When jumping into any company, people will immediately begin to ask that you finish things BY FRIDAY! Monday is another typical choice for deadlines. The end of the week and start of a new week is the perfect time to pick for delivering.
Why?
Well, for starters, Friday is the end of the work week and Monday is the beginning. It’s a simple concept to grasp. It doesn’t take too much work to remember when, in relation to today, things are due. “It’s Wednesday, so my project is due in two days.” Simple.
But is it the best? Is Friday/Monday really the ideal delivery dates for things? Obviously, if you’ve read this posts title, you know that I would argue that it isn’t. Why?
Frankly, every single person sees the two days between Friday & Monday as cushion. “It’s really ok if it’s not done until Friday, I can just put in a few hours over the weekend.” Wrong. By thinking like that, most people develop Student Syndrome. They’ll let things slip and slip and slip until the deadline is staring themselves in the face. When that happens, the best way to ensure you’re doing sub-par work is to try and cram it into a weekend.
Second, have you actually ever tried to get something done on a Friday? Also, forget about getting other people to help you. In most offices, by 3pm Friday afternoon, the place will be a ghost town. Monday mornings are almost worse since those that ARE there will likely be lethargic and “catching up” on things that they themselves didn’t do on Friday.
It’s also easier to miss Mondays & Fridays. 3-Day weekends, holidays, vacations and plain ‘ol “sick days” are more likely to fall on Mondays and Fridays than any other days.
Be sane. Always pick either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday for deadlines. Preferably Wednesdays, since they’re right in the middle. It gives two days from the weekend either way. You can start the week refreshed knowing nothing is due immediately and it gives you two days to get into your zone for deliver. Same goes for Thursday and Friday. You can usually get substantial work done on a project on Thursday and Friday and not worry too much about forgetting where you were on Monday morning.