"Imagine this: you’re in the middle of designing some full color brochures, or maybe some postcard marketing strategy, and you have exactly three days left to get the job done. You’re giving the task your full attention when suddenly something else comes up. Maybe you’re given another job as well and you’re told it’s urgent, you need to get it done right away, but you still have the business brochures to finish up with. What do you do?
Managing your time under deadlines isn’t always the easiest thing to do, especially when you take into consideration time for yourself. Few people can manage working all day and night without any time to simply relax, and to deny the advantages of having some much-needed down time is a problematic mindset. Do you have a family? When do you get to spend time with them? Just because you have brochure printing to take care of, does that mean you shouldn’t be able to have any time to do anything else?
Prioritizing is something many people have a lot of trouble wrapping their minds around. I have a friend of mine who works in advertising for a small computer company and routinely has to deal with tight deadlines. The key for him is to really focus on how much time he has for a project versus how long he thinks it will take for him to get the job done. All of this is counterbalanced with his ability to keep his sights on his own life.
If he’s given a project to design a full color brochure, he’ll first take the time to go over everything he needs to do, make sure of when the deadline is, and look over any other jobs he currently has to work with. When those urgent tasks do come up he already knows how much time he’ll need for his primary project, allowing him to remain calm in the face of the urgent. And yes, when push comes to shove, he’ll go to his boss and he’ll explain his situation. Sometimes those urgent affairs simply have to be handled by someone else.
This groundwork he’s laid for himself is helpful when it comes to any kind of deadline. Sometimes the size of a workload takes up all of a person’s attention, and so when the unexpected intrudes they’re quick to let stress take over, and once you’re stressed you aren’t going to be in the right state of mind to handle things. But if you realize you have enough time still to take care of the postcard marketing campaign or whatever else you happen to be currently working on, you can remain composed in the face of emergencies. The improvement in your ability to handle all tasks will be easily seen.
Approaching deadlines have a habit of getting to everyone from time to time. I certainly don’t like it when I’m immersed in a project about to be due and suddenly the unexpected puts a screeching halt on my progress. The one thing that will help the least is falling to pieces or getting stressed out. If you manage your time appropriately and remain aware of all the facts of a situation, not only will you be able to take care of the problems, you’ll easily be able to meet your deadlines at the same time.
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