Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › Structure and routine
Before planning anything, work out which date is actually true. Does Thursday mean Thursday, or does everybody know it means Friday, and is Thursday even possible?
Planning against a date you do not believe in is planning against nothing, and you will feel that in how little the plan moves you. Get the real one on the table first, however uncomfortable, then plan backwards from it. If the true date turns out to be impossible, that is a conversation to have now rather than an apology to make later.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Praise is due to Him in the heavens and the earth, in the late afternoon, and at midday (Quran 30:18). Definite hours are named there, and definite is what a workable deadline has to be.
وَلَهُ ٱلۡحَمۡدُ فِي ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَعَشِيࣰّ ا وَحِينَ تُظۡهِرُونَ
praise is due to Him in the heavens and the earth- in the late afternoon, and at midday
Qur’an 30:18read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
Two randomised trials tested a structured exercise in which people picture the outcome they want, then the obstacle standing in the way, then form an if then plan to meet it. Facing the awkward reality before making the plan is the whole design of it. Those trials targeted bedtime procrastination and were small, so the method is better supported than any particular result.
Valshtein TJ, Oettingen G, Gollwitzer PM. (2020). Using mental contrasting with implementation intentions to reduce bedtime procrastination: two randomised trials.. Psychology & health doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
You can only plan against a deadline you actually believe in.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
Once tasks sit in the week rather than on a list, you can see that Thursday has no room left. Saying no gets much easier when the crowding is in front of your eyes instead of somewhere in your head.
When you set your own deadline, watch what happens to it. Thursday becomes Friday, Friday becomes Monday, and it helps to know what that slide actually costs rather than guessing at it.
Whatever you estimate, add to it. Fifteen minutes is the figure you get at midnight with empty roads; at midday the same trip takes twenty five.