How to Set Your Business Deadlines

You set business deadlines, but your work usually never gets done in time. What to do? MIT's Dan Ariely and Insead's Klaus Wertenbroch says setting a series of small deadlines by somebody other than you, as compared to setting one giant set deadline by yourself, works best. If you're an entrepreneur, it's a difficult task to set deadlines for yourself. I experienced this problem when I started Trizzy. The vicious cycle would go: (1) set deadline, (2) miss deadline, (3) set new deadline, (4) repeat (^2). If, as an entrepreneur with no one to report to, how would I be more effective at setting deadlines? Simple: let your customers set deadlines for you. Or better yet, if you want to take initiative, publicize your deadlines for each project milestone. This will drive you to be more accountable to them.

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