In order to get something done, we often set deadlines for ourselves or others. But strikingly enough, not setting a deadline appears to be the most effective.

We all have to deal with deadlines on a regular basis. Think of assignments or projects that must be completed before a certain date or of payments that are still in the pile. The striking thing about deadlines, however, is that they can have different effects. For example, is it better to set tight deadlines, or one that is further in the future, so that there is more time to complete the task? Or… maybe no deadline at all works best?

Survey

In a new study researchers put it to the test. Participants were asked to complete an online survey that would take no more than five minutes of their time. In return, they received a $10 reward that they could donate to charity. The researchers sent three different letters: one requesting a response within a week, one with a one-month deadline, and one without a deadline.

No deadline

The researchers make an interesting discovery. Because the response was highest (with 8.32 percent of the people who completed the survey) and fastest among the group that had no deadline. “The fact that no deadline also generated the highest number of early responses surprised us,” said researcher Maroš Servátka in an interview with Scientias.nl. Longer deadlines actually had the opposite effect. For example, only 5.53 percent of the participants from the group of people who had been given a one-month deadline completed the survey. They were also generally the slowest to respond.

Image: Prof. dr. servatka

What these results show is that the proverb ‘from procrastination comes adjustment’ with regard to deadlines certainly applies. While longer deadlines give people more time to complete a task, it also means that the task can be postponed to a later date. And that means you’re more likely to eventually forget. So, while it may seem logical that more time to fill out a survey would mean more responses, this study unequivocally shows that this is not how it works in practice.

Urgency

According to Servátka, this can be explained by the fact that deadlines indicate the importance and urgency of the underlying task. “A longer deadline tells people that the task isn’t urgent or important,” he explains. “It gives them permission to procrastinate. And once the task is delayed, they can do it over and over, eventually failing.” He also explains how urgency also plays a clear role in the other two cases. “When the deadline is short, the urgency is imposed by the deadline,” he says. “And if there’s no deadline and you ask someone to do something for you, the urgency is implied by the request. In that case, no deadline confirms the urgency.”

lesson

We can therefore draw an important lesson from this. “Deadlines often help people complete tasks that they put off,” Servátka says. “But different deadlines can have different effects. Properly set deadlines can indicate the urgency and importance of the task. And that will increase the likelihood of completion, because in that case people are likely to do the tasks early on. So if you want people to do something and you use deadlines as a means to motivate them, then you want to convey the urgency with this deadline.”

The research is particularly interesting because it turns out that no deadline at all is ultimately the most effective. Apparently, we respond most quickly when someone asks us for a favor, rather than being imposed with something backed up by a deadline. It remains to be seen whether the same applies to tasks other than filling in a survey.