5 Ways To Meet Deadlines In Business School

By Elana Goodwin on February 2, 2016

This article is brought to you by Kaplan, the leader in test prep for over 90 standardized tests, including the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, and MCAT.

Being able to meet deadlines is a crucial skill you need to have mastered by the time you’ve finished college as it’s not only important to be able to do so for school, but a necessary ability for any career.

In business school especially, meeting deadlines for projects, papers, and other assignments will affect your grades and relationships with your professors and fellow students.

Here are five ways to meet deadlines in business school that you should implement so you never miss a due date.

Photo Credit: iStock

1. Plan ahead. As a student in business school, you’ve undoubtedly got a full workload and busy schedule, which makes your being able to meet deadlines all the more difficult. However, you can make your deadlines by planning ahead.

Once you’ve got a project or paper assigned, put it on your to-do list right away — even if it’s not due for a while. You don’t know what other assignments and events will come up before the deadline rolls around so even though it may be tempting to procrastinate, plan to start working on your project right away.

2. Break your assignment down. Rather than trying to tackle whatever your assignment is all at once, break it down into more manageable pieces and work on it a little bit everyday. If it’s a 10-page paper, commit yourself to writing at least one page each day until it’s finished.

Setting up mini-tasks for yourself will allow you to make a seemingly insurmountable project possible and decrease the amount of stress you feel about getting the project done. The hardest part of any assignment is starting — so don’t delay in delving in and beginning to work on it.

3. Get organized. I’m a big proponent of lists, and when it comes to deadlines, lists are definitely helpful. Meeting a deadline is much easier to do if you know exactly when and how a project is due, which is sometimes overlooked or forgotten when you’re anxious about the assignment.

Make a list or schedule for yourself of when your assignments’ due dates are — whether that’s in a physical planner, using Google Calendar, or writing a sticky note on your laptop, etc. Make a timeline for when each piece of your broken down assignment will be due, even if it’s just you setting those due dates, so you’ll feel more compelled to stick to your schedule and put in the necessary time to get the work done early.

4. Set an earlier deadline for yourself. Setting an earlier deadline for yourself is a great way to make sure you get an assignment done on time and don’t have to worry about finishing your paper the night before it’s due. Right when you get an assignment, look at the deadline and take off two days.

When you’re writing the necessary project information into your schedule or list, write down that earlier date as when it’s due. For projects that are due in a while, by the time the deadline comes around, you’ll probably have forgotten you moved the date up and will really strive to get everything done by that earlier date.

Either way, setting an earlier deadline for yourself will push you to not procrastinate and to get the project done, and it’ll also give you two extra days to look over your assignment, revise and edit as needed, and still get the paper in on time.

5. Give yourself rewards. If you’re breaking down assignments into smaller parts to help you meet deadlines, it’s helpful to give yourself rewards to keep you motivated and focused. For every part you get done, allow yourself some kind of small bonus — whether it’s watching an episode of a TV show, splurging on a more expensive grocery item, etc.

If you get your whole assignment done by the earlier deadline you’ve set yourself, give yourself a bigger reward for a job well done, like treating yourself to a night out or buying yourself something you want. For this system to work, you’ve got to be disciplined enough not to cheat — meaning you have to finish what you set out to do or you don’t give yourself a reward.

Most due dates are pretty inflexible, which means your being able to meet those deadlines is a very important part of any class and assignment. By implementing these five ways to meet deadlines, you’ll put your days of writing a paper the night (or only hours) before it’s due behind you, and be able to approach assignments with less stress — a definite win-win.

Learn more about Kaplan’s test prep options and start building the confidence you need for Test Day.

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