Deadline? More like Lifeline!

Two things I see as given in my life, firstly I try to be as punctual as possible, secondly I'm terribly chaotic. So when you mix both of these together you get a person with an absolute need for pressure in order to finish something. If there is no due date then I'll probably procrastinate until either I run out of more irrelevant things to do or when pigs actually start to fly.

Here, have an example. I told you about this presentation I had in my last post. I actually wrote it the night before, making the PowerPoint presentation the very same day I had to stand in front of my class and talk about it. I tried to start earlier, but couldn't squeeze one mildly intelligent word out of my brains. Besides, you know what? The lecturer told me actually that I was rather good. Of course it wasn't perfect, but I never expected it to be anyway.

Another situation on which I realized that not everyone can actually withstand the tension* of last minute entries was when I wrote this big paper during my final year of school. I had all the information gathered but I was only able to write on it about four weeks before I had to hand it in, which considering the amount of time we had, was very little. Even my teacher made a remark on it saying he was slightly worried and admitting that he had no reason to. That also was the moment my mum could finally accept that I work in my own pace.

They even talk about this whole issue in the bible, I mean hello? What I'm talking about is written in Ecclesiastes and to be honest, that's part of the reason why this book is my favourite. Just read the verse and you might understand me. "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."  [Eccl. 3:1; KJV]. I just feel like this sentence gets my way of thinking. It's not about pushing it off mindlessly, it's about doing it when you are ready, when the idea is ripe to become real.

That's also the reason why I try my hardest to keep a weekly schedule up, even when weekly isn't determined with a certain day. When I loosen up too much then I might quit, which is the last thing I want to do right now.

Finally this whole schedule thing gets more and more important as NaNo approaches fast. I think next week you'll hear more about it, as I want to introduce this fabulous project to all of you. The fact that you just have to get the right amount of words during November is the best push I can get. I don't want to see myself loosing, especially since I have won the past two years, of which the first my schedule was about to burst due to all the things I was involved. I'm pumped for it and almost set to go. On the other hand I need to have my time organized well or I might end up neglecting either school, writing or my social life, which I want to prevent from happening!

To sum this up, schedules and deadlines keep me motivated and help me organise, even though what I'm doing might look like a mess to orderly people. I simply flourish under pressure. They also provide me with good products instead of just some lightly planed bits and bobs, as last minute execution leaves way more time and room for good planning beforehand. It's probably best that everyone has their own way of dealing with their own time.

Cheerio.


* I am sorry, insider alert ;)