I HAVE always heard of people not completing their task because of lack of time. However, these are the same people that generally cannot beat deadlines. I would like to believe that this is like an illness that would need treatment or maintenance. Let me share personal insights about how to respect deadlines, personal commitments, or organizational tasks.
1. Write all your tasks with the priorities on top. Set a deadline to finish each of your tasks two days before the expected completion. The earlier the better because you will still have time to re-check and re-do your work. In this way, it will save more of your time because you will not be asked to repeat your output again and again.
2. Allocate more time for your work mode than relaxation. I don't believe that half of your 24 hours should be for self-pampering. What I believe is that one should maximize time when awake. Use your energy by being responsible and productive and go back to your list of priorities. It is, of course, essential to sleep but do it as it is required. And do not entertain your lazy mind that it is best to work without pressure.
3. Complete your task on time because you don't want to mess up with yourself and others. You may not be aware of it or may not care about it but people surrounding you will no longer trust you anymore. They will think you are lazy and irresponsible. Of course, we need not please others. But can't you just look at your history and see how you have been living a life full of delays?
4. Maintain focus. You can't finish anything if you won't concentrate and give your heart to complete your tasks. Some might stop after 30 minutes to an hour of working to eat, to chat, to check Facebook, or watch YouTube then resume working. But if you do this every hour, then your attention is distracted and your thoughts are corrupted.
5. Begin with the task right away. Allow your time to welcome the task. Life is unfair they say and so expect that by the time you finish one task, there is another one coming. The rule is to finish it on time so you can finish more. Don't allow yourself to wake up in the morning with mountains of deadlines and reason out that you can't do it because you don't know how to.
The truth is sometimes people fail to see how their lazy attitudes affect themselves and others. They aspire so much of change in this world but they fail to realize that they have to initiate change. They complain of so many forms of work-related injustice like low salary, fewer health benefits, no assistance for professional growth or lack of promotions when in fact they cannot even treat or cure their incompetence.