How fast can you write to keep to a deadline?

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. ‘’

— Douglas Adams

We all hate deadlines, right? Well, aside from Douglas Adams, most people hate deadlines. But there are some who absolutely love them.

When I began working with a new coaching client recently, I told her at our first meeting that she would need to send me what she had written that week in time for our next meeting. Was there consternation? Was there annoyance? Nope. Neither. The woman was practically bouncing in her seat and she actually did clap her hands as she exclaimed, “A deadline? You’re giving me a deadline? Oh, thank goodness, now I’ll really get some work done!”

Yup. She was a classic “Obliger” in Gretchen Rubin’s concept of the Four Tendencies (if you want to learn more about them, either go to my blog here or to her website). If my client only had herself to work for, she wouldn’t do it. She needed someone else to be accountable to. This was as much her problem that she needed help with as the plot and character development she was struggling with.

Before COVID hit, a lot of people probably grumbled and groaned about the deadlines they had at work. Every day they would go to work and slog away, knowing their boss was just down the hall and expecting something. But…