[curt.clifton]

I also try to minimize my use of due dates, but occasionally use them for more than just "hard landscape" things like appointments and deadlines. For example, my Clean Gutters task has a due date. That's not because anything in particular changes on that due date, but because the task is not one I enjoy doing yet it must be done. I'm less stressed if I keep these "soft" due dates to a bare minimum.

One thing I've noticed about myself and these soft due dates: If I find myself deferring a soft due date frequently, that's a strong sign that I'm not fully committed to the project. In that case, I need to do one of several things:

• Do more project planning—Why am I doing this? What does success look like?
• Come up with a better (more specific, smaller, more active) next action
• Defer the project until I can commit to it by giving it a future start date
• Put the project on-hold
• Drop the project

The last three might require renegotiating the project with myself or others.