How not to miss a deadline So how can you keep track of everything and never miss a deadline? Here are five top tips: 1. Be mindful of Parkinson’s Law, the theory that we fill up all the time we have for a task. This does not mean you are working on the task all the time, but rather leave it until close to the required date. If you have a day to do a task, you’ll do it by the end of the day; if you have a week to do a task, you’ll finish it by the end of the week; similarly if you have a month, you’ll take a month to deliver the same task. 2. Buy a year planner and put in your deadline date for each goal. 3. Choose your own deadline dates prior to the ones set for you & put them on your planner. How long before will depend on the size of the task. If you’re writing a 3-page report, you might finish 3 days before, leaving enough time to proof read, check with others if relevant and fine tune it with a clear head after a day away from it. If you’re writing a book, your pre-deadline date might be one month before. 4. Mark out times on your planner to carry out your tasks working backwards from each goal date. 5. Put your year planner on a wall & look it at daily.