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What Brand of Panic Are You Smoking?
I got a call from a client this morning. He apparently didn’t get the memo from about five months ago that I have a new phone number (and yes, there was a memo. Also, several text messages and phone calls since, not to mention the fact that my phone number is at the bottom of every email and in my website. But we’re not bitter).
The call meant that I spent the morning frantically tracking down interview subjects for two articles due a week ago yesterday.
I found all of them. In the space of about two hours.
I work extremely well under pressure.
I know many people who absolutely panic under pressure. When deadlines are looming, their impulse is to hide under the covers and hope – really, really hard – that it all goes away. Sometimes they pray to various gods or drink a lot. But they are completely paralyzed by the immensity of the Big Looming Deadline, as though it were an asteroid headed right for them.
It’s too big. We’re all going to die.
Except we’re not. Because someone who loves impending doom will always swoop in.
People Who Love Pressure
I personally am a big fan of being under pressure. You cannot argue with the combined glory that is David Bowie and Queen. Pressure makes my senses sharper. It means that there’s really no time to mess around. It means I have to swing into serious action to save the day.
Remember when you were a kid and you had a whole month to do that semester’s big project? It was probably about animals or the solar system or something. You know the one. Somehow they were always science projects. I suspect this is because the English department knew better than to give little kids extended deadlines, knowing full well that they couldn’t get grown men to turn in their newspaper articles on time if you offered them a steak and a foot massage afterward.
If you were anything like me, you didn’t start that assignment until maybe, MAYBE three days before it was due. Far more likely, you started it the day before. Even more likely, you had some small piece of it that you saved until after all the shops were closed, so that you could run up to your mother and ask for something she had no way of finding at that hour of night.
If your mother was like me, she rose to that challenge. She found a 24-hour pharmacy that sold everything under the sun, let you stay up way past your bedtime, hopped you up on sugar and spent five hours helping you finish the project all the way up until just before school started, when she triumphantly delivered you and your project and then marched you right back home to bed, because she knew how they were, those deadlines.
This is what you do when you love pressure. You think of a deadline as an adventure, as time running out. You’re the desperate hero, racing against the clock, trying to avert disaster.
And making it. Just barely. Because that’s what the hero does.
Can you imagine a hero who stops the comet from hitting the earth before you ever knew there was a comet? That’s not a hero, that’s just a dude doing his job. But that guy who gets blasted into space and stops it just before the last possible second?
That guy is awesome.
People Who Hate Pressure
Some people do not see the thrill of being the awesome hero type. Or they do, but seriously, it gives them indigestion. “My heart is having enough trouble coping with my job and my family and my various neuroses to deal with last-minute deadlines.”
These people don’t get a buzz when they realize there’s only one last chance to fix something. They think, “Oh god oh god we’re all going to die,” and then they hold on tight to their teddy bears while Bruce Willis goes out and blows up the asteroid.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with being those people. It is actually a much smarter position to take. If you really wanted to keep the asteroid from hitting the earth, you’d probably be that guy who figured out how to avert it way before it ever became a problem. This would be both wise and practical, except insofar as it does not require the presence of Bruce Willis, which to my thinking is always a mistake.
People who hate pressure, therefore, generally become planners. They figure out systems to break their deadlines down so they don’t become big scary dramatic EVENTS but rather small little tasks to be completed throughout the day.
These are the people who, when they were children, did a little bit of that project every day for a month and had it all ready a few days before I did. These are also the people, incidentally, who reminded me that the project existed at all.
Without these people, heroes don’t exist. Can you imagine if no one had even TOLD Bruce Willis an asteroid was going to hit the earth, so he didn’t save it? Man, would his face have been red. Scruffily handsome still, but very red.
People who hate deadlines are not against heroism. They just think that a day that goes by where a hero is not needed is probably a better day than one in which a hero is needed. You call on heroes when stuff is bad. These people are thinking, “Hey, stuff should be good as often as we can make it so.” This is smart. And when something manages to slip through and become very bad, it is scary as hell. It makes sense to hide under the bed when that happens.
And call on a hero, who will gear up and get the job done the way they like to do it – in a blaze of glory and adrenaline, so the world will be safe tomorrow for those who just want to get through the day without something blowing up in their face.
Which are you? Do you love pressure and let things get bad so you can save them? Or do you hate pressure and try to keep things from getting bad so that, you know, things aren’t bad? Talk to me, people.
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If any of my clients read this then I am the safe, dependable, all round trustworthy planner kind of guy. Nothing gets left to the last minute, everything is done to schedule.
Honest.
…
OK so I’ve been the one to leave things to the last minute and I always seem to get things done. But I don’t like it. In fact I am trying harder day by day to break that awful habit.
So what does that make me?
Marc – WelshScribe´s last blog post…How To Break Out Of The Freelance Writing Rut
I’m exactly the same, I always leave things to the last minute but always wish I hadn’t. I do thrive under pressure as I know full well it needs to be done and I can’t be late… but man do I hate it!
Tei,
I wish I’d known our posts were going to wear matching outfits!
Me? I’m with Mark. Dependable planner sort if you’re listening, clients, and especially if you just came from my post.
In school I was a hybrid. I’d work on the project every day, and still have 40% of it to do in the last twelve hours. I’ve never quite known what to make of it.
My kid is a different hybrid. She’s Bruce Willis all the way, Mr. Last-Second Hero, but with a wailing-banshee thing added for effect.
(Honey, if you ever read this, of course I love it when you cause the problem *and* howl about it. That’s part of your charm.)
Regards,
Kelly
Kelly´s last blog post…Inspiration Points: 1,2,3,4 Pressure!
Yeah, well… See, before they called Bruce Willis, they called me. And I said no.
Can’t blame them for taking second best!
James,
You shouldn’t have been so selfish. After you finished acting for the day, they could have used your guitar-playing talents in that movie. As it was they had to hire Liv Tyler’s dad or something. How lame!
Wait, you didn’t say how Le Roi works under pressure. Hm?
Until later,
Kelly
Kelly´s last blog post…Inspiration Points: 1,2,3,4 Pressure!
Le Roi thrives on too much to do in too little time. If I had one task and three weeks to do it in, you can bet that it’s not getting done, being avoided, set aside… booooorrrrring.
But give me 50 tasks and two days? Holy batman, watch me go. I am the epitome of action. And I get it all done, with very calculated efficiency.
As for the guitar, I told them not to use Tyler. I really wanted something a little smoother, but some ass pointing out the small print in the contract that I’d missed and it said, “We get to choose the music.”
@James You turned down the opportunity to work alongside Liv Tyler? You had no idea about the Wolverine movie! What’s else?
You’re seriously ruining your street cred here mate.
And thus was born, Men With Pens.
Crazy. *Aerosmith pun intended*
Kelly´s last blog post…Inspiration Points: 1,2,3,4 Pressure!
Oh Tei, I was laughing all the way through that! I’m totally last minute!
I’ve doing a joint assignment next term with a highly organised, super educated planner. I said to her quite seriously, “You do realise that I will do nothing on this until at least 48 hours before it’s due, and will most likely write it the day we’re presenting?” She laughed until she realised I was serious! Then she turned pale.
I do put things into my calendar so I remember that they exist. If I don’t write it down then nothing gets done.
Must be something to do with highly creative, genius people!
Melinda´s last blog post…Free Blogathon April 2009 – Come Join Us!
Anyone who watches sports and likes a close game–they like heroes/heroines. Most won’t admit it, but I think we are all closet stress junkies.
And about those science projects, the planners and prodders–I bet they don’t remember the projects or appreciate their mothers in the same ways. Ah, the stuff of memories. I remember a paper mache earth ball that we put in the dryer…
I am totally an under the gun writer. I need a deadline and I need to come as close as possible to that deadline without going over.
Scott´s last blog post…Partners in Adversity
I really try to be a planner, to keep myself organized, write to do lists, etc. It never quite works out, I’m still a procrastinator who leaves stuff late.
I’m good at getting it done then, but it still stresses me out. I may do some good work then, but I don’t enjoy doing it. Far more relaxed and feeling good about my work when I’m working to a plan…so why don’t I do it more often?
Robin Cannon´s last blog post…Dynamic CSS Backgrounds
Mmmm,
I’m a blendy-pen.
I HATE to work under pressure, but I tend to perform BEST under pressure.
I don’t necessarily plan each moment of the day, I just try to be organized in my efforts overall.
If I don’t have any pressure to get something done, I tend to put it off. My bad, I know.
George
Tumblemoose´s last blog post…Tumblemoose news this week
I like a little bit of pressure – but too much immobilises me.
I’m a planner with a slightly masochistic streak. Even though I set myself plenty of time – I throw in an earlier deadline than is needed.
Just to see if I can do it.
sometimes – by a whole 5 or ten minutes.
I tell you, the hours fly by on the adrenaline in this little freelancer’s cave
Amy Harrison´s last blog post…The 10% Baby Step to Save Time
That’s why I hate pressure on meeting deadlines so much, once i’m in full flow the time just flies by and I end up clock watching. Why oh why I put myself in that position *everytime* , I have no idea!
Regards,
The procrastination King
My brother was TOTALLY the last minute kid.
Flashback to the early 90s. It’s 8:30 pm on a Tuesday and Brian casually remarks, “Hey, um, Mom? My Indian project is due tomorrow.”
Mom flips out. First it’s the cold, calm and calculated voice. (We knew this meant screaming was coming as soon as she lost her grip on her temper.) Since Brian is two years behind me in school, she knows exactly what Indian project he means.
“The one your sister worked THREE WEEKS ON??”
Brian nods like it’s no big deal. Mom goes into a frenzy, drags him all over town, chews him out for hours and helps him finish the project until 3 am.
I’m not entirely sure she didn’t DO the project for him.
Maybe that was his plan all along.
Nowadays, I pre-plan and rush finish. I’ll get all my notes and resources for the project the day I accept it and then let them sit until the day it’s due.
I work best with a deadline and am getting semi-decent at setting mini-goals for myself to do big projects in small chunks.
My biggest problem is an affliction I like to call To-Do List ADD (TDLADD). It’s a horrible thing to have and I hope nobody here has caught it from me. Sufferers of TDLADD start the day with a To-Do List. However, when a newer, shinier, not-on-the-list-for-today item pops up, they MUST DO IT. It’s so shiny! This leads to panic as the sufferer looks at the clock and realizes she now has even less time to do the original items on the list – but look, SHINY! So shiny… this will only take a minute…
Geek’s Dream Girl´s last blog post…J’s Soapbox: Why The Pick-Up Artist Does More Harm Than Good
Ahh, so glad those science project days are behind me. I know two people who are better at procrastinating than I am. I don’t necessarily like to work under pressure, but I’m damn good at it. Sometimes I come up with my best ideas when I’m under the literary gun.
Cassie – MamasOnTheWeb´s last blog post…Don’t know what to write your special report about?
I definitely prefer a little pressure. It gives me added motivation to concentrate and clear out my head and focus on the objective. I’m not talking about leaving things to the last minute or second but certainly leaving things until it goes up my list of importance and deadline.
I’m a little of both — I’ll poke at the project, put it at the top of my list and then do everything except that, and then buckle down two days before and get it all done and turned in a few hours early.
And of course never, ever late. *coughs* Um, hi, Tei!
Amy Crook´s last blog post…What doing chores taught me about doing work
Gah, you guys get up too early for me.
WelshScribe: Um, yes. Me too.
Dave B: Don’t hate. Embrace it. It’s the only way you don’t get ulcers.
Kelly: I’m in your MIND.
Melinda: See, the planner types should never interact with the hero types. Remember every time Bruce Willis encountered a scientist? It was bad news bears.
Mary Ulrich: I think it’s a survival thing. We like to be reminded that we’re animals with other animals lusting after our blood now and then. And then we like that feeling of winning. Yes! I am on top of the food chain! I win again!
Robin Cannon: You have not yet embraced your true destiny as a planner. Go hang with Yoda for awhile. He’ll set you straight with the Force.
Tumblemoose: I feel we are all mostly blends. If you really hate it, you should organize. If you secretly love it, you should roll with it. Love your madness. It is a good madness.
Amy Harrison: This is a smart plan if you can outthink yourself. I try to do this, but I always know in the back of my mind what the real deadline is. I cannot fool myself. I would suck at playing against myself in chess.
Geek’s Dream Girl: I totally do that. The shiny new thing. You cannot resist the shiny.
Cassie: Don’t we all. It’s God’s way of fucking with writers.
Noel: Light a fire under your ass. That’s what I’m talkin’ about. Then ride that sucker into the stratosphere.
Amy Crook: Yes. Well. Cough. I . . . cannot blame you. ::hangs head:: Because man, me too.
That’s the bad part about this procrastination thing. You totally surrender the high ground to planners. Those better-than-thou bastards. Being all . . . better than moi.
Nice post Taylor,
This phenomenon of wanting to and choosing to work under pressure is well known in the maintenance industry. I used to run a Maintenance Dept. in a factory. These are the men and women who work on the machines when they break down. Some of these engineers have what we called The Red M Syndrome. Just like Superman, they wanted to save the day. So these people would wait until something broke and then, while everyone was watching, they could swoop in and be the hero by fixing the problem. This can be quite addicting if you crave attention. The silly thing is most of the problems could easily be averted with a little prevention saving the company sometimes thousands of dollars.
I bet these people never got their school papers in on time either.
Agrande@no carb foods´s last blog post…Zero Carb Foods and Glycemic Index
I have a foot in both camps here. I love the pressure, the excitement, the adrenalin but my body simply does not cope. So it isn’t something I’m prepared to do anymore.
I’ve worked like crazy to deliver a project only to collapsed in a heap at the end a couple two many times. I was always aware my body was a fragile thing and didn’t cope well to the demands I threw at it but I lost a year of my life, to my personal project from hell. 6 months of full on work, which overtook everything else, and meant I was constantly tired and exhausted. Followed by 6 months in hospital, when I collapsed when the thing was done. I have no memories at all from of my littlest one aged 4, I was too sick to notice him for most of that year.
These days I plan and I built a lot of slack into my schedules and I don’t see myself ever doing high pressured projects again, the price I paid simply wasn’t worth it.
Really great article and I enjoyed reading it! I for believe to be like the first kind. Even the world worship them. For howmuchever we plan, there’ll be certainly some surprises. It tests your guts and stamina.
I really like the second category too. Who slog from the day one and do a fine job. They make this world sweet and smooth. We can’t but appreciate their clock like precision.
But the real punch is added by the heroes. Who come to rescue and who makes the world believe in the impossible. Sorry…. if I went beyond the topic. I couldn’t resist it after reading this great piece!
Solomon
Solomon´s last blog post…Leverage the RAW ENERGY of YOUR SPEECH
I definitely shine under pressure, but I don’t always enjoy it. When I lock myself in my office to pound out an assignment, I’m usually thinking, “I gonna need a LOT of chocolate when this is all over.”
Angela WD´s last blog post…Starting Your Own Writing Business, Part 5: Sign on the Dotted Line!
I think the recurring theme majority today is…
We’re all a bunch of procrastinators that rush to catch our ass in the final glory hour.
@James – And what better way to live? It adds excitement and spontaneity into our lives!
Cassie – MamasOnTheWeb´s last blog post…Don’t know what to write your special report about?
Tei,
Good. That’s better than being in my WordPress.
Thank goodness I switched the post from Queen-titled to Billy Joel. (Yes, really.)
You won’t discover much hanging out in my mind. The organized thinking’s all out on paper.
Later,
Kelly
Kelly´s last blog post…Inspiration Points: 1,2,3,4 Pressure!
That’s why I don’t like to change my phone number. I’ve had the same cell phone number for 8 years now. Did not bother to change it either when I moved to a different state. If it’s a cell phone, I don’t even know why people bother to change the number unless you have some ex girlfriend blowing up your phone.
Hey Solomon, I see this all the time as well but in different places, such as our warehouses and sales floors. People either crave the visiblity or are required to make themselves visible as job justification of sorts. Unfortunately, in some cases bad managers have seen that things are running smoothly and make the planners and business process guys redundant citing they are not needed. They then wonder why things start going wrong…
Has anyone else seen this? It would seem we need a bit of drama and flurry to justify our positions to short sighted people in some cases.
@David, I think this is normal. If your a good planner, business process guy, you get given increasingly insane projects. If things are smooth your not seen as needed there, so you get shuffle to the places where insanity is worst. Each time things are things are calm and settled, you inherit a new piece of madness. It becomes a never ending grind.
Pressure. Actually I am not sure whether it is that I like working under pressure or in a semi-state of chaos. However I have come to terms with the fact that I approach things/projects differently than many people. I tend to internalize much of my planning/thought process/research – which can give the perception of procrastination. Then Bam! All of a sudden I have a project/coding/to do list knocked out. Although, it does help to have a spouse/business partner that is the exact opposite and is thoroughly organized.
David,
Thanks for addressing me! I generally like spontaniety. I like to talk on the spurt of the moment. I like people who have the spark to do the unexpected. We work according to our instincts and habits. I always used to take the flake of my lecturer for not getting my science record ready for submission.
But I’s the first to arrange a impromptu gathering, or to talk in the class, or dance to music immediately. Bringing loud cheers. Maybe we do things for the gallery not for ourselves. And suffer sometimes humiliation too as people take us for granted that we do some cranky things.
I don’t know I take writing projects with short deadlines as challenges and write very fast. As I don’t carry any reputation’ baggage.
Maybe I diverted from the topic. I appreciate those who are planners and perfectionists. But I loathe to be so perfect, like my wife. She gets on my nerves all the time with the to do list!
I genuinely appreciate planning, it’s what the universe teaches us.
Solomon
Solomon´s last blog post…Leverage the RAW ENERGY of YOUR SPEECH
While I much prefer NOT dealing with pressure, time and time again I have seen that I not only rise to the occasion but utterly devastate it as well (in a good way, of course
).
Alas, my eldest daughter has the same ability which has led to some major slacking off wrt academics…I keep expecting reality to kick her in the teeth and every single freakin’ time, she pulls an A with her last ditch effort . It’s most frustrating indeed.
Data points, Barbara
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach´s last blog post…Soup up your business profits with free quality stock photos
Heh, I’m a bit of a hybrid. I plan the heck out of things… but then don’t do any work until the very last minute.
But I’m getting better! Now that I’m working on my own projects that I want to work on, without any real deadlines, it’s a lot easier not to procrastinate and set things aside. Unlike the procrastinator I was throughout all the years of schoolwork that I had little interest in doing.
Allison Day´s last blog post…Blueberry Muffins
Ed just reminded me of something that I do as well. I’ll often scribble a few notes on paper and then put it away and let the ideas percolate around in the back of my head for awhile. I’m not visibly working on it but the idea and details are growing in my head. Then when I sit down to write it tends to come out in almost finished form.
@ Solomon. Don’t put your wife down in public buddy!
She may come along one day and read it and then you’re in BIG trouble! LOL! Seriously, you sound a lot like me and I’ve learnt to appreciate that side of my husband’s character – he’s the perfectionist, detailed planner, never gets emotional, always calm and reasonable person. Yes, it can be frustrating – hugely frustrating! However it also brings a very necessary balance to our marriage and family life.
Melinda´s last blog post…Help me help a friend in need
I’m a pressure junkie. All my assignments were submitted 15 minutes before the deadline. I also once, hatched a plan to get a class cancelled because the university printer was out of order and I didn’t have the car to head out and get the printing done before class.
As a freelancer, I’ve trained myself to do the research well before the deadline. I save it on my desktop where I can see the folder ALL the time and let the information sift, sort and organize itself in my head. Then a two days or a few hours (depending on the scale of the project) before the deadline, I crack my knuckles and get working.
Samar´s last blog post…How To Reply To Work Queries
Just remembered an assignment I did last year. Book review. The book was soooooo booooring! A struggle to get through. Verbosity on top of jargon on top of an academic writing. And in smaller than usual print. Ugh.
Anyway, I missed the due date. Negotiated an extension. Missed that too. Was told I’d fail the subject if I didn’t hand it in the following Wednesday. Tuesday night – book not read, assignment not done.
Wednesday – tossed out a 2,600 word assignment in four hours, got a mark of 96% (highest in the class) and I still hadn’t read the book.
I guess I really do work well under pressure! LOL!
And yes, I do the same in my business too.
Melinda´s last blog post…Free Blogathon April 2009 – Come Join Us!
I’m with you on this. Pressure makes me perform. I’ve also learned that it brings out my brilliance. If I am down to the wire, I can really pull things off. But I also know myself well enough to understand if there is a big learning curve then I likely cannot wait until the last minute. The thing is…it’s not about procrastination with me. There’s just something about that eleventh hour. Good post.
fifteen years ago i was an event producer. i loved the rush of the deadline. i got it in spades when you consider all the work i did was for something that lasted four to twelve hours. once, i hired a well known production designer, who was also a friend, to work on a particular event. he was someone that planned and prodded and worked hard to not have any surprises.
it was toward the end of the set up day that a few things got hairy. some planned things weren’t working and others were taking too long. at that point the production designer began to cuss and storm about and tear down his installations. before he did too much damaged i convinced him to go. (to hide beneath his sheets) “it’s all your fault!”, he said. i thought he had lost it. he continued, “i’m not sure what you did but i’m sure you did something to sabotage the day!”
it took til five minutes before the event to finish the set-up and all the while instead of dismissing my mate as being in need of a vacation; i considered what i might have done. in the end he was right. i told him that evening that in hindsight i realized i let things deteriorate into chaos through neglect. thereby insuring myself the heroic position of saving the day.
my point is that i like being the bruce willis character as well; as long as bruce isn’t the one who sends the asteroid hurdling toward earth or distracted the astronomer specifically so it would go unnoticed til it was an emergency. correcting ones own evil-doing is not heroic.
Jones,
That is an awesome point. I wonder how many Bruce Willises are really pulling that exact same trick without realizing it. Good for you for being able to see it in yourself.
Until later,
Kelly
Kelly´s last blog post…Building Your Business With Humility
Hi Melinda,
Thanks for the rap! My wife too is a very calm and cool poised person who really makes things absolutely perfect in the family. I’m no good without her. I like her very much and thank God to give me such an organised, beautiful person to this messy soul. She doesn’t mind my light-hearted banter!:-) I’ll abide by your advice.
Solomon
Solomon´s last blog post…Leverage the RAW ENERGY of YOUR SPEECH
I’m one of the rare planner types here who has a total drama queen side, so I resist and resist and moan and wail then suddenly sit down and do it, but always ahead of time so that I can look it over.
I’ve decided the moaning and wailing is my way of getting the creative juices flowing.
Now a question for the majority of under pressure types – research has shown that the better work under pressure thing is actually a myth, so what is it about the last-minute pressure that makes you think you do better work?
As I said, doing it last minute means fewer opportunities to review and make it better – a major plus for the do it early side.
What would you say is the major benefit (other than the adrenaline rush) of doing it at the last minute?
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome´s last blog post…Addicted to Downloading: Procrastinating with eBooks
@ Alex – I’d be interested in knowing which studies say that performing against a tight deadline decreases quality of work, Alex. This has not been what I’ve learned. In last-minute situations, many people perform better and with more creative solutions – at least, that’s what the universities taught me
Alex,
I’ve read that lately, also, so when James asked, I went looking…
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20030319-000001.html
It’s a quick, insightful commentary on last-minute work and research on its effects.
Later,
Kelly
Kelly´s last blog post…Win Win Win Win Win
Okay, read it. My first question as a critical thinker is, Who participated in the studies? Were they selected based on confidence levels? Was that even monitored prior to the tests and research? If they choose 100 people with fear of failure, the results will be very different from a test with equal numbers of people who have no fear of failure and those that do.
Also, be careful of key words. The article states, “Procrastinators may…” Yes. They may. This means they might and they might not.
And, the article states, “Procrastinators completed less of a task than nonprocrastinators when given a strict time limit…” This does not mean that a strict time limit produces less quality overall. It states that procrastinators – people who deliberately avoid undertaking a task until the last minute – do less well. The nonprocrastinators – people who do NOT put off work – had the same strict time limit, from what I understand, did not produce less quality work.
So the article/research/study may not prove anything at all, save that procrastinators have issues with their fears.
Critical thinking, people. Critical thinking.
James,
Remember, the article says—”Growing body of research.”
I picked that link because it was a good wrap-up, but do a search and you can dig in to the growing body. I’ve read a few articles in the last year or two discussing the illusion of better work under pressure.
Of course, it won’t apply to everyone, and Men With Pens are above suspicion, but “…procrastinators usually perform more poorly than nonprocrastinators, even when he controlled for intelligence. They also perform more slowly and less accurately when carrying out difficult cognitive tasks under time constraints” is pretty strong words—and yes, it does imply lower quality.
Later,
Kelly
Kelly´s last blog post…Inspiration Points: I’m a Little Over Par This Round, but Next Year, Watch Out!
@ Kelly – I agree with your last paragraph. What I don’t agree with is Alex’s assumption that all people performing under strict time limits produce lower quality work.
Here’s another one James: http://www.craigsilverman.ca/2009/03/16/an-examination-of-arousal-procrastination/
And sorry for my imprecise language – my sinus infection is making me dull today.
In the study I quote the idea isn’t that some people work better under pressure, it’s that they only work under pressure, meaning that yes they do work better I suppose because they need the adrenaline rush to get them going enough to get things done.
Which I guess is what you’re saying – you get creative when you’re pressed because your energy levels rise. And there I have my answer – in my case I get less creative when I feel pressure and you feel more creative because of that rush.
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome´s last blog post…Addicted to Downloading: Procrastinating with eBooks
@ Alex and Kelly – Don’t make me pull out my whup-ass skills on you…
The second study, Alex, was done on groups of people who *purposefully* put off work to work under pressure, whether their decision to do so was conscious or subconscious.
What I am saying is that this group of people does not include *all* people forced to work under pressure.
The study shows a correlation between *procrastinators* and their work, but 1) does not prove causation, and 2) does not address people who are *not* procrastinators.
Let’s say you find someone who typically always does their work on time, steadily, and often finishes before the deadline because he begins working from the word go.
Studies show that THIS person, suddenly forced into a problem situation (ie, “Hang on! The client’s totally changed his or her mind! Stop everything! Start over – and we need to have something to show today!”) achieves more creative solutions and ideas, often producing better work.
This is NOT the same person as the procrastinator mentioned in your studies, which were very specific.
This is what I’m saying: Strict time limits does not create lesser quality work. Self-enforced strict time limits MAY (not DOES, but MAY) create lesser quality work. There’s a huge world of difference going on here.
James Chartrand – Men with Pens´s last blog post…Getting Zen About Writing