In spite of the continued superstitious belief in the power of deadlines most are not met. Whether we set our own or others set them for us they either drive us crazy and cause costs to exceed benefits or we simply experience the remorse or blame in our failure to meet them. It would be nice if deadlines mattered but in truth they often don't.
What does matter is how clear we are in become on the good we seek and the tempo of our momentum toward that good. When we achieve things within satisfying timeframe it's because of the tempo of our momentum not necessarily the timeframe of our motivation. When we get things done on time it's because of this tempo. When we don't get things done on time it's because we're out of tempo we simply lack the momentum necessary for the timing we desire.
So instead of wasting time talking about deadlines we should be talking about how we can create momentum, what that looks like and how we can sustain it with frequent check ins and huddles.