The Deadline Advantage: Less Stress, More Done

Episode 293: In this solo episode, Vonda steps in while Lori waits to see if she is selected for jury duty—and uses the moment to talk about something every florist (and human) deals with: deadlines. From painting before houseguests arrive to preparing a flower shop for fall and holiday events, Vonda shares why deadlines aren’t the enemy—they’re actually a powerful tool for reducing stress, aligning your team, and getting real work done. You’ll hear practical ways to break down big projects, reverse-engineer timelines, and finally check off that task that’s been hanging over your head.

Whether you’re prepping for the holiday season, planning a photoshoot, or just trying to clean the cooler, this episode will inspire you to set your next deadline—with clarity, momentum, and maybe even a little relief.

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Maybe you just need to get everything ready for homecoming. Pick a goal. Make a deadline. Set a deadline. Welcome to the business and pleasure of flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

And we believe the business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Good morning, clickers. It's a fabulous Monday morning getting ready for a Tuesday show. So here we are. And Lori is off. Actually, she's waiting in a courtroom somewhere to be called in for jury duty. You know, you kind of hang back to hope they get enough that you don't have to go in. Well, that's where she is right now. Now, jury duty, as we know, is widely considered that civic duty and a legal obligation. The definition says a fundamental part of the justice system, ensuring a fair trial by peers. Right? So it's one of those things that's the right thing to do. But I know I shouldn't say this because now it'll probably happen. Is I dread when that letter comes that says, you're up for jury duty. How about anybody else? Anybody raise your hand? Is that you? You're just like, I know it's the right thing to do, but gosh, I don't have time. I don't have the patience. I'm not the right person to do that. Anyway, that being said, Lori sitting there. I wouldn't say patiently waiting. I'd say trying to make the best of the situation. It gives me an opportunity to chat with you about something let's call the deadline advantage. Think about deadlines that you have and how you face those deadlines, whether it be work, whether it be personal, what makes you tick? What makes you go and get those things done? You know, they always say you shouldn't have more than three things on your list, five at the most, otherwise, nothing gets done. I think there is a little bit of truth to that. But I want you to think about something. Think about your home. Think about your house. Friends or family have planned a trip to your home, and maybe they're staying a few days or maybe longer. But there is some pressure to make sure your house and your home look and feel good for when they're coming around. So you look around and you say, what projects have I been needing to do that this gives me the deadline to get it done? Now you have that deadline, you're going to jump in. So you start making that list. And believe me, that list has more than three to five things on it. But it's things that, like, okay, in the next two weeks, I can get all of this done. Or these are my wish lists of what I can get done. Now, I'm telling you this because I have an annual vacation that my family comes to my house. And all summer long I've been wanting to get these things done. But I've been at Texas State, I've been at Florida State, I've been at AIFD, I did a photo shoot. And now it's like, oh my gosh, it's time to get these things accomplished. So how does that work with you? Do you get those things done better when you have a deadline? You know, deadlines get a bad rap, right? But they're truly powerful. This deadline of having some people come to my house, my family, really did kick me into high gear, and I had a short amount of time to do it. So I would get up early in the morning, 5:30, 6 o'clock, because it had to do with painting, and it's too hot in the afternoon. So everything had to be done by nine o'clock in the morning, or could be done, you know, seven to eight at night. So there are time periods in between that I really needed to focus on business, needed to focus on my business and the three things on the list for each and every day that needed to be accomplished during the course of the week. So we're going to talk a little bit about how we manage that deadline and what we can do. So, really, the psychology of deadlines is interesting because a deadline creates both urgency and focus. I think you probably agree with that, right? Because you know it has to be done and it has to be done soon. And so it allows you to focus on that. Some things can follow the side a little bit because you're like, no, no, no, no. This is what needs to be done. Think about that in your business. There is something that needs to be done. Maybe it's you have to get that fall display ready. That's going to be in a few weeks. And you have to get it done because you're having a fall open house or you're having the Chamber of Commerce come in, or some special group come in a certain day, that causes the urgency and the focus. And that's why a lot of times when we put open houses to the side and we're like, oh, we're not going to have an open house, that urgency and focus is gone. And so things kind of just like dribble get done. And so I would stress that you want to make sure you have a deadline of, okay, fall is supposed to be done this day. Now, when is it that we want all of our holiday decor out? Christmas, Hanukkah, you know, celebration type of things out. What are those dates and those deadlines? Because that really makes a huge difference. So again, deadlines cut down on procrastination if you're a procrastinator, right? As Parkinson's law says, work expands to fill the time available. And we know that happens. It's we're not kicked into high gear. And those deadlines help us prioritize what matters most, right? So we look at those and we go, okay, what matters most, even when I'm doing my things off my list for family? What is the priority? And what, if I don't get this done, will it really matter? Will I be the only one that notices that? Same with your shop. If you have that urgency, you have someone coming in, you're having a class, perhaps, and you want the shop to look fabulous. So what makes the biggest difference? Think about that. When they walk in the front door and you're taking them to the place for the class, what are you seeing first? What is it you see that your customers will see? You're gonna look at it from the eye of the customer, from the very front door. So sometimes sweep down the front stoop, right? And walk in, look at the cooler. You know they're gonna be looking at your fresh flowers. So look at your store in the eyes of a customer, and then on the way to wherever your class is gonna be or whatever your special thing you're hosting at your shop. So make sure it looks good all the way. So it keeps everyone aligned as well. On your team, you're gonna get ready, but everybody is going to be getting ready for that same thing. And my suggestion is not just you, the owner or the manager, going in the front door and looking. Each one of you, as employees, should do the same thing because you're gonna see something different than everyone else. And many views is much better because you're gonna have many people in and they're all gonna be looking a little bit different. So take a look at those things. And if you have clarity, it encourages momentum over perfection, right? Let me say that again. When we're looking at the teams aligned, everybody's looking at what they see when they come in. It doesn't have to be perfect, but everybody's moving forward in a positive motion to a common goal. And that makes us be able to measure what kind of success we have. The other thing deadlines do, whether you meet them or not, they offer closure, right? This is the deadline. Whatever happens after this day, that part of it doesn't matter. Right? After that, what you didn't accomplish, you can close the door and say, okay, let's move forward. What's our next deadline? What's our next big project that we have to work with? Deadlines, believe it or not, can reduce stress. We sometimes think deadlines cause stress, but let's look at it a little bit differently. When we have open-ended tasks, we have something that we want to get finished. Oh, we want to do this, oh, we want to do that, oh, we want to do this. It can feel a little overwhelming because you're like, I'm never going to get to that. But what about giving yourself a deadline? Okay, this needs to be done. Let's say you're washing down your cooler. Simple. It's a big task. You have to take everything out. Maybe you have to do Clorex water on their walls. I don't know, whatever you're doing. DCD, wash down the cooler, get the bacteria out of it. Oh, we need to do it. Yeah, yeah, we need to do it. And it's just hanging over your head. Now, give yourself a deadline. By the end of August, we will have the cooler done. Personally, I would have to say give myself a two-week deadline because that would be way too long for me. But it gives you structure. Now you know, okay, let's back it up. We have all these things going on in August. And so I know I can't do it this week. I know I can't do it these three days. What day can you do it to meet your deadline? The other thing is, if you look at that, then you're like, okay, before this needs to be done, before I'm going to wash down my cooler, I'm going to have to look. Do I need to take down all the shelves, the shelf brackets? What part of this can I do a little bit at a time? As they say, how you eat an elephant, one bite at a time. Look at that big, overwhelming project. And what can you do this week or this day or this hour that helps you get closer to meeting that goal, to meeting that deadline? Deadlines reduce stress because they help you be able to say no to distractions. Think of that. Okay, I am on a mission. I am going to get this done. Somebody comes up to me and says, Oh, can you go out and do this and then this for me? I really can't. I have to focus on a deadline I have in front of me. Now I am able to do that September 15th, but I cannot do it right now. So it allows you to give a no, which reduces stress. You don't want to put more things on your plate. You want to be able to meet that deadline first and then say, I can do it after that. When we have a big project ahead of us, like I mentioned, let's call it reverse engineer. We have the project at hand. We are planning the month of December. It's going to be a big month. We know it's going to have a lot of parties on such and such weekends. Let's look at our calendar. Let's pull out what we did last year. And I know it seems like it's a long way away, but what if we start now? Look at that calendar. These are the parties we had. Maybe we need to be thinking about when we want to call and approach these corporate offices and ask them if you're able to do it for them again and not just wait. Then you are able to have that project in mind. You're able to order for it. You'll be able to already have that communication going forward. And then you can order your supplies and everything that happens with those special events. So sometimes looking at those further ahead, then you're able to do everything you need in line to get that happening. Assign yourself that timeline. Back it up. Back up. How many months ahead of time do you need to start that project? Let me give you another example because I've talked to many shops who their goal is to be able to create their own designs for the website. I get it. We're going to have a photographer come in, and we're going to have our own designs on the website because that's a goal. Because I don't want to look like everyone else. I want my stuff, right? It's something that makes you very proud when you see what you have on the website. And you just don't want to look like everyone. I get it. So then the question is what's your deadline? Right. So at this point, you probably have a let's call it September 15th deadline. Now that might be a little too late, but let's let's call it September 15th. But this point, you have a good five weeks. So visualize what it looks like on the 15th. You have everything done and ready and uploaded to your website. Okay, so that's going to take you a day to the upload. It's going to take you a few days, maybe a week, to edit the images to make sure that they're quality and look good on your website. So back that up. Now then you've got you've got a few weeks to create your recipe. Like, what do you want on the website? What is it that is a really great seller for your shop? That you can create the recipe for and then order the flowers and schedule a photographer. So these are the kind of things that if that is your end goal, then back it up, reverse engineer, right? Well then when is your start date? When are you going to start to shoot those images? Maybe by the 20th of August. I don't know. Give yourself a date. How long is it going to take? It'll take about a day to make the arrangements, and then give yourself plenty of time for the photographer because it's not one and done. You've heard Ellie and Lori and I talk before. And sometimes it's 30 to 50 shots per design because you are looking at it so close up, like the customer is when they bring up that big image online when they're trying to decide whether to order that or not. So take a look. Each and every design, make sure you look close and then approve it or not. So it's going to take you probably a couple days, maybe, with your photographer to get everything right. And then at that point, with digital, it won't take long to get the images from your photographer, and then you can start making the magic happen behind the scenes. So you see what I'm saying? Any of that stuff that you can assign to others on your team is great. And then build that buffer zone. So that's why I was saying by the 15th of September you want them done. That way you'll get it done by the 25th and by the first of October. So try to come up with your goal. Maybe it's something totally different. Maybe you need to paint the outer side of your building. Maybe you need to do something in the design room of your shop. Maybe you just need to get everything ready for homecoming. Pick a goal, make a deadline, set a deadline. And then see how relieved you are when you hit that deadline. You're like, oh my gosh, we did it. And then you can celebrate. You can celebrate with your team and celebrate with maybe when your company's coming, you're celebrating. You're like, woohoo, you have no idea what I've gone through, but I'm so glad you're here. Or just that reward of, oh my gosh, look how great these look on the website. Oh my gosh, look how fabulous our back room looks. It's all cleaned up and the new countertops or whatever you're having done. But this is the time to really think about deadlines and that deadline advantage, how it does keep you as a team aligned. It encourages momentum over perfection, doesn't have to be perfect. And then you can measure those goals. So here's the challenge. As I mentioned, I'm going to mention it one more time. Pick one personal task that's been floating around. Something, whether it's at your house or with a relationship. Okay, set a deadline. I'm going to do this by this date, even if it's loose, but you need to write it down. Sometimes they're not real if we don't write them down. And then break it into three mini deadlines. Okay, if I do this by this time, if I do this one by this date, then I will be able to achieve my final deadline on this day. Okay. Now do the same thing with something at work. Look around you. Look around work and say, what is it that I've been putting off that I really want to get done? Not just something like, oh, well, that'd be nice. No, something that you're like, this has been hanging over me. It's causing me stress because I can't get it done. That's the one you want. All right. Pick that one. Pick that task. And then set a deadline. When do you want to have that done? Okay. Write it down. Break it into three mini deadlines. If I make here and then I do here, then I will be able to accomplish this goal, this task that I've been putting off for a long time, I'll be able to do it. Okay, so you get a bonus if you tell someone about it andor put it on your calendar because that makes it real. If it's in the calendar and says this will be completed by this date. So that's my suggestion. A lot of times we use things like Trello. A Trello board will allow you to see goals and maybe see the different steps to get there. Notion is another one, or even the good old paper and pen planner so that you can see, you can visualize. Right here in my desk, I have a weekly to-do list. And so that's just a week, but you can flip it and you can go out three weeks and you can see, here it is. This is what I needed to have accomplished. You have a fabulous week and work on those deadlines. They will really make you feel like you accomplished something and will alleviate the stress you've been feeling because you just can't get it done. Next week we'll be able to hear an update on Lori and how waiting in the courtroom, whether she got selected for jury duty or what happened, the question is out there. We'll wait and see.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

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SPEAKER_01 20:29

So please come back and join us to discover how with a bit of knowledge and one changing your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business.