71. Use the Power of Deadlines
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
—Peter Drucker
Put your requests into a time frame. If there is no pressing time frame, make one up. If you want a report from someone, finish your request by asking, “And may I have this by the end of our business day Thursday?”
Various dictionaries describe a deadline as a time by which something must be done; originally meaning “a line that does not move,” and “a line around a military prison beyond which an escaping prisoner could be shot.” Literally, it is a line over which the person or project becomes dead! Deadlines propel action. So when you want to get people into action, give them a deadline.
If you make a request without including a date or time, then ...
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