Deadlines: Debunking the Dawdler's Dilemma

It's time to be bold

and share your goals.

Now, don't be a mole.

Go for the gold.

I didn't intend to write a poem. (I don't consider myself a poet at all.)

I am clarifying my ideas for this week's writing.

Having goals and motivation to follow through on a task is one thing. Doing the work and seeing it emerge into the world is quite another thing.

When I wrote the word emerge, I pictured a baby being birthed. The tiny, innocent thing was finally pushed out into the world, ready to start its journey, live its own life, have its own goals, and be its own person.

But I also thought about the moment of conception: the instant when sperm meets egg, and—wham—life. Then, the fertilized egg burrows into the womb wall, nourished by the mother, kept warm and cozy, protected, developing, and growing until that moment of birth.

• Creation.
• Creativity.
• Create.

Artists, creatives, and makers germinate seeds of ideas all over the place.

Like the moment of conception, it's easy to spark an idea:

• I'm going to write a novel.
• I'm going to paint a picture.
• I'm going to have a garden.

I'm going to:

• sew a dress.
• throw a pot.
• carve a vase..
• compose a song
• make a cake.

The egg of an idea seeks a place to develop.

It needs nothing at first. An egg, like a chicken's egg, has everything it needs within its shell. But then, eventually, the egg needs more.

• The novel needs characters. A plot. Settings. Theme. A consistent point of view or not.
• The characters need their roles. Protagonist. Antagonist. Helpers. Advisors or not.
• The protagonist needs a backstory, motivation, conflict, victory or not.
• The creative/artist/maker becomes muddled in the decision process.
• The landscape or portrait artist grapples with a multitude of thoughts, concepts, and compositions.
• The sewer considers fiber, texture, color, pattern, embellishment.
• The chef considers the balance of sweet, savory, acid, and salt, not to mention cooking technique, sides, and plating.
• The poet ponders pronouns, past tense, and also point of view.
• The gardener and the interior designer envision the environment, what soothes, what stimulates, and what makes us smile.

But sometimes, this is when the seed of the idea withers and dies. The egg remains unhatched. The beautiful, vivid vision fades and disappears.

All those seeds of ideas gather and wait, knowing that another fantastic, world-changing, life-giving idea will soon strut into the artist's imagination and entice the maker to start again.

It's always starting again.

She was always working, trying, creating, hoping.

Always.

This action (or inaction) is the lot of the creative, or is it?

Yesterday, I posted a deadline on my Instagram.

I shared my goal to be a New York Times bestselling author earlier in the week.

It's a tangible goal. It's a real goal. It's a goal already attained by hundreds of others. It is doable.

However, the goal will only be achieved by beginning and starting.

The fertilized egg will not hatch without being sat upon or kept warm while the embryo grows and develops.

So, if the goal is to be a bestselling author, what needs to happen?

• First, write the book.
• Check.
• Then, publish the book.
• Oh no. Not that.

Why can't someone discover me?

Stay with me for a second.

There are many stories of creatives being discovered and thrust into stardom when an agent or publicist notices and promotes their work and talent. Artist Grandma Moses and actors Danny Trejo and Chris Pratt were discovered and later found notoriety without intentionally seeking to be famous. But that's unlikely. Possible, but not probable.

The creative can flip the switch, press the button, launch the product, and pray to go viral. (Justin Bieber?)

Again, possible, but not probable.

Or, the creative can study the process and the journey and set about completing the steps.

Both are possible and are ways to increase the probability of success.

Bingo.

Yesterday, I posted a specific deadline on my Instagram: "I plan to query an agent by March 15."

(OK, I wrote, "Maybe not the Ides of March." It didn't bode well for Caesar.)

So, I amended my deadline to the day before or the day after.

The deadline feels doable.

Sharing the deadline accelerates and fires the purpose.

One might argue that missing a deadline can harm the doer, causing feelings of inadequacy or incompetence. Still, the busyness and energy inspired by a deadline have a bleed-over effect. "Not performing a behavior (i.e., missing a deadline) increased the likelihood of later performing the behavior (Wilcox).

My small bank of followers won't knock on my door on March 16 if I don't meet this deadline, but a tiny part of me really wants to demonstrate my ability to follow through by sharing, "I did it. I queried an agent today."

So, I share this goal with you: to add you to my accountability group and keep me on track.

Querying an agent is not that hard to do.

I already have resources that will facilitate the process.

What are you stuck on?

Try this:

• Think of your big, long-term goal.
• Dream big, dear creative.
• What do you really want to accomplish? To do? To make?
• Now, break down the process into its steps.
• Then, consider the smaller steps within each step.
• What is the best order to work through the steps?
• What is the first step?
• Do you know how to take the first step?
• When dancers learn to dance, they start by learning the basic static positions before learning to move.

In some ways, that seems counterintuitive because dance is movement.

When painters learn to paint, they learn about color, composition, and contrast.

When gardeners learn to plant and harvest, they learn about soil preparation.

Whatever art form you work in, you probably already know the necessary steps.

Determine the very first step and set a deadline to get it done.

Then, tell someone. Go public.