Many people get intimidated by strict deadlines. It’s natural because early finishing dates imply tremendous pressure and sometimes demand to create new content in hours. Moreover, if you don’t meet your deadline, you’ll get fined and stressed, all while the next task might already be waiting for you. So, should everyone avoid challenging time limits and stay in their comfort zone? Is it right to look for the easiest tasks with the lowest payment? 

You might have already guessed that it’s not the answer. The good news is, deadlines are not simply a sad reality that we must tolerate. They can actually help us live better, get more relaxation opportunities, and decrease the overall tension in our bodies and minds. Are you surprised? Read on to find out how that’s possible and why some writers are glad that they have deadlines to meet!

Firstly, let’s review the challenges various deadlines impose. They mainly depend on how much time you have and what kind of work you do.

• Short deadlines are almost invariably stressful. Besides, they impose the pressure to stay original and write with minimum errors because the more mistakes you make, the longer proofreading will take.
• Medium and long deadlines often seem to invite procrastination, especially if you are reluctant to do the job. What’s even worse, having a lot of time to complete the task can make you underestimate its difficulty and underperform.
• Deadlines for research works melt away faster than ever while you are finding and citing the sources. Appropriately formatting a scientific text can take more than actually writing it, which is why many writers treat such assignments cautiously.
• Many people would consider setting deadlines for creative writing a practice that kills inspirations, and they would be close to the truth. It’s extremely hard to relax and create metaphors or rhymes when you have limited time to do it.

So, how to deal with this problem? The first step is about perception. Adjusting to an exciting and challenging situation is far easier than overcoming a burdening obstacle. It means that you need to stop seeing deadlines as a threat and think about the opportunities they present. 

Why procrastination deserves a chance

Once you begin taking deadlines as an opportunity, you need to define what benefits they give. The short time limits offer increased concentration and guarantee that you’ll finish the work as soon as possible, providing yourself with more time to rest. Still, the long ones encourage procrastination that many people consider their sworn enemy. Nevertheless, the recent study shows that the best way is to treat this phenomenon like a medicine: too much can cause you serious troubles, but a small amount actually helps. If you feel reluctant to sit down and write right away, it doesn’t mean you’re lazy or weak. Instead, it’s the brain’s normal need to reboot and acquire balance before plunging into work. 

Think about why you’re procrastinating with any specific task. Are the instructions long and challenging? Do you feel that generating a unique idea will strain your creativity? If you find these or similar reasons, allow yourself to switch the attention to something unrelated for a short time (up to fifteen minutes). Set the alarm to measure time, play your favorite video game, read a chapter of a fiction book, or take a short walk. If you need to clear your head, consider exercising: it always helps! Whatever your activity, such controlled procrastination will give you satisfaction and strength to proceed with the assignment. If you feel like delaying the work for more time, outline several specific stages and reward yourself with pauses after completing them. 

This way, procrastination will become your motivation tool, not a “shameful activity,” as the people unaware of these tricks label it. The secret of this approach is giving your brain the necessary amounts of rest and work one after another. It’s better than trying to do everything at once after a day of leisure despite deadlines. Similarly to muscles, the brain will experience no excessive tension if you reward it with relaxation proportionally to its productivity. Initially, it will be hard to adjust to this rhythm, and you will have a desire to abandon the work-reward cycle and return to unproductive procrastination. Think about it as an exercise: your belly needs to hurt a little before you get a six-pack, or your brain needs to adapt before you learn to complete your daily work in no more than 8 hours using this method.

What you should never do if you want to meet all deadlines

Not everything is as controllable and potentially necessary as procrastination. There are some habits and wishes you’ll need to avoid if you want to stay on top of the deadlines until retirement. The most common ones are listed below.

• Physical idleness. You must walk at least 10,000 steps a day, and exercising is also essential! It’s not a general health requirement since muscular stability provides your brain with balance, brings it more oxygen, and improves memory, also making you think faster. 
• Overeating and oversleeping. Did you ever have a headache after sleeping 12 hours? Or, maybe, you sometimes ask yourself, “Why did I binge on food before starting to work?” If you don’t have these situations, be sure to keep it up because your sleep and eating cycles are vital to how fast and well you write. 
• Working when it’s uncomfortable. It might go without saying, but a nurturing and thought-provoking environment is essential for your productivity. It’s possible to say that where you work is how you work. If you want your plan to meet the deadline to succeed, give it the best chance. Try turning on relaxing music without lyrics or your favorite ambient sounds and finish all other tasks before sitting to the one demanding the highest concentration.
• Bad mood. Try to leave your troubles as far from the workspace as possible. Meditations, physical activity, or sincere conversations with your loved ones might help to feel relieved before tackling another deadline. Working with anger is unhealthy, draining your resources faster than regular efforts.

This list is not definitive, and everyone has their methods to deal with deadlines. Nevertheless, just keeping these in mind and balancing your lifestyle can improve your experience with finishing dates dramatically and free maximum time for yourself.