If you set deadlines for each task and goal you want to complete, the demands of college or university life might become easier.  You may also develop time and project management skills that you can use to earn higher grades in school and to excel at work after you’ve graduated with one or more postsecondary degrees.

Although setting deadlines is an effective way to ensure you complete college reports, laboratory work, clinical projects and advanced reading assignments on time, to make sure that you’ll keep deadlines for each task and goal you set, take the time to find out how committed you are to achieving the goal and/or completing the task.

Getting Clear About College and University Deadlines

For example, you can get so committed to setting deadlines until you may start to feel like you’re life consists of creating deadlines and monitoring how soon you complete certain tasks.  After a few years of this, you might start to feel like life has lost some of its zest.  Therefore, before you sit down and start setting deadlines for tasks and goals, ask yourself:

• How important the task or goal is to your academic, personal or career dreams (For example, if it’s important to you to graduate from college or university on time, setting deadlines for when you’ll register for and complete laboratory assignments, study for mid-terms and finals and enroll in summer courses may prove beneficial.)
• Is it realistic to expect that I can meet each of these deadlines on time?  (You might find that you have a deadline for completing five goals on the same day, a flurry deadlines that might cause you to feel overwhelmed.)
• Must I rely on one or more other people (e.g. classmates, college professors) to meet a deadline? (For example, if you set a deadline to complete a college group project you may need to get your group members’ agreement that they will honor the deadline.)
• Do I have sufficient resources (e.g. college or university tuition money, financial aid) to meet the deadlines?

After you’ve determined which tasks and goals you have sufficient resources, including time, to achieve, get a day or weekly planner (you can also use a Word or Excel document) and start writing down the dates you’ll complete tasks and goals by.  For instance, if you want to finish a mid-term essay one week early, you could create separate deadlines for when you’ll research material for the mid-term essay, write the first draft, send the essay to an editor friend to review, write the final draft and submit the mid-term essay to your college professor.

If you’re passionate about the tasks and goals you take on, setting deadlines can help you to stay on track toward success. The process of setting deadlines for each task and goal may also strengthen your time and project management skills and help you to identify tasks and goals that are most important to you.