Resisting Deadline Pressure

The closer you get to a deadline, the harder it is to resist its pressure. When you only have a day left to submit the final specs, report, or draft, panic can seem like the only option. But actually, even with 15 minutes left on the clock, you can still choose calm.

You can choose to let the deadline be just another minute on the clock. In many cases, you can let it come and go without serious consequences. But even if the deadline itself isn’t voluntary, running around like a headless chicken definitely is—and you may as well decide not to do it.

This very blog has seen plenty a time crunch. When you do something every day, perfection quickly flies out the window. On particularly time-constrained days, it’s hard to trust that the words will flow within the next ten minutes. Still, I sit there, and I choose to stare at a blank screen until the right idea finds me. The better I can resist panic, the quicker it arrives.

Don’t let time bully you. Not even when the stakes are high. Especially then. Let deadlines inspire you instead of intimidate you, and remember that when it comes to existential matters, most of them make little more than a whooshing sound as they go by.