Stop asking for things “ASAP.”

If you want something done immediately, you might be tempted to ask for it to be done ASAP. Here’s why that’s a bad idea.

First of all, “ASAP” has become so overused that it’s lost its urgency teeth. It’s like the vanilla, white noise of deadlines.

But perhaps more importantly, ASAP actually means “as soon as possible,” which puts the power in the recipient’s hands to place your request within the context of their own to-do list triage. To them, your “ASAP” might be now, tomorrow, next Wednesday, or never. You want it to inspire someone to clear their schedule immediately, but really it’s too vague to command that kind of automatic action.

So what happens? How quickly the person acts on your request depends simply on how much they like and/or respect you (or, sadly, fear you). If they like/respect/fear you a lot, they’re more inclined to drop what they’re doing to accommodate your request. If they don’t like you, an ASAP request is more likely to inspire eye rolling and a “yeah, not happening” reaction.

Why bother with all this vagueness and emotional game playing? Forgo using ASAP and just give clear deadlines. If you need something in an hour, by EOD tomorrow, or by Thursday at 10am, just say so. Stating a clear deadline manages expectations on all sides. It also gives the recipient the context needed to triage the request among other tasks on their plate. This fosters less confusion and more accountability. And if they can’t make that deadline, it makes it easier to communicate scheduling changes.

By the way, “ASAP” isn’t alone in causing deadline dilution. We often ask people for things “whenever you can get to it,” “sometime within the next few weeks,” or “if you have the time.” If you tend to do this, here’s some advice to help you shed that habit.

Want to know what other phrase we’ve overused so much that it’s become meaningless? “Thanks.” See how to say thanks like you mean it here.