What It Feels Like To Be Constantly Chased By Deadlines

Everyday, I am being chased by deadlines.

image: lifehacker.com

It starts with the deadline to make my daily blog post before 8am or earlier (if I have a morning meeting or training class). Then there are the jobs that never reduce; as I am getting one done, another pops up. There is not a day I don't nearly miss the deadline for some task.

But there is a good side to it all, I love the feeling I get when I eventually beat the deadline, escaping narrowly. One minute I am all tensed and afraid something terrible will happen because the deadline is already too close and I am not sure I will make it; then I suddenly make it and the next minute I feel like on top of the world with joy and exhaustion.

I get an amazing lot done when under the pressure of deadline. No doubt, I could have made things easier for myself or do a better job if I didn't let the deadline press me against the wall. The trade-off would be that I wouldn't do as much as I am doing. It's not poor time management or being lazy that gets me always being chased by deadlines; it is because I am always working on a lot. I am doing so much that it takes a miracle to finish well before deadline.

There's another good side to it beyond the good feeling that comes with eventually beating the deadline. It reminds me of 2012 when I had similar struggle with my Excel based job as an MIS and Business Analyst. I was working very hard and narrowly missing deadlines majorly by working way passed the closing hours. I would get home and have trouble sleeping because the work doesn't leave my head. Even some of my weekends were occupied with work. I thought I was in the wrong job and needed to get my career back on the right track. But I am glad I persevered through it, because just as Robert Schuller said, "Tough times never last, but tough people do". In the end I became extremely good at the job and Excel, and all the troubles vanished. Now I am benefitting immensely from that period of my life. It was what prepared me for what I am today -- running my own Excel consultancy biz.

I am happy with all the stress I am facing today and the deadlines chasing me, because I know I will overcome in the end. A day will come that I will look back and be glad I went through this phase. And the skills and changes I will be forced to acquire now will strengthen me for a better future.

So for me, being constantly chased by deadlines make me feel like I am going through a training and preparation for something very big. It's like extreme sports; you will always end up being way better than the average guy.