How Long Can You Push a Deadline? This is How Long an Artist Took to Create a Custom Helmet

We all have been swamped with work or too lethargic to finish a project at some point. We have missed deadlines and procrastinated instead of doing the work. There are times when we push the deadline for a few hours, days or maybe even weeks. But have you ever pushed a deadline for years?

Danielle Baskin, a painter who makes customised art for her clients, received an order in 2017. An archaeologist wanted a customised helmet for himself with deer, horse and desert landscape painted on it.

Danielle was swamped with work and she informed the client about the long waiting list.

Taking a dig (no pun intended) at his profession, the archaeologist had said, “No rush. I am nothing if not patient. Much of my work is based on finding things that have been waiting for 200,000+ years.”

Danielle took him at his word and delivered the helmet — wait for it — three years later!

The painter, who is also a tarot-card reader and the CEO of a voice-chat app, Dialup, shared this incident on Twitter.

Danielle explained that the delay in finishing this work was not entirely intentional. She said that some work gets on the back burner when there is no shortage of work and suddenly the time flies.

She also expressed her delight at the fact that the recipient of this helmet was patient throughout but said that only archaeologists can wait that long.

Reacting to her story, Twitterati were astonished that she was able to complete the project after three years.

A user, Sundeep Paruchuri said that a project that is on the back burner rarely gets finished. Talking about his timeline, he said, “I usually have a timeline of like ~6 months after which there is a less than <1% chance of that project ever finishing.”

Another user hoped that the archaeologist would wear the helmet with Indiana Jones attire.