If a stitch in time could save nine, as it is commonly said, how many stitches would be required to stitch - recover? Save? - a missed deadline?

We are all familiar with deadlines. You know, that pain-in-the-butt caveat which gives us time limits to carry out a task - a time or day by which something must be done, we get disqualified or lose out.

Deadlines are set primarily to  increase productivity levels, to achieve goals and targets within a schedule or period, to produce corporate efficiency, and to generate an effective workforce.

Life is full of time limitations or deadlines. Little deadlines. Big deadlines. Spiritual deadlines. Physical deadlines. The ones we are aware of and the ones we are not. We barely notice them when they have nothing to do with business or money-making. Can you remember how many deadlines you have flouted and their impacts on your business and relationships? 

Effects Of Missed Deadlines

1. LOSS OF REPUTATION

2. LOSS OF CONTRACT

3. LOSS OF MONEY

4. FRUSTRATION

5. LOSS OF CORPORATE OR PERSONAL DIGNITY

6. CORPORATE OR PERSONAL FAILURE

17 Guides to Meet a Deadline:

GET YOUR PRIORITIES RIGHT. 
Each step of what needs to be done to ensure completion of the given task within the given period (deadline) must be prioritized properly, from the simplest to the most difficult

2. START YOUR PREPARATIONS EARLY. 
Don't wait until the eleventh hour before you begin. Start right now, even if you think the deadline is still far away. Before you know it, the time is up, so start shooting right away!

3. Give serious consideration to the rules of the game and conditions attached to the deadline, Observe best practices. Sometimes you may not succeed in meeting the time limit set for a particular task yet managed to somehow beat the deadline (11th hour / late submission), only to still lose out just because (in your rush) you had overlooked something crucial, non-compliance with some rules or best practices, failure to fulfil one condition or another, etc

4. Create an Emergency Deadline Calendar, add time for contingencies, and closely monitor the calendar to ensure that you are always ready to deliver by the time deadlines mature, or before they expire.

5. Anticipate problems and challenges, add time slots to ensure that all knotty issues are resolved and tasks concluded within the period given

6. Take deadlines very seriously. Concentrate all your efforts and time on the task at hand and don't allow any room for distractions, in order to ensure that you finish-up within the period of the deadline.

7. Utilize technology such as computer, etc. for error-free paperwork and processing, for effective and efficient packaging, time management, and for a reliable presentation and final product.

8. Avoid over-confidence: it lulls you into a dangerous illusion of infallibility,  which slows your tempo of activity and negatively affects your professional skills, preparedness and time (deadline) consciousness.

9. Avoid all forms of delay or procrastination

10.  Be professional and realistic. Don't try to be perfect in your preparations. Attempts at perfection make you lose sense of time and slow you down. Just try to give the best and most practical results you can by the time deadlines mature, or before they expire

11. Set all your entrepreneurial and mental alarm clocks on  red alert primed to start screaming at full blast at least hours before appointment / submission / delivery times and before deadlines expire

12. Make sure to be at the venue at least an hour before the appointment time or ensure that your submission is received at the latest 24 hours within maturity of the deadline, and before it expires

13. Be very clear-minded and down-to-earth. Don't commit yourself to a deal you are not confident you can handle competently, talk less of completing it or delivering within the restrictions of a deadline.

14. Don't overload or over-commit yourself, it will stress you out and render it impossible for you to meet multiple submissions or delivery deadlines

15. Properly evaluate a submission or delivery (construction work? Presentation?) deadline using a fine tooth-comb. This enables you to thoroughly understand its full scope and details of everything you are required to do or submit before the deadline matures or expires

16.  Always have a positive view about deadlines for appointments, delivery schedules, presentations and submissions, etc. Rather than fearing them, regard them as essential hurdles that have to be scaled  in order to achieve the desired goals. 

17. Make a habit of meeting deadlines (finishing or delivering within the given time) rather than beating deadlines (rushing to finish and submit at the 11th hour): the former gives you credit and control, while the latter portrays you as serious, uncoordinated and unreliable. 

Conclusion:

Success in life is built on the attention and compliance we give to life's deadlines - little, big, physical and spiritual ones alike. When we sail  through life shunning them we become irresponsible, careless, unreliable and very far from criteria and qualities which attract true breakthrough and success in life.