This week I've been working on things that feel so far from a deadline that it doesn't even feel like one exists. Technically I'm closing the current building phase for Adagia in 2-3 weeks, but this feels like plenty of breathing room to me.

The kind of deadline that makes me do poor work and feel anxious are these:

When I wasn't reflecting enough to have a solid long term goal (in this case long term means just six weeks) deliverable to grasp onto then my work always seems to eventually devolve into constant get it done ASAP deadline mode. 

Because I told myself I had six weeks to work on this one user interaction, I never felt that way in the past week. Because I knew I was working on what would matter in the long run even if it meant sacrificing a whole bunch of other cool things the project could use. 

So if I mentioned that I wasn't anxious at all this past week then what about the first two weeks you say?

Well I came out of my two week building pause feeling super fresh and motivated. I knew what I wanted and I had a whole six weeks to work on it! Let's roll up the sleeves and get to work. But then as soon as I got into work mode I found myself falling into my habits. Suddenly I wasn't grasping onto that longer term goal that I'd decided. I began thinking I needed to do X, Y, and Z. 

By the end of the second week I was able to take a moment to deliberate. A moment to reflect and ask myself really... what do I want out from this project in this next month?