewWiebe.com and syndicate it to Medium.
I record a new podcast episode every week and publish on Thursday. I usually send out an email letting my audience know about the new episode as well.
I publish at least one new post per week on News Break (usually on Friday).
I publish an installment of Creative Entrepreneur for The Indie YYC on Fridays.
I send out newsletters on Saturday.
I schedule a week’s worth of tweets, usually on a Sunday or Monday.
So, altogether, that looks something like this:
Although I’ve left out other client work and product development, this isn’t always a constant, so I didn’t include it.
Now, it’s time to break everything down into its components.
Blog Posts
Blog posts always have the following in common:
Ideation (all my ideas are stored in my LifeSheet)
Writing
Editing
Header graphic
Additional images
Formatting (headers, bullets, links, bold and italicized text, click to tweets, etc.)
Scheduling
Social media posts
Distribution and syndication
Regardless of whether I’m publishing on one of my own blogs, Medium, News Break, Music Industry How To, or otherwise, publishing usually involves all or most of the above.
Podcast
Recording a podcast has a lot in common with blog posts, except that there are a few additional steps. They are as follows:
Ideation
Scripting/research
Editing
Recording
Audio editing
Metadata
Upload audio to Amazon S3
Header graphic
Additional images
Formatting
Scheduling
Social media posts
Creative Entrepreneur
With the Creative Entrepreneur series, I’m basically repurposing podcast content, so the process is a little different than just recording another podcast or making a video. Here’s what’s involved:
Schedule video for publishing in Creator Studio (Facebook and Instagram)
Newsletters
My weekly digests get repurposed as weekly newsletters (though I do some minor editing). Here’s what’s involved.
Copy and paste content into Mailchimp
Edit (based on audience)
Format
Rinse and repeat
Social Media Posts
Although I’m experimenting with a variety of social networks, my focus this year is Twitter. So, here’s what I need to do to ensure I’m on top of it:
Make a list of tweets to model
Rewrite tweets and put them into my own voice
Schedule tweets
Batch Processing + Weekflow = Effectiveness
Looking at the above, you may feel as I do, that trying to avoid task switching would be a near impossibility.
So, is batch processing even worth the effort? What benefits am I tapping into if I can’t possibly get away from task switching?
Now you’re starting to see the essence of why Weekflow is necessary.
It’s not enough to batch, or even to make the commitment to batch. You must think about how you can effectively set yourself up, each day, for the next. That’s Weekflow.
So, it’s not just a matter of saying I will write on Monday through Wednesday. Each day is about teeing yourself up for the next. It’s about looking ahead and being sure you’re not scrambling on Tuesday because you didn’t spend enough time preparing for it on Monday.
If you do this well, your batching efforts will begin to pay off in droves.
Weekflow Optimization
Okay, so now you understand how to get started with Weekflow, as well as why it’s necessary.
Now we need to talk about how you can optimize your schedule with Weekflow.
This process isn’t difficult. But it can take some time.
By the way, if you don’t have a weekly planning session, good luck trying to optimize your Weekflow. It’s just not going to happen.
But let’s say, for instance, that I wanted to batch my header graphics for the week. Monday would be a relatively good time to do this, as I typically try to ease into my week on Monday and start to wind down on Friday.
During my #StrategySunday session, I would have thought about the content I want to publish throughout the week. It’s entirely possible I’ve brainstormed titles already.
I would take a moment to review these titles and spend some time revising. After all, titles are kind of everything when it comes to getting clicks.
After committing to a set of titles, I would go into Photoshop and make all my header graphics for the week. I would do the same for all my other publishing efforts, identifying in advance what graphics I need to edit and ready for my posts.
It sounds easy, but I’m also publishing on Monday. So, I would have had to thought of that in advance too.
But now you see the problem.
Altogether, it may seem daunting, but Weekflow is simply a process of gradual improvement – Kaizen.
You can only act on the information available. And if you haven’t been batch processing or optimizing your Weekflow yet, then you have no experience to derive from. You need to gain some experience, and when you find something to that doesn’t work, return to the drawing board.
Your Weekflow may never be perfect, and that’s okay. Keep thinking strategically and you will get better at it.
Final Thoughts
It’s not enough to identify the enemy of productivity, which in this case is task switching. You must also come up with an elegant solution.
Batch processing isn’t the solution. It’s just the starting point.
You must execute and know what it feels like. Then you must commit to the process.
Then comes optimization, which in my view, requires Weekflow. I don’t know how else you’re going to make the most of batch processing.
You must have a clear view of what’s coming and be able to tee yourself up, each day, for the next thing, and then the next.
Did you find this helpful? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
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