This is a very practical Rule, but an important one. I was brought up to understand that I shouldn’t let people down, and I should always do things when I say I will. And quite right too, as I’m sure you’ll agree. ‘Meet your deadlines’, I was told.

Ah, but I can’t begin to tell you how many times I got into trouble trying to meet deadlines. From school assignments right through to publishers’ manuscript deadlines, I’ve gone through hell in those last few hours or days trying to get things done. There are so many last-minute problems that get in the way.

If you’ve had a few months to write a book, it just sounds ridiculous to say to your publisher on delivery day, ‘I’m really sorry I haven’t quite finished the book. You see, my mum was taken really ill a couple of days ago…’. They’ll just wonder what you were up to for the last few months.

The same goes for reports or presentations at work, dissertations at uni, buying birthday presents, clearing out of the flat you’re leaving, and anything else you can think of. All of them are deadlines that you can plan for perfectly, and then something can come along and scupper those plans. And it will scupper them when there’s no leeway left, no slack. So you have no option but to miss the deadline, or abandon your ailing mother or whatever it was that got in the way.

Listen, I can guarantee you that stuff will always get in the way of your deadlines. I don’t even need to know what you’re supposed to be doing and when it has to be completed. I already know that spanners will fling themselves into the works. They always do. The car breaks down, the computer crashes, the trains stop running, your best friend has a crisis, someone is ill, you run out of materials (after the shops have shut, needless to say), you get interrupted, someone senior demands your presence at a vital meeting, the deadline gets brought forward, the weather gets in the way.

You may not know what will disrupt your schedule at the last minute, but be aware that something absolutely will. And if you’re not expecting it, not only will you miss the deadline, but you’ll become hugely stressed and irritable and frustrated. The one thing you won’t want to accept is that it’s your own fault. I know this because I’ve been there time and again, and it’s never my fault.

Except that deep down I know it is. And after years of trouble, I now know how to prevent it happening except on the very rarest of occasions. I’ve stopped trying to meet deadlines, and I now aim to stay ahead of them. I plan to complete small projects a day or two ahead of time, and big ones up to a month or two ahead. I build some slack into my timetable. I’ve no idea what it’s waiting for, but I know that something will come along and fill it.