People go on crash diets and suddenly start exercising weeks before class reunions. Formerly obstinate spouses desperately agree to counseling when they realize their partner is considering divorce. Employees agree to take the training when they realize that if they don’t learn the skill, they’ll be replaced.
Deadlines get people moving. I sat next to a university professor on an airplane awhile back. She had accomplished a great deal in her life. She told me she did it by creating “kill”
dates.
I asked what she meant by that. She explained that her father had been a butcher. A kill date is the day that an animal is slaughtered. When you’re in a meat market, you can look at the “kill date” printed on a package of meat to see how fresh it is. “I decide when I’m going to ‘kill’ my projects,” she explained.
“i
force myself to hit deadlines. Last week, for example, I told our dean, ‘I’ll have this project to you by Thursday afternoon at two.’ By setting that boundary, I made myself accountable to finish the project by two on Thursday. The dean suddenly expected 22
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