Back in the fall, I committed to doing a chapter for an awesome book collaboration.  A 2500-4000 chapter on teaching/mentoring ...

"Piece of cake!" (or so I thought)

Since the deadline was this month, I put it on the back-burner to take care of my other projects, figuring that I had plenty of time to complete the chapter (the plan was in the month of December, when I *thought* things would quiet down).

But the months moved more quickly than I expected, and the mountain of other work that I had to do wasn't getting any lower. I got new clients in December that I had to start with too (not complaining - they're great clients!)

I completed one project, and something else seemed to always sneak in to take the other's place.

My December didn't end up being the wide-open space I had expected, and as New Year approached I had some notes scribbled down and rough research for my chapter, but nothing resembling what I wanted to contribute.

So late last week I buckled down. I took some of the advice of a coach who gets up at 5 am religiously and I hunkered down to get that darn chapter done.  I'm now just about finished my chapter, spurred on by the deadline given to the authors in the project! 

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Lessons learned? 
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-> Don't push things off to a later date. If you can get it done earlier, do it and get it off your mind. It'll weigh you down if you keep having to push it off while you work on other things. It's a lot like the old days in school - get your homework done early, then go out to play (not vice-versa).

-> Deadlines help.  People give deadlines because they have to, to move a project forward. If you're working on a project on your own, set a date and stick to it. Put it a big sticky note on your computer to remind you of D-day.

-> Get help. If you need an accountability partner to kick you in the butt, reach out and get help. Plenty of people would be willing to lend a hand.

-> Don't take on more projects than you can handle. Two of the best books that I've read around this are "Essentialism" (Greg Mckeown) and "The One Thing" by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. Learn to say "no" more than you say "yes" (I'd still do this project since I believe in it, but in regards to everything).

Some tips from someone whose dog ate his homework for the last few months!

Marc

PS: If you'd like to have more cash flow in 2016, you'll want to check out the free webinar that I'm doing with Chris Miles later today at 6 pm EST.  To save your seat for "Get Back on the Money Track", go here!