Deadlines Cured

Once a deadline has been contracted and a diagnosis is made, then all that remains is its treatment. Fortunately there are a number of courses of action available to reduce deadlines and even make them disappear. Whether a mild deadline or an acute one, the following prescriptions have been field tested and proven to provide amazingly successful results.

© 2014 Don Arday.

How To Cope With Deadlines

Know your own limits.

Quite often symptoms with deadlines arise, not from the deadline itself, but from events such as a schedule shift or a sudden overdose of work. Assess your own ability to multitask and how much time should be prescribed in order for you to complete common tasks.

Keep a single schedule of all of your projects.

It’s easy to forget when something occurred or is prescribed to occur and to loose track of time over extended periods. By utilizing a single “at a glance” schedule of project due dates, and critical events, it will be much easier to plan ahead and to administer more than one overlapping job.

Keep all job assets in one place.

Nothing wastes time like having to look for something or track down a piece of information. Create a job folder for each job and keep things like notes, reference material, sketches, copy’s of emails, and links to websites, etc. The folder can be physical or digital.

Keep a log of all contact content and times with clients.

The small details that come along during the course of a job such as specifications, special stipulations and conditions, or revised project content can easily be lost in daily distractions. A quick periodic review of this information can prevent a trauma from occurring as a job progresses.

Separate projects into individual stages.

It is common to suffer from a feeling of being overwhelmed when a deadline presents itself. By dissecting a job into separate tasks, i.e., staged deadlines, it is easier to handle each individual dose, as it is needed. Think only of the task at hand, as each task is completed, you will advance closer to finishing the job without anxiety or trauma.

Set daily accomplishment goals.

It is important to your creative well being to set goals and accomplish them. This can be done on a daily basis. Setting and achieving daily goals promotes a healthy sense of accomplishment, supports a comforting feeling of self-confidence, and authenticates the rank of a professional. Additionally, the establishment of daily goals forms the foundation for longer-term career goals.

Adhere to a regular work regiment.

It is important to have a healthy work routine. Developing a consistent work routine is one of the best ways to combat deadline diseases such as procrastination, deferment, and slow down. A habitual work routine can be extremely beneficial in increasing job productivity; after all much of what we do borders on an obsessive-compulsive approach to work.

Set a self-imposed deadline before the actual deadline is due.

The best way to avoid a surprise and an ensuing panic attack is to set a self-imposed deadline on an assignment. Not only will a self-imposed deadline increase your productivity, it will increase your status when you come to the rescue of a client that has had to rush a deadline.

Use a consistent, organized working methodology.

Make some conscious decisions about how to work and what works best for you, and stick with it, in other words; determine your own workflow. Design when and how jobs progress to their completion and establish your own remedy for a job workflow; adapt and nourish your method as needed until you can sustain consistency.

Make sure your studio is neat and organized.

A cluttered, disorganized work environment will lead to a disorderly, unsystematic work method, which will, in turn, lead to an inability to diagnose and treat deadlines. It is vitally important to own your workspace and to not let it overwhelm you. An orderly studio will prevent distractions that can interfere with your mental concentration and waste quite a bit of time.

If you work digitally, frequently back up your work.

A penny saved is a penny earned, and a file saved is worth 100’s of thousands of pennies. This is especially important if you are susceptible to working digitally. Illustrators who work with traditional media can rescan or re-photograph work, but for digital media illustrators, a lost file means permanently lost work. You’ll find that backing up image files to two additional devices will not only immunize you from loss, but is good insurance for your mental health.

Develop a rewards strategy.

It is a scientifically proven that people work more effectively when there is some form of reward to be had; an incentive or a benefit that can be reached as a result of completed work. It’s a remedy that will boost motivation and inspire the necessary concentration to complete a task at hand. The reward should be some-thing special, quite different than the money a job can generate. It should be based on supplementary therapeutic and restorative incentives; something you enjoy.

Deadline Triage

StickK

StickK.com is an American Internet start-up company that enables users to make commitment contracts in order to reach their personal goals. StickK users set up a "Commitment Contract" where they agree to achieve a certain goal, such as losing weight, exercising more, quitting smoking, or conserving energy. They sign a legally binding contract that will send their money to third parties, including either individuals (referred to as "Friend or Foe") or a number of organizations and charities. If users pick "Charity" as a recipient of their forfeited money, StickK selects the charity for the user. Users can also pick a specific organization whose views they oppose referred to as “Anti-Charities”.

http://www.stickk.com/

Unstuck

Unstuck is a new in-the-moment approach to personal growth for anyone who wants to live better every day. Combining personalized digital tools with tips and know-how from a community of other people facing stuck moments, Unstuck makes it easy to get on-demand coaching whenever you need it. Each Unstuck tool is designed to kick-start success for specific kinds of stuck moments. These interactive springboards can help you make a decision, set goals, see possibilities, overcome obstacles, rediscover purpose, make a plan, crystallize ideas, get motivated, deal with change, and find help.

http://www.unstuck.com/

Final Thoughts

With proper management and treatment, deadlines can be a healthy part of an illustration business. They keep assignments on track, discourage stagnation, and encourage the artistic growth of an illustrator.

Deadlines Diagnosed

It’s human nature. For most people even the thought of having to accomplish a defined task in a certain, limited timeframe produces an uneasy, queasy feeling. But for illustrators a “deadline” is a sought after condition. For us, and to many other communication arts professions, it’s just part of the job. Physically speaking a deadline marks the cure to an assignment, and when payment can be discharged.

©2014 Don Arday.

Like other conditions, deadlines present themselves various ways, with each variant requiring its own form of treatment and consideration. As such, careful identification and diagnosis of a deadline can provide an illustrator with a notable benefit, which can be brought to bear on the evolution of an assignment.

Six Types Of Deadlines

Express Deadlines 

These acute deadlines arise suddenly and intensely. They are usually contracted from a stress inducing client relationship, and if not managed properly, they can lead to loss of sleep and acute anxiety. Fortunately, due to their brevity this kind of deadline can be cured quickly, if not painlessly.

Staged Deadlines 

This strain of deadline actually presents itself as a series of prescribed deadline stages. A typical staged course would include a deadline for pencil concepts followed by another for a comp, which would then proceed to the finished art deadline. Staged deadlines, because they are well organized are generally easier to swallow than other deadline types.

Solo Deadlines 

As the name implies, solo deadlines are a one shot deal. All stages occur simultaneously and for one time only; at the end of the job’s treatment. The all or nothing nature of a solo deadline makes it difficult to detect any symptoms or warning signs that may become available during the course of an assignment that could alter its outcome, and ultimately its acceptance by a client. Solo deadlines are most manageable when an illustrator has been given carte blanche.

© 2014 Don Arday.

Cyclical Deadlines

Cyclical deadlines are those that will need treatment on a reoccurring schedule. At some point or another, every illustrator has contracted cyclical deadlines during their professional life. These deadlines are somewhat less common these days than in the past due to the constant change that occurs within many periodic illustration commissions. Mild in nature, cyclical deadlines almost always result in a positive prognosis.

Self-Imposed Deadlines

Also known as self-administered deadlines, a self-imposed deadline is a form of vaccination against a common deadline. The self-imposed deadline is meant to head off any anxiety or discomfort that may result from a client imposed deadline. It works by way of keeping an illustration assignment’s progress ahead of a schedule imposed by a client.

False Deadlines

Sometimes beneficial and other times not, a false deadline or blind placebo deadline is meant to keep an illustrator out in front of a true deadline of an assignment. It is similar to a self-imposed deadline except that a false deadline is dispensed by a client to an unknowing illustrator.

Arbitrary Deadlines

Whereas a false deadline is the compression of the time period of an actual deadline, an arbitrary deadline is a deadline that has no basis for existing at all, and it has no positive effect on an illustration assignment.  It’s a prescription written for a condition that doesn’t exist, and almost always administered by an inexperienced, disorganized, or adversarial client.

Why Deadlines Are Healthy

A deadline is an essential ingredient that ensures a wholesome professional career for an illustrator. And most illustrators can easily digest a deadline without difficulty or any bad aftertaste. Deadlines are a part of the DNA structure of the illustration business; they a progenitor to the evolution of all communication arts. Deadlines are a fundamental factor in commerce and even business progress.

What A Deadline Does For An Illustrator

1. Prompts an illustrator to foresee the future and manage time accordingly.

2. Triggers the organization and prioritization of assignment related activities.

3. Provides motivation to see a project through to completion.

4. Ensures closure on one assignment so another one can begin.

5. Combats procrastination.

6. Imparts a feeling of satisfaction, of accomplishment at having triumphed over a challenge.

7. Encourages an illustrator to engage in a smarter, more efficiently workflow.

8. Increases the number of assignments an illustrator can take on by providing a concise schedule.

9. Sets a fixed point in time for a project’s completion that is understood by all parties involved.  

10. Gives support to bringing in a steady income.

In The Too Much Information Category

Printers to denote a line on a printing press, beyond which text would not print properly, first used the term deadline in the early 19th century. (The early day version of what is now known as “live area” in print). In the mid 19th century America to denote a physical lines that were not to be crossed by either an enemy in a battle, or by a prisoner in a stockade without death being the consequence for doing so. The first use of the term deadline as a synonym for “time limit” was coined by the newspaper industry a nearly a century ago.

Conclusion

Deadlines are good for illustrators and the illustration business. They dispel the impression that the art of illustration is also one of self-indulgence. Deadlines prove that illustration, being an art, is also a business that operates to provide a timely service to commercial clients.