Deadlines vs. Life Lines

I have a friend who refuses to participate in "death-speak." You'll never hear her use phrases like "I was just dyin' to go" or "when's the deadline?" or "drop-dead gorgeous" or "these shoes are killin' me" or "I could have killed him for saying that." She speaks only of life and life-giving phrases. Being around her reminds me how much "death-speak" is naturally incorporated into my speaking.

But the word deadline is an interesting one.

Normally used to indicate the due date of a task or project, deadline is a word we use in pretty much every industry.

Construction requires deadlines for certain phases of a project to be completed before others can be completed, and deadlines must be met at every stage to keep the overall project on time. Office work has deadlines for any number of reasons, normally based on keeping timeline promises made to clients. Lawyers have deadlines based on court dates and statutes of limitations. Chefs have deadlines related to the opening of a restaurant and busy meal times. As a writer, I certainly have my share of deadlines. (Can you guess why this topic is coming up today?) Even housewives and stay-at-home moms have deadlines for PTA meetings, permission slips, field trips, dinner, costumes, etc.

Everyone has to deal with deadlines.

By why such the negative connotation to the word? Why does it have to be a DEADline?

Will someone die if the deadline is not met? Not usually, unless it's a transplant surgery or a ransom note or something of that nature. Although we certainly talk about it as though it's a life or death situation.

"My boss is gonna kill me if I'm late with this report."
"That client will scream bloody murder if we can't meet his timeline demands."
"These deadlines are killing me."
"I better get this done on time or else."
"My neck is on the line with this deadline."
Or any other number of not-so-positive comments tied to deadlines.

Don't get me wrong - deadlines are necesary for progress to continue. If I didn't give myself deadlines (and keep them) for my personal projects, I'd never move forward.

But here's the rub.

If success is in your language or speaking of it, and integrity means you keep your word, we gotta talk about this word "deadline."

For one thing, just the word causes a sense of tension. Again, it's that "DEAD" right there in the beginning.

For another thing, if we think carefully before agreeing to a mutually-satisfactory completion date (another word for deadline), there won't be as much stress surrounding the date itself.

Finally, if we are people of integrity who keep our word, deadlines or due dates aren't as terrifying as if we were not.

Let's face it, sometimes things happen and we simply are unable to keep our word. Integrity is not a moral issue; it's a simple "you did" or "you didn't" kind of thing. So if "you can't" even though you've tried every possible avenue, you simply get in communicatino and explain that you can't deliver on time and give a time when you can deliver by. Period. That's all there is to it.

Try to remember that the next time you start to panic about a deadline (er, I mean due date.)

So your QoD is this:
Can you think of 5 alternatives to the word "deadline" and begin using them in your daily speech?