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Coursera

How to Get Things Done Ahead of Deadlines

via Coursera

Overview

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Have you ever worked with someone who never seemed to miss a deadline, or even got things done early? If so, you've likely wondered what their secret is. In this course, creativity and productivity expert Samantha Bennett will demystify how these deadline masters operate. Sam will give you an understanding of the psychology of deadlines, methods of setting up a project for success, and the means to plan for the unexpected. you'll gain practical strategies to set expectations, communicate and collaborate, and get things done to meet every deadline.

Syllabus

  • Why We Miss Deadlines
    • You've probably told yourself you work better under pressure but that's not a strategy, it's a habit. In this module, you'll discover why nearly everyone waits until the last minute, how urgency secretly drives your decisions, and why deadlines themselves are one of your most powerful tools for getting things done ahead of schedule.
  • Before You Even Begin
    • Most professionals lose hours on projects before a single task is assigned, simply by skipping the questions that would have saved them. In this module, you'll build a pre-project intelligence habit by tapping experts, decoding the true purpose of your project, aligning your team early, and using historical research to put yourself ahead of schedule before the work even begins.
  • Perfecting Your Plan
    • Your plan is only as strong as the thinking that went into it. In this module, you'll build the planning skills that separate reactive professionals from proactive ones: prioritizing with precision, running meetings that move things forward, anchoring your team to the vision, and welcoming the pushback that makes every plan stronger.
  • Creating Timelines that Work
    • You already know how to make a plan, but turning it into consistent on-time delivery is a different skill set entirely. In this module, you'll master the practical mechanics of staying on schedule: reverse engineering your deadlines, checking in on progress daily, communicating problems early, and protecting your focus from the interruptions that derail even the best plans.
  • Disasters Will Definitely Happen
    • No matter how carefully you plan, things will go wrong. In this module, you'll build a disaster preparedness toolkit covering technology failures, material setbacks, and the people-shaped disruptions no timeline can fully predict, so you can treat every disaster as a category of event you've already accounted for.
  • Stealing Tricks of A+ Students
    • The professionals who consistently deliver early aren't more disciplined than everyone else; they just know something most people don't. In this module, you'll borrow the strategies that A+ students have always used: setting expectations strategically, harnessing peer accountability to stay on track, and making even the most tedious tasks feel like a game worth winning.
  • Conclusion
    • You've covered a lot of ground, and now it's time to make it stick. In this module, you'll consolidate the key strategies from across the course, apply them to a concrete personal next step, and leave with the confidence to start getting things done ahead of schedule starting today.

Taught by

Madecraft

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