Loud Thinking November 04, 2013 at 02:47PM

Don’t Extend the Deadline—Plan Better

You may want to rethink postponing that deadline. Although it’s a relief to be “given” more time, we rarely use extensions wisely; instead, we lose motivation, procrastinate, and wind up facing the same situation again later. Address poor time planning with these tips:
Shorten the distance to your ultimate goal. This will keep motivation high, and keep the pressure on for procrastinators. Impose interim deadlines, breaking a larger objective up into mini-targets spaced out strategically in time. These deadlines need to be meaningful, though— if it’s no big deal to miss the deadline, then it’s not a real deadline.
Become a realistic judge of how longs things will take. Consider how long it’s taken to complete similar projects in the past, and try to identify the ways in which things might not go as planned. Break the project down in detail, estimating the time needed to complete each step and allowing for snags in your schedule.

Adapted by HBR from “Here’s What Really Happens When You Extend a Deadline,” by Heidi Grant Halvorson.

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