The Emotion Machine

Whether it is school or work we are all familiar with having to meet deadlines. Some of us may find them a helpful tool while others find them a damn nuisance.

Is that ticking clock in the background really helping us work harder and more efficiently? Or is it giving us incentives to rush in some situations, slack off in others, or even frustrate us to the point where we neglect our work altogether?

This article wishes to explore these situations and ask the questions:

1. When are setting deadlines productive and useful?
2. And when do they inhibit us from doing a good job or achieving a goal?

Setting a deadline for disappointment

I want to destroy the notion that we must set deadlines for all of our goals. Some things just aren’t conducive to time-related constraints.

Take for example your health and fitness – is it really appropriate to take some arbitrary date and say, “I must lose 10lbs within the next month.”

What if you don’t meet your goal? What if you only lose a single pound? Are you going to feel frustrated and give-up? Albeit it’s a small step, but does not meeting your quota really take away from the achievement of losing one pound?

What if instead you said, “It would be nice if I lost 10lbs within the next month.” That is a much less restricting statement because you aren’t telling yourself what you absolutely have to do. You are still maintaining an empowering vision of the future without setting a constricting deadline (and setting yourself up for a potentially crippling disappointment).

Can’t rush inspiration

For some people their creativity is their main source of livelihood. Their job depends on them to come up with riveting ideas that capture people’s imaginations. This is true for people like musicians, filmmakers, and artists.

When I think about this in the context of deadlines I am reminded of a scene in the Spike Jonze movie Adaptation. The whole movie centers around Charlie Kaufman’s struggle to create a film based on this book called The Orchid Thief. For those who don’t know, Charlie Kaufman is a real writer and director…he has worked with such excellent films as Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Synecdoche, New York.

In the movie Kaufman (who is played by Nicholas Cage) gets a call from his boss wanting to know how the screenwriting is coming along. He says he needs to see it on his desk in a couple weeks, and in turn Kaufman replies, “You can’t rush inspiration.”

Is this true? Can you put a deadline on creativity? I’m tempted to side with Kaufman on this one, especially since I consider him one of the most innovative writers of our time. Creativity can come at any moment. Imagine rushing a piece of art only to come up with an idea that is ten times better the day after it is due – that would be devastating.

“A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it’s better than no inspiration at all.”
- Rita Mae Brown

Working best under pressure

In defense of deadlines, there are some people I know who claim to work best when they are under pressure. They thrive off of the thrill of channeling their stress into a state of flow – getting in the zone – and working their butts off until they have finally finished their project.

This could be true for some creative endeavors, but I imagine that this strategy is most effective with work that is more do-oriented and less thinking-oriented.

If you already have a clear picture in your head of what needs to get done, then setting a deadline is a great way to motivate yourself towards action.

One example I will borrow from my own life:

I have been wanting to write an ebook on well-being and happiness ever since I first got interested in mental health and personal development. I have had ideas floating around in my head for years. Finally earlier this year I wrote an outline on the types of lessons I wanted to include. Now that I have everything comprehensively planned out, it all boils down to getting it done.

Realizing this, I now know it is a good time to set a deadline for actually getting this thing out of my mind and into the world. That is why I am giving myself until the end of the month to finish writing it. This is one case where I am OK with setting deadlines – even though I am the kind of person who usually prefers spontaneity.

A beacon of light in the distance

Because most people are so bad at time management, we often see deadlines as something that is always right in front of us – forcing us to get to work and get things completed.

However, deadlines can also be something we place in the distant future. For example, when I first started this blog in June of 09 I gave myself two years to turn it into a profitable enterprise. I am not even a year into it yet but this deadline has guided me to stay focused on what my bigger goals are. It is a beacon of light – a vision for the future – that is in the background of everything that I do.

When deadlines are used in this way they can become a kind of symbol for success, something to aspire towards, and dedicate energy to gradually over time. Deadlines don’t always have to rush us to be effective; they can give us room and be inspiring.

You may have already set deadlines like this without even being aware of it. For example: when you were a young adult (or if you are one now like me), you may have said at one point, “I won’t get married until I am 30.” This is one example of setting benchmarks way in the future.

Beware, however, that when we place these distant deadlines for the future, if we don’t revisit those goals and aspirations from time to time, we may forget about them or run too far off track.

When do deadlines work best for you?

This is my rudimentary analysis of deadlines. I don’t wish to rid the world of them completely, but I do think it is important we put them into perspective. In some contexts they can do wonders, while in other contexts they can inhibit us severely.

Tell me – what are your experiences and thoughts on deadlines? When do they work best for you?

It’s 9AM. I am already starting my second cup of coffee, and I have just finished an hour and a half of reading other people’s articles while leaving thoughtful comments. This is what I have been doing for the past couple of weeks in hopes of driving more traffic to my site.

In the pursuit of any endeavor we can’t ignore the fundamentals. Knowledgeable, aspiring young bloggers know that you need to build relationships if you want to establish a loyal fanbase. This means visiting other blogs, replying to comments and e-mails, making your site look presentable, and providing consistency in content.

However, the fundamentals alone won’t get you the success you want, whether it is with blogging, starting a business, or with life in general.

Don’t get me wrong – the fundamentals are crucial – but you need that X factor if you want to take your work to the next level. In fact, with the competition, it is almost as if we need a Y and Z factor too.

So what do X, Y, and Z stand for? Well…that is for you to figure out. If I could tell you, then they would no longer be X, Y, and Z; they would just be any old information that any hack could get a hold of.

Risk-Taking

Pat Flynn at SmartPassiveIncome.com makes a healthy living off blogging. He says he is not a millionaire, but he does make enough to support his wife and new baby boy. As a successful businessman, he says if you want to up the ante then you need to take bold actions.

In business or in life you really only have two choices:

A. Do you want to blend into the background?

B. Or do you want to stand out from the rest?

When asked this question, many will jump to their feet and scream, “I want to stand out from the rest!” But it isn’t that easy.

Standing out can be painful. It requires us to step out of our comfort zone, take risks, experience failure, and then still have the conviction and will to get back up again. Many won’t be able to get back up on that horse after only their first time falling. It can be that hurtful and dispiriting.

Mindful Persistence

Some folks believe that as long as you are strong and persistent in spite of your failures, then you can make it through anything. I’ve written about this before and I certainly still believe that commitment is a strong value to have during any endeavor.

But what if your failure isn’t due to you or any lack of skills? Maybe you keep getting thrown off because there is something wrong with the horse? How do you know when a failure is due to your lack of commitment or if it is the pursuit in itself that fails?

That is why I propose mindfulness, a concept I discuss very frequently on this blog. Mindful persistence means knowing when to be persistent and knowing when to ditch an idea completely.

We need to know when to attribute a failure to our self and when to attribute a failure to uncontrollable circumstances. If the problem is something inside ourselves, then we need to stay persistent, do research, keep failing, and eventually learn the tools of the trade. If the problem is an uncontrollable circumstance then it is time to accept a change in strategy.

“Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast.”
- Tom Peters

What risks am I taking?

As a 21 year old, my biggest resource is not money or experience but how I spend my time. I graduated college a semester early so that I could get a jump-start on what I wanted to do. Even before I chose to major in psychology I knew I wanted to make a living being self-employed, without any concerns for bosses and strict deadlines.

My biggest risk thus far is my decision to remain unemployed and devote my full-time towards this site. I am now working on my first ebook, which is going to be my first bold step forward in monetizing my work.

Some may think I am naive or foolish, but I see things in my future that I cannot expect others to see for me. That is a big part of what makes a risk a risk. I am willing to step out on that limb.

Ask yourself, “What risks am I taking?” What things are you looking to put on the line and what do you think you can achieve in return?

Join me for the ride

This blog is as much about improving myself as it is about improving the world. That is one of the major themes throughout my writing. I provide a lot of free and useful content on this site and I want to encourage people who have a similar attitude to join my newsletter, where I share my latest posts along with articles and videos from all over the internet. If you click on that link you can also check out the latest issue of my newsletter and get a taste for the types of things to expect in the future.

When I found out that one of my favorite writers Dragos Roua had a book called, “100 Ways To Screw Up Your Life,” I knew I had to get a piece of the action.

To start, the title is something that immediately grabbed my attention. Not because I like to screw up my life, but because I am somewhat of a cynic, and one of my favorite hobbies is to push people’s buttons. I knew that this book was written for people like me.

This book is specifically designed to stir up people’s feelings and – in the process – create a lasting change.

Dragos calls this book the “dark side” of his original work, “100 Ways To Improve Your Life,” but despite the negative tone of the title, this book is intended to create positive change.

Some of the book creates feelings of aversion. It negatively frames certain behaviors so that you don’t want to do them. Here is a peak:

“Daydreaming is good. It opens your heart to new universes and goals. But daydreaming without action is useless. Sitting on your fat ass while waiting for all your intentions to manifest, without taking the smallest action for moving things forward, won’t change anything. Oh, sorry, it will change something: your ass will be fatter.”

As you can see, sometimes the book can seem a bit cruel, but it is all done in a humorous and entertaining way. That is part of what makes it such a joy to read.

Each page is dedicated to one way in which you can screw up your life, but they all end by telling you how to use this advice to actually improve it. Because of this, the book’s main premise is really about inspiration and self-improvement, something we could all probably use a little more of in our lives.

Here is an example of some of the more uplifting passages of the book:

“The only moment you aren’t improvable anymore is when you’re dead. You can’t really do anything to improve yourself after you’re dead. So, being criticized is a sign of being alive. Don’t waste that chance by rejecting your critic’s voice. Just listen, confront them and engage in an honest conversation. And if they’re still wrong, walk away.”

Despite being a frequent reader of Dragos Roua’s blog for the past few months (one of the few blogs I go to on a daily basis), this was the very first book I have read by him. Frankly, I was impressed. It illustrates the best of Roua’s down-to-earth personality, and each page touches upon powerful and energizing ideas. It was nothing but a pleasure to read.

But of course nothing is perfect and there were some minor pitfalls. Here is a quick outline of what I consider to be the main pros and cons.

Pros

+ Motivating and inspirational
+ A good touch of cynicism and humor
+ You will walk away feeling good
+ Easy to read
+ Cheap price
+ Good replay value

Cons

- Some grammatical and spelling errors
- Relatively short read

Overall Rating = 8.0 = Great

Despite the couple cons, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the fun that can come from a little pessimism, and at the same time is interested in turning their life around for the better.

This is one of those books that is great to read and reflect upon one page at a time. I think it could even be a good idea to try reading this book one page each day; that way you can let each of these big ideas soak in, then gradually apply each one to your life.

This book also excels in what I call “replay value.” This means it is easy to re-read. It is one of those books you can just randomly flip through, read a page, and then be reminded of an important lesson.

Where to purchase

Does this book sound like something for you? If so, you can click here to purchase directly from PayPal, or if you’d like you can view more details directly on Dragos’ site.

As a side note: if you go to the bottom of this page, you will find Dragos Roua’s “Brilliantly Bundled” deals, where you can save money by purchasing all four of his books at once.

Price: 9.99 USD

Other books by Dragos Roua include:

- 100 Ways To Improve Your Life
- The 7 Ages Of An Online Business
- 30 Sentences For A Millionaire Mindset