Deadlines are part of our lives, ever looming in front of us. For every one we pass another emerges on the horizon.

Most deadlines are transparent, allowing us to see other deadlines through it. Some are opaque and allow us to see nothing more than the deadline itself. The scale of transparency to opacity is often something we unconsciously dial up or down ourselves. We do it unconsciously without regard for the importance of the deadline we’re moving towards. In this way we focus too much on deadlines that relate to something meaningless and not enough to deadlines of real importance to our lives. We fool ourselves.

Many deadlines are arbitrary, created by ourselves. We place them in front of us to help us focus. Something to aim for. Self-created deadlines bring their own problem. Because they are self-created we see them as less real. So as they get nearer we move them further away again. In this way we fail to achieve our goals. We fool ourselves.

There is also the opposite problem; we often see deadlines as fixed. This arises whether the deadline is self-created or not, though much less so for deadlines self-created. In these cases we rush towards the deadline knowing we need more time to achieve the goal, to succeed, to avoid failure, yet do nothing about changing it. Only complaining that it is too close. We don’t even try to move it further away.

Deadlines are part of our lives. We can adjust them to be more or less transparent, and closer or further away. The trick is in making the right change.