Deadlines are powerful forces in our work, signaling what's most important, forcing focus, and driving tasks to completion. That's why projects that don't have a deadline can languish on your task list for weeks, months, or even years.

Sometimes this happens because a project is ambiguous, boring, or messy. You naturally deprioritize it whenever possible, because working on it feels uncomfortable. But other times you don't mean to avoid the project. You just never get to it, because items with clear deadlines feel more pressing.

You probably don't get a lot of external flak for delays on non-deadline tasks, but internally it can feel frustrating when projects sit untouched. And with important-but-not-urgent items, there's the anxiety that at any moment someone might ask you about their status, and you will have nothing to show.

So how do you motivate yourself when you want - or need - to get something done, but you don't have a deadline? As a time management coach, I've found that three simple strategies can help you finally move forward.

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