Here's how you can maintain motivation and focus while working towards a deadline.

Setting clear, achievable goals is a fundamental step in maintaining motivation and focus. Break down your big deadline into smaller milestones and set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for each phase of your project. This approach allows you to monitor your progress and celebrate small victories, providing a continuous sense of achievement that fuels your drive to reach the final deadline.

Goals are not only the ultimate destination but Goals are the journey towards the destination. The journey that involves smaller milestones, discipline, dedication and most importantly- consistency. Without these factors, your destination will seem to be unreal and rather, unachievable. The first step to any journey is getting up, getting ready and taking the first step. Rest will follow with the flow!

Clear goals, good time management, minimizing distractions, taking breaks, keeping positive, prioritizing well-being, finding assistance, envisioning success, managing stress, and monitoring progress on a regular basis are all necessary for maintaining motivation and focus during deadlines.

Parkinson's Law implies that shorter deadlines can lead to greater efficiency. When time is limited, individuals are more likely to focus on essential aspects of the task, avoid distractions, and streamline their efforts. The law states that "work expands to fill the time available for completion." This principle suggests that the amount of work required adjusts to the time available for its completion, meaning that allocating more time to a task will become more complex and take longer to finish.

Setting and completing achievable goals, helps build confidence which leads to growth and experience. As confidence grows so does the amount of achievable goals. Always keep in mind that sometimes you are unable to complete a goal, but that is ok.. even failing to achieve a goal gains knowledge, experience and growth. All good tools to apply to new goals.

I agree with this. We do not talk enough about the power of pacing. I love to pace myself when I have a deadline. I will break down the task into smaller bits and pace myself through until I finish the task. When you do something bit by bit. The dopamine reward system comes in. The constant push to finish the goal because you have started it. This works if you have a valued goal. For example, an application for funding to create an ed-tech platform. The reward of winning the fund would be what will push you through as you pace yourself. I also think leaving room for thinking in between and coming back to what may seem like difficult tasks or questions to crack can be helpful.

It is said that we all have the same 24 hours, which is not true. Some people spend 3 hours on public transport, while others, in their comfortable cars, make the same journey in half the time. With this consideration in mind, I would say that the secret is to divide the tasks that need to be completed by the amount of time you have to complete them. If you have an article due in 30 days, maybe consider writing for 30 minutes, 6 days a week. The secret isn't that difficult, it's about sitting down, thinking and putting it into practice.

Quem não planeja, não realiza nem gerencia. Logo, criar um plano de ação listando todas as tarefas é primordial. Deve ser um detalhamento das metas em tarefas com prazos bem definidos, recursos necessários, responsáveis e status de execução. O plano canaliza o investimento de foco e energia para o lugar certo.

Algumas pessoas são, naturalmente, procrastinadoras: não adianta começar na véspera ou horas antes da entrega, dividir em etapas menores, pequenos trabalhos, além de permitir um melhor controle e ajuste a eventuais necessidades, proporcionará ainda condições de não sofrer de ansiedade. Portanto, planejar com antecedência, dividir o trabalho e monitorar o desenvolvimento é fundamental. Não precisa de softwares específicos e caros para isso, pode ser um planejamento no papel, no editor de planilhas eletrônicas, nos aplicativos de celular... mas ele precisa ocorrer!

High energy periods are different for everyone, so pay attention to the time of day where you feel most energized. Use that time to go through the things that are the highest energy drain for you. Then, as your energy starts to wane, shift to the activities that replenish your energy levels.

Como diria Stephen Covey: "primeiro o mais importante". A palavra prioridade sugere foco em uma tarefa por vez, logo é crucial entender o que deve vir primeiro. Aquela tarefa cujo prazo é mais apertado, ou que depende do trabalho de outra pessoa, de recursos externos e condiciona a etapa seguinte, por exemplo. Resultados altamente eficazes podem sair desses pequenos passos.

Creo que es importante priorizar las tareas para poder cumplir los objetivos. Para lograrlo tenemos que conocer nuestro equipo de trabajo porque las personas no son iguales en términos de cuando producen más. Hay personas que producen más en las mañanas y otras por la tarde . También es importante revisar el plan de trabajo , evaluar donde estamos, que nos falta para lograr los objetivos y así hacer los ajustes necesarios.

I fully agree that prioritizing tasks is essential for staying on track. Embracing the "early bird gets the worm" mentality and teaching oneself to wake up before the sun rises can lead to massive productivity, especially for those with kids. By prioritizing high-importance tasks and tackling them when your energy is at its peak, typically in the early morning, you ensure that critical work is completed efficiently. This approach maximizes your productivity and allows you to make the most of your day, preventing less important tasks from consuming valuable time and energy.

Forget the deadline. Forget the project. Forget the stakeholders. Focus only on what you can control right now—how you choose to react in this moment. Zero in on the smallest task, like the next word you need to write, and give it your full attention. Once that's done, move to the next micro-task. Every time your mind drifts to the looming deadline, snap it back to the task at hand. Motivation isn’t magic—it’s the relentless pursuit of small victories that add up to a finished project.

Se você se conhece bem, sabe o que não funciona para o seu modo executor. Evite fazer mais de uma coisa ao mesmo tempo. Trabalhe em ambiente que favorecem foco e concentração. Avise às pessoas que você está focado em um projeto e ficará off por determinado tempo. Mantenha o planejamento em mãos e seja rigoroso com ele.

We all have them “Squirrel” moments 🐿️ Make sure you refocus every time something or someone distracts you… don’t assume you completed the task before without double checking your work 😉

Esta recomendación es muy importante ,ya que debes aprender a establecer tus tareas diarias y no perder tiempo en atender llamadas a todas horas o reuniones no programadas . Por ejemplo si tienes que revisar correspondencia o contestar email establece un horario para ello y no estés interrumpiendo tu trabajo para atenderlas porque te hace referencia tiempo.

Talvez esse seja o ponto mais importante: não adianta nada se regrar, cumprir o cronograma, buscar alcançar às metas, focar totalmente no trabalho e - como bom workaholic - esquecer de cuidar de si mesmo. Dormir bem e adequadamente, se alimentar com alimentos saudáveis, se hidratar, se exercitar são essenciais para que você não desmorone ao longo da execução de suas tarefas. Além do mais, isso te dará "vida" e energia para seguir com suas tarefas.

Criar um planejamento realizável envolve pausas para descanso físico e mental. Inclua isso como um compromisso. Praticar exercícios, comer e dormir bem também trarão mais disposição e energia para os desafios. Pausas para respirar, meditar e tomar um cafezinho - entre uma tarefa e outra - também pode ajudar.

Es muy importante que mantengas tus horas de alimentación y descanso porque son claves para tener una buena salud. Nunca trabajes mientras estás almorzando o en un receso para tomarte un café. Esto aumenta los niveles de estrés y afectarán tu productividad.

Additionally, throughout the day, make sure you take breaks. Sometimes in an effort to get things done we push ourselves, only to start making mistakes, or coming up short on fresh ideas - or the right words. I like to call it "Be right back!" My personal preference is to take a short walk while plugging my headphones in to listen to my favorite music, or a podcast.

Staying healthy is not an option for individuals but a responsibility towards self! Healthy mind generates healthy thoughts, healthy thoughts generate healthy vibes and healthy vibes generate healthy results and healthy outputs. Not only on work but also in personal life. Not only towards others but towards own self. That will get you the basic things like concentration, energy and focus required to reach your short and long term goals.

Often I create a really nice, visually appealing flyer that will eventually become the cover of a paper, a book, or the initial slide (or ad) for a live presentation. I print and keep that flyer in front of me as a reminder of what inspired me to start that project. Reflecting all the time on the image and a catchy provisional title helps me to stay motivated and to keep my thoughts within my original theme.

I believe this step and what you do with the reflection discoveries is a great motivator. By seeing progress, even small ones, or an enhancement to a step and improving on it you and the team will be energized your work is not in vain. Celebrate wins and treat failures as discoveries and celebrate the find.

Pela minha experiência, as pessoas tendem a sobre valorizar o que fazem vsd a realidade da situação. Reservar um tempo para avaliar a real situação é importante, pois permite que vocÊ enxergue o plano com mais clareza e faça ajustes mais precisos e realistas nas datas e objetivos a serem cumpridos.

When I reflect, especially toward the end of a project, I remind myself how at times I did not think I could meet my deadline, or my goal, but in the end it all came together - and quite well, at that. Moral of the story: Don't waste time and energy fretting, just start somewhere, anywhere, and the rest will follow.

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