Three deadlines this week and can't start any: what do I do first?

TL;DR: Spend ten minutes writing each deadline down with its due date, what happens if it slips, how much work is left, and the smallest next action. Start the one that is soonest and costs the most if missed, and book a specific 20 to 30 minute block for it with an if-then plan. If a later deadline depends on someone else's input, send that request first.

Honestly, sometimes when you write down the cost if you miss a deadline; helps you actually commit to it.

Why can't you start any of them?

Three deadlines compete for the same first slot, so every choice feels like neglecting the other two. You end up holding all three in your head at once, and none of them gets worked on.

The usual result is a morning spent switching tabs, opening one document, then another, then checking email. Forty minutes pass and nothing has moved. The fix is to make the choice once, on paper, so your head stops re-arguing it.

What should you do in the first ten minutes?

Make a three-row triage list. One row per deadline, four columns:

• When it is due
• What happens if it is late or weak
• Roughly how much work is left, in hours
• The smallest next physical action

Say your week looks like this: a lab report due Wednesday, a problem set due Thursday, and a client draft due Friday. Your list might read:

• Lab report, Wednesday 9am, worth 20% of the module, about 5 hours left, next action: paste the results table into the template.
• Problem set, Thursday 5pm, worth 5%, about 3 hours left, next action: read question 1 and write down what it asks for.
• Client draft, Friday noon, client is waiting on it to approve the next invoice, about 6 hours left, next action: email the client asking which logo files to use.

Keep it rough. The estimates only need to be good enough to compare the three, and ten minutes is plenty.

How do you pick which deadline goes first?

Pick the task that is both soonest and most consequential. University learning services give the same advice: sort tasks by how soon they are due and how much they matter.^[1][2]

The two-question sort is often drawn as the Eisenhower Matrix, which separates tasks that demand immediate attention from those tied to longer-term goals.^[3] Tasks that are urgent and important should be done as soon as possible.^[4] Important work that is not yet urgent gets a scheduled slot, and that slot doesn't have to be your next hour.^[1][4][2]

When two tasks are about equally urgent, choose the one with bigger consequences.^[1][4][2] In the example above, the lab report wins: it is due first and carries the most weight. The problem set is close in timing but matters less.

This rule leaves out which task feels easiest or most tempting. The tempting task is often the one with the least at stake, which is part of why it feels tempting.

When should a later deadline go first?

When it depends on something you don't control. If the Friday draft needs files or approval from someone else, the waiting time starts when you ask, so the ask goes first.

This usually takes a few minutes. Send the email, then go back to the most urgent task. Guidance on urgency and importance is a practical framework, and the evidence doesn't establish one ordering rule that fits every person or job.^[3][5] Dependencies are a good reason to bend it.

How do you make the first task small enough to start?

Cut it down until the first piece takes 20 to 30 minutes and produces something you can see. Breaking large tasks into more manageable ones is standard advice from study-skills services.^[6]

"Work on the lab report" is too big to start. "Paste the results table into the template and write one sentence under each figure, 25 minutes" is a job you can begin without deciding anything else. The output matters, whether it's a pasted table or a drafted paragraph. If you can't say what will exist at the end of the block, the block is still too vague.

What is an if-then plan, and does it help?

An if-then plan, or implementation intention, links a specific cue, such as a time and place, to a planned action.^[7] McGill's learning services put it plainly: write down the date, time and location you will start in.^[5]

The format is: "If it is 10am on Tuesday, I will sit at the library desk and paste the results table into the lab report template."

The evidence for this is reasonably strong. A 2025 review covering 642 independent tests found implementation intentions worked across cognitive, affective and behavioural outcomes, with effect sizes from d = 0.27 to 0.66.^[7] Those are modest to moderate effects, so the plan helps on average and guarantees nothing. The same review found larger effects for contingent if-then plans and for plans that were rehearsed.^[7] In practice, that means writing the plan in true if-then form and reading it back to yourself once or twice before the time arrives.

What about the other two deadlines?

Book their first blocks today as well, even if those blocks are tomorrow. Once each deadline has a time attached, your head can stop carrying it while you work on the first one.

Work backwards from the due dates. If the problem set needs about 3 hours and is due Thursday at 5pm, it needs two or three blocks spread across Wednesday and Thursday morning. Put them in your calendar. Leave some slack after meetings and classes, because the half hour right after an event rarely goes to plan.

This is the part TimeBud handles for you. You give it the three goals, it breaks each into jobs with minute estimates and notes which ones depend on others, then fills only your free time and leaves a buffer after calendar events.

What if you still can't start?

Make the first block smaller. Ten minutes on the smallest next action still counts, and it often turns into the full block once you are moving.

Other things that tend to help:

• Close every tab and document that isn't part of the first job.
• Set a timer for the block so the end is visible.
• Write down any stray thought about the other deadlines on a capture list and go back to the job.

In TimeBud, the focus timer runs through a queue of jobs one at a time, and you can hand stray thoughts to Bud as quick captures so they are filed somewhere other than your head.

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