We all have some experience we know we want to have but never get around to. Get moving on those things the same way you get work done: with deadlines.
Photo by Nate Bolt.
It might seem counterintuitive because the word “deadline” brings to mind boring work things, but deadlines are all about priorities in practice. As finance blog Wise Bread puts it:
In our world of overwork and busy-ness, it’s all too easy to let play time vanish by the wayside. We think that fun is something we can put off, simply because it doesn’t always fit into our schedules. However, fun is good for us. It helps us maintain our balance as human beings, and it provides space for our minds to think creatively.
If fun isn’t happening, we need to put it in our schedules and give ourselves deadlines to make sure that we’re playing along with our work. We want to be healthy, and fun helps us do that. Anything, then, that makes sure we include fun in our lives, is worth the effort of doing.
By setting a date or a timeline to accomplish something fun, you ensure that living your life isn’t put on the back burner. It can also help add to your collection of accomplishments.
Want to Have Fun? Give Yourself a Deadline [Wise Bread]
Comments
One response to “Set A Deadline For That Fun Thing You Always Wanted To Do”
My friend just did this. She had a fun idea and had a limited amount of time to implement it. The time depended on when a particular event would happen, and this was not known at the time she got the idea. So, plan, design, construct… iterate until acceptable. Then, attempt to implement. Get scared off due to people being around. Go back to planning and improving the engineering, with a focus on faster implementation and removability. Then, date of the event was announced. She had THREE DAYS to pull it off. As is typical for an IT person, on day 3, it came together.
The event: the city pulling down the monorail beam on Liverpool Street in Sydney.
The project: my friend Helen built an easy to put up and take down swing, and spent Sunday morning between 8am-9am swinging on it, and letting passers-by swing and taking their photos. Less than 24 hours later, that beam was no more. (And I missed this, because in my gut I didn’t think she’d have the nerve to do it. Grrr.)