How to Cope Better with Deadlines
My sister recently text me after trying to sort out her tax return — “This is head-work. How do you do it? No wonder you like to do yoga! x”
If there is one thing you need to be good at for book-keeping and accountancy, it’s the ability to cope with pressing deadlines on a consistent basis. Deadlines are a norm for those of us who work in the finance world. Tax deadlines, month end accounting routines, payroll and so on all come with their time specific challenges. But you get used to working in a certain way and there are ways of working that make deadlines so much easier to manage. Here are some ideas that might help you if that’s something that you are struggling with:
Use Checklists
I am a huge lover of lists (only for work and shopping though I promise!). I have a checklist of regular monthly tasks for each of my clients to help me stay on track and ensure every task is completed when it needs to be.
Understanding when each of your deliverables are due is the first thing you need to find out.
Then you need to break down each final outcome into a series of logical steps / tasks.
To develop a useful checklist you need to understand the chronological order and the timescales that sit with each of the individual tasks that you need to complete.
The checklist will then give you a structure to follow every time you repeat the same process.
It speeds things up and helps you to stay organised and hit the deadlines more easily. (You can always pinch a checklist off google to start you off.)
Use your Diary and Reminders
Checklists can only take you so far, you also need to make sure that you fully utilise your diary/calendar and then set reminders for all your significant dates.
You may find it helpful to also translate your weekly / monthly checklists into timetables so that you can understand the impact of things like holidays.
Timetables are really useful if you are working with a team of people. It makes it very clear when each individual task is due to be completed and by whom.
Working with Teams
The impact that other people can have on your deadline can be really significant.
If one of your tasks is reliant on someone else providing you with information then you need to understand the effect that could have on the final deadline.
There are always going to be things that are out of your control.
You need to make sure that you have some wriggle room to account for unexpected delays.
Make sure that you communicate well with your team, check in often to make sure everyone is still on track, understand where any bottlenecks are and then you can problem solve before things become an issue.
Negotiate for More Time
One of the most important things when you are facing a deadline is to make sure that it’s realistically achievable in the first place.
There’s nothing worse than promising something will be delivered and then not being on time. So think carefully when agreeing to timescales from the outset.
That said, we all get impacted by events we can’t control.
The most important thing then is to be honest about it. As soon as you know you might not hit the deadline, get in touch with your client or your boss. Explain the issue and re-negotiate a new timeline.
This is really important if you’re a leader of a team. You have to be able to understand the pressures that the members of your team are working with and be prepared to negotiate on their behalf for more time when they need you to.
Understanding and being able to be flexible goes a long way with people.
Prioritise Well
One of the things you need to think about is which tasks have the most impact on your deadline.
Identify the ones that are absolutely critical and get them out of the way first.
Quite often when I have a pressing deadline, I might faff about with anything else other than settle down and get on with the task that really needs my attention.
Stop procrastinating and just get on with it. 5,4,3,2,1 go. Just do it!.
Be Consistent
Another thing that a lot of people do is leave things to the last minute. There is some perverse logic that makes you think you work better under pressure. You may be right, but what if something happens at the last minute like a power-cut, you’ll be stuffed. Start working on it earlier, split it into smaller chunks and chip away at them. You may even hit the deadline early and that is always a win.
Project Software
Of course if your projects or tasks are really complex, you’re probably best off using some form of project management software like MS Project, Trello, Asana or something similar. I’m not going to go into any detail here but if you’re struggling with complex projects, team tasks, competing priorities and you haven’t thought about a tool that might help it might be worth some of your time to investigate further.
Stay Calm
Coping with a lot of deadlines can leave you feeling a bit wrung out from time to time. It’s partly why the checklists work, they allow you to feel like you can park where you are at for the day and then have time to unwind without things on your mind all the time. You can leave it at the office (or at your kitchen table).
I can’t really emphasise enough the importance of taking some time to de-stress, both at the end of the day and throughout it.
If things are really pressured in the day then you can try Apps like Headspace or just breathe in and out very slowly a few times. Go for a walk at lunch time and get some fresh air if you can.
I always think of the swan peacefully gliding across the water with her little legs kicking furiously underneath. There is no point getting yourself worked up or in a panic, just breathe and know that you’ve got this.
Have Contingency Plans
Things go wrong though. So always have a back up plan. It really helps. Just knowing in advance what you would do if a deadline wasn’t made for reasons outside of your control. This can really help to take a lot of the worry away that goes with the pressure of continuous deadlines. Be the swan.
