Goal Oriented or Deadline Driven

By Marguerite Martin Gray

Are you goal oriented or deadline driven? I would like to say deadline driven is purpose driven, but it is not all the time. I have always been an over achiever in school, work, life. That has landed me in places where I look around and wonder “Now, what do I do to sustain this?”

For me, goals are important for me to accomplish what God wants me to do. The result is not going to randomly happen. Voila! Completion. Not for me, at least. Recently my publisher had a new idea that involved some scheduling and adjustments on my part. The project did not come with a deadline. For something new and big, I have to have a goal and a deadline. I threw that out there, and now I have both.

I am a list maker and get a great thrill form marking completed tasks off my list. I’m not so strict as to think I can complete all items in one day. Without getting upset or feeling like a failure, I add the items back on to another list for the next day or week. At some point, if the items make it to a list, I must evaluate and readjust in order to complete it. Have you ever established a task as important then changed your mind? Time takes care of these pesty tasks that are no longer deemed a priority. Scratched right off the list.

I work best with deadlines. I want to meet them no matter what. But what if I had three major deadlines in the same month? That happened in September. One deadline came as a surprise. I designated September to write a Christmas novella. My editor sent an edit for my 90,000-word novel with a two-week turnaround. The third item was inputting my first draft of another full-length novel. All of these had a September 30 deadline. Could any of the deadlines be moved? Yes. Yet, my goals remained, and I pushed to finish all of them. The end results? Two out of three were met—the edit and the writing. Inputting my novel moved to October.

Under pressure, a goal oriented, deadline driven person (me) can face burnout or a list of woes. I know that and have built-in ways to accommodate the different demands. After a few weeks or a month of intense demands, I seek a few days of rest. God rested. Jesus pulled away from the crowds. The Psalmist sought peace and quiet.

Psalm 23:2-3 states “He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul.”

Schedules, goals, deadlines come in seasons. I thrive on the opportunity to check something major off my list. But even more, I come to life in the moments (days) of rest and refilling of God’s strength and purpose. At times, I have to release my strong desire to pursue goals that might not be in God’s plans for me. Another book, another flower bed, another trip. Perhaps He wants me to lie down beside the still waters and accomplish what? Peace, renewal, rest, filling of the Holy Spirit. If I have to write down a goal, how about that one.

Now, I’m off to read a good book with a cup of hot tea on my front porch with a cool autumn breeze tickling my skin. Join me in the promise of rest.

Marguerite Gray is the author of the Revolutionary Faith series, Gardens in Time series, and Room for Love in the Suamalie Islands series. An avid traveler and reader, she teaches French and Spanish. She lives in Louisiana with her husband. Her two grandsons keep her young. Visit her website at https://www.margueritemartingray.com