> ...nothing is really ever that urgent. When my co-author died (of old age at 90) and our book was unfinished I began to distinguish between artificial deadli

> ...nothing is really ever that urgent. When my co-author died (of old age at 90) and our book was unfinished I began to distinguish between artificial deadlines and true deadlines. I realized I'd missed a real deadline because I'd allowed myself to prioritize other projects with deadlines that turned out to be artificial, but had more insistent people demanding urgency. We often operate in a culture where the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so urgency is usually exaggerated as you describe. Look out for real deadlines though. A true deadline, like death, has irreversible consequences. Most "deadlines" are really targets and can be reprioritized or deferred, especially to avoid unhealthy behavior like burnout.