The "you-may-cross" line

During the Civil War the deadline was the prison’s “do-not-cross” line. If you crossed the deadline, you’d be shot dead right there.

Today you can cross almost any deadline and nothing fatal will ever happen to you.

I guess you can read this in two ways:

1. As there’s no direct punishment for sloppy planning, you can get by with promises that feed everybody’s wishful thinking, then take it easy and throw in a random apology once the truth inevitably hits.

2. Without the threat of the stick, you’ll need to sharpen your discipline and planning skills if you hope to get ahead.

Image by Salman Hossain Saif