I am turning 35 this month! Although birthdays are always exciting, this time of year also always seems to put me in a particular mood. Whether it is the dawning of spring or just me chalking up another tally to age, I analyze and over-analyze my life.

Both professionally and personally, I consider recent accomplishments and compare them to goals I had set for myself. I consider where I am now as opposed to where I was a year ago and I focus on the current trajectory of my life’s journey. This year I am focusing on any area where I find procrastination is keeping me from achieving a goal. In the end I want to be a music maker as well as a dreamer of dreams— at least I think that is what O’Shaughnessy meant.

I think procrastination can be summed up nicely in this Ted Talk with Tim Urban. I think he showcases the internal struggle for us to get some goals accomplished perfectly. My procrastination monkey will chase my brain all over the place, seemingly curious of any facet to every idea of which I conceive. But then I realize I just spend hours conceptualizing an idea when I could have already started pursuing it. So I found the most ardent point of the Ted Talk to be about setting hard deadlines for all goals and their completion steps.

Just like everything else, our dreams require a thoughtful plan of action and a deadline for each step, phase, and trajectory, so that we may (and probably with a lot more ease and a lot less stress) accomplish our longterm goals while maintaining our daily goals and obligations. This seems especially true for the goals in life that do not come attached to professional or natural deadlines.

When it comes down to it— establishing and completing goals in areas such as wealth planning, health and fitness, and checking off items on the bucket list— when we start, how quickly we progress, and where we end up is largely on us as individuals. Do not let your procrastination monkey and panic monster get the best of you. Instead of just having goals and dreams, and keeping an eye on them, set deadlines and accomplish them.

This month I am getting in the practice of applying deadlines to all things and learning how to better organize deadlines so that I may efficiently accomplish my larger goals. Next year I look forward to celebrating how much I got accomplished at 35 and already looking forward to going into 36 with more goals written down and their deadlines set!