When Your Self-Imposed Deadline Needs Some Bite

Writing is often a solitary pursuit. Many times there is no one waiting for your manuscript. If you don’t finish, you won’t be disappointing anyone but yourself. No one will be mad if you miss your self-imposed deadline, so it doesn’t really feel like a deadline.

There’s an easy way to give your not-a-real-deadline some bite.

Buy a reward for yourself in the form of a gift certificate for your favorite bookstore, for a massage, for a movie, or something similar. Seal it in an envelope. On the outside of the envelope, write your goal and the the date you want to achieve it.

What feels like a treat to you?
Buy a gift card and use it to motivate yourself.

Give it to a trusted someone with the understanding that you can only get it back when you achieve your goal. You agree that if you don’t achieve your goal, this other someone gets to keep the gift card.

We did this in my writing group last year. Everyone brought a gift card to their favorite “Treat Yo Self” restaurant or store. Each of us chose the amount of our own gift card. The only guideline was that it had to be enough to motivate you.

We all set our own writing goals and our own deadlines. Some people really pushed themselves, which is terrific. But sometimes you just need to feel successful, to feel like you’re progressing. In that case, it helps to choose something you know you can accomplish.

At one of our meetings, we each wrote the goal down and put it into an envelope along with the gift card. The deadline date was written on the outside of the envelope. If someone met their goal, they got their own gift card back. If they didn’t meet their goal, the gift card went to another member in the group (a name drawn at random). It was really fun . . . and motivating!