Hey Reader

For as long as I can remember, I’ve described myself as someone who “thrives” under pressure.

Whether it was pulling all-nighters before university deadlines, writing reports the day they were due, or these days getting a video up just in time for a scheduled publish, I’ve always appreciated how deadlines spur me into action.

Am I just a thrill seeker? Am I addicted to the race against the clock?

Probably 😂

But honestly, waiting until last-minute isn’t always the best course of action.

Small errors slip through and things just feel more chaotic than they need to.

The bigger issue though is my general relationship with deadlines, or more so how much I rely on them.

If I have a deadline to work to, you can bet that I’m going to be using my time way more effectively than usual, especially as that deadline draws closer.

This problematic deadline relationship is also made worse when we look at the types of deadlines that “do” and “don’t” work for me.

If the deadline is set by someone else, or has other people relying on it, then I’m way more likely to get things done to meet that due date and time.

A deadline set by me though? ….ha 😅

If there’s no deadline at all, then often there’s no motivation for me to take action either.

While deadlines are great for making us get things done, what do we do when there isn’t one?

I’m determined to help myself out with this, so let’s look at some ideas that could help you too! 💪

The idea - Adding your own action incentives

When we’re working on long-term goals, personal projects, or things that don’t have built-in urgency, it’s easy to let them sit on the backburner for weeks…or months…or sometimes forever.

If we don’t have an external deadline or pressure, it’s important to find ways to create our own urgency to keep things moving forward.

Here are three strategies I’ve found helpful when I want to make progress, but don’t have an external deadline to be accountable to:

1. Use self-imposed checkpoints intentionally

If you find that any deadline is better than none at all, breaking a project down into mini check-ins can be helpful.

For any goal or project that has a "deadline" of any time you want, give yourself weekly or monthly progress points you want to hit as you work on it.

By giving yourself a deadline for a long-term goal, this brings that goal into the here and now.

For instance, if you have an exercise goal that you keep putting off, changing from "I want to consistently exercise someday" to "I want to be able to do 3 full-body push-ups by the end of June" give us something more tangible and immediate to work towards.

If you find that holding yourself to self-set deadlines is a challenge (can relate, haha) then I encourage you to treat your personal deadlines in a similar way to external ones.

So many of our personal deadlines just stay in our head. A spot where they're easy to ignore, forget, and have nobody else hold us accountable to them.

This is where putting those deadlines in an external space can help.

If you would normally add external deadlines and due dates to your planner, do this with your self-imposed ones too! If you'd normally have reminders on your phone or calendar app, do the same for the ones you assign yourself.

Treating personal deadlines in the same way as we do external ones can help keep them visible and hold us accountable to them.

Plus, it's always nice to keep our promises, especially the promises we make ourselves. That's exactly what these self-imposed deadlines are.

2. Make your progress public

Even if no one is actually relying on you getting a goal or project done, the perception that someone might check in can be a strong motivator.

A deadline in our personal planner is great for holding ourselves accountable, but putting that in more public space can add some helpful pressure.

While this could be a fully public post on your social media feed, it can also just in an accountability group, a group chat, or even in a private story or close friends list.

Just by sharing your intentions with someone else and knowing that you'll be updating them of your progress can push you to stay consistent.

Finding external accountability doesn't have to look outlining the specific deadlines we want to hit for the next year. We can also use "soft" accountability to help us.

This is where you don't necessarily give hard or rigid deadlines that you want people to pull you up on, but rather you just want them to hold you to getting anything done towards the goal or project.

One of my favourite "soft" accountability tricks is co-working or body-doubling. We have a weekly session in the EPIC Goals Club which is always my most productive point of the week 💪

3. Use the “now or never” mindset

This one’s a bit dramatic, but surprisingly effective 😝

Often we put off working on goals or projects because we feel like we can do it at any time.

While this is true to an extent, what if it wasn't?

Sure, tomorrow isn't promised, but I still want to keep this in the realm of personal choice.

If you have a goal you've been telling yourself you want to work on for the longest time, but still haven't really gotten started, tell yourself:

This mindset can help give us an artificial sense of urgency. Either we move forward, or we move on.

Most of the time, you’ll surprise yourself by taking the tiniest step just to keep the option open.

Want to write a book? Let's just brainstorm some character and plot ideas.

Want to take that trip? Let's just look up key places to visit.

We don't want to close the door permanently on that goal we've had for so long, and if action is the price to "keep the dream alive", let's pay it.

Even though it might just be a tiny step today, it's still progress that's taking us where we want to go.

Need a bit more structure and support?

Sometimes, despite knowing what our goals are, they still don’t happen. Not because we don’t care, but because we don’t have enough structure, support, or urgency to keep us moving.

This is where the EPIC Goals Club can help 💪

It’s a low-pressure, high-encouragement space where we check in each week, celebrate progress (big or small), and get focused during our co-working sessions.

Whether you're working on a personal project, long-term goal, or just trying to keep up with life admin, we'd love to work with you.

Hit the button below to check it out!

Let’s take action

Thinking about a goal or project that doesn’t have external deadlines, ask yourself:

Let me know which of the three you're going to try to help make more progress on your goals and projects! I'm tempted to lean into the "now or never" mindset more 😂

Until next time!

- Jess

Sick of setting goals that don't get achieved? Learn the system everyday goal-getters are using to make EPIC things happen.