A few days ago I asked Can You Overcome Interruptions. This time, I'm asking you how well you're able to hit deadlines.

In all of our lives, there are times when we're tasked with finishing something by a certain time. When we were kids it was making sure our homework was turned in on time, or only having so much time to finish a test. As adults, we have to make sure our bills are paid on time, or that we arrive in places on time. And, of course, there are those times when we have to complete work projects by a certain time as well.

I worked at my last full time job for 6 1/2 years. One of the things every director was tasked to do was their department's budget. We were given 5 to 6 weeks to get it done. I always got my budget done in the first week and turned it in. I didn't do that because I was trying to show off; I did it because I knew if I waited that I'd be rushing at the end and could potentially do something that would hurt my department. I also knew that no one else was going to do theirs early, so if there were any questions about my budget or I'd done something wrong, it could be pointed out to me and I could easily make the correction; never happened, though.

These days, I'm writing a lot for my living, and I have a self imposed deadline for myself. That pretty much gives me the entire week where I can plot out when I'm going to do what. However, I don't really worry about it all that much because I've proven to myself that if I really want to get it done, and I sit down and concentrate, I can pretty much complete one client's requests in 2 days, and then have all the other days to work on other things.

And that's the point about hitting deadlines. It gives you time to address other things without worrying about something that's hanging over your head. It also shows your client, or the people you report to, or even your friends and family members that you respect them enough to get things completed in a timely manner.

So, how confident are you in hitting your deadlines? Inquiring minds want to know.