What an apt time to be writing a piece on deadlines and creativity. Here I am, working on this piece on a Sunday night, with the clock close enough to strike mid-night, and this piece is due early tomorrow morning. I have my creative team working in parallel on a television script that is due to the client in the next couple of days, and another client expecting a print ad that needs to be release in 3 days for the launch of an offer which is in response to something that the competition launched on Friday. That's due tomorrow too. If they lose market share, I might lose my job. That's advertising, and that's every day. And I love it.

But does this kind of work pressure help boost creativity, or trample it?

I've heard good, strong arguments for both sides of this debate. There's the argument that when on a deadline, the mechanical left-brain takes control, and true creativity take a back seat. I couldn't agree more. On the contrary, there're others that'll argue with the use of Parkinson's law that states “work expands to fill the time available”, hence assuming that too much time only creates an illusion of creativity and that real work only happened in pockets of productivity. And again, I couldn't agree more.

I'm going to refrain from taking sides to this argument. Instead, I'm going to only tell you how I'm going to tackle this Sunday Evening I'm faced with, and how I'm still in control.

1) Set your own deadline, that's a few days, or a few hours before the real deadline. That way the client's deadline won't play on your mind and will not

2) Step back, and look at the bigger picture. What's the larger objective that this project you're working on is trying to achieve.

3) Kick start your motor, start with some open ended brainstorming. Try and record all ideas on a piece of paper. They'll come in handy. I forbid myself the use of computer, cause I feel they're distracting. Do this until the ideas stop and your creative juices dry up.

4) Let go, put the project aside. Let the ideas simmer in your mind. The one that was the strongest will remain.

5) Get back to work, and flesh out the ideas that still remain with you. Those are the ones you want. This step requires a lot of assurange in yourself, and in your skill. Trust yourself. You might need to remind yourself of all the times you've got it right. Make sure you keep at it, until each idea is fleshed out.

6) If you get stuck, go do something you love. Exercise, read something else for a while, watch TV, Facebook. Pushing yourself, when you're stuck isn't going to accomplish anything.

7) Wrap it up, once you're done fleshing out the idea. Put deadline on mundane tasks like presentations, quality checks etc. You want to get out of the project as soon as possible, so that you're fresh for your next endeavour.

These seven-simple-steps have always come to my rescue when I'm having a cerebral blackout and I'm having a staring match with oblivion. There is however, one proverbial 'advertising astrix' to this equation.  The deadline needs to be self-imposed in step 1. If not, trust your work to suffer. In such a scenario, you have two options, say no to the project, and live with yourself for having lost the business, or say yes, and live with yourself for not having given it your best. Personally, I'd much rather live with the former.