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Deadlines
When it comes to deadlines, I’m old school. I cut my teeth in the print, newspaper and magazine business pre-computers. Yep, I started in a word where pages had to be “camera ready” and layouts were drawn on several layers of carbon paper.
The first Editor I worked for drilled the below ancedote about Deadlines into my head. It’s one of my favorite “threats”:
The word deadline first appeared as an American coinage that referred to the line around a military prison beyond which soldiers were authorized to shoot escaping prisoners. According to Lossing’s History of the Civil War (1868): “Seventeen feet from the inner stockade was the ‘dead-line’, over which no man could pass and live.” This use is also found in Congressional records as early as 1864: “The ‘dead line’, beyond which the prisoners are not allowed to pass.”
Needless to say, I’ve always taken deadlines seriously. Rain, shine or hurricane, I’ve never missed a deadline – personal or professional. In fact, I’m typically ahead of schedule. This week was no different. While I can’t remember how many deadlines I’ve had, I can say that in twelve years I haven’t missed a single one 
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