In February 1963, an official from UNICEF approached Disneyland executives about building them a ride for the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair. Initially, executives turned down the opportunity as they simply didn’t believe they had enough time to put a quality ride together. However, Walt overruled his executive’s decision with his statement, “I’ve got an idea for a little boat ride.” Nine months later, “It’s a Small World” opened.
The staff didn’t have time to overthink it. They had to design it, build it, and install it in just nine months. And they did it! Walt said, “Everyone needs deadlines. Even the beavers. They loaf around all summer, but when they are faced with the winter deadline, they work like fury. If we didn’t have deadlines, we’d stagnate.”
While most of us aren’t particularly fans of deadlines, I can personally attest to the fact that when I have a specific time when something is due, even if it is self-imposed, I am much more likely to get it accomplished.
So, here we are on Monday morning with a new week of opportunities open to us. What do you intend to accomplish this week? Perhaps you need to set some deadlines for yourself, because you certainly don’t want to stagnate and each day this week is important.