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I think this is the reason deadlines work so well for some people: the need to finish task X before tomorrow autodeprioritizes everything else.

by gumby 3y ago

tommilukkarinen 3y ago
Lovely insight.
TeMPOraL 3y ago
That works nicely until your brain figures it out and it stops working - instead of "autodeprioritizing everything else", it just cranks up the fear of impending failure to the point nothing has any priority because you can barely think straight... For me, this switch happened somewhere between my last year at university and my second job. As a part of it, I lost the ability to "pull off all-nighters" - not in the sense of being able to stay awake that long, but in the sense of being able to do anything useful in that time.
- mckirk 3y ago
  I can definitely relate to that. I don't think it's necessarily an effect of your brain 'figuring out the trick', but more an issue of a part of your 'identity' getting shifted in an unhelpful direction. When I was younger, I was absolutely sure that I'd pull off whatever was required of me, even if that meant doing everything under a ton of pressure. But at some point, the circumstances just didn't allow that anymore... And after the first time that this paradigm didn't work out anymore, I didn't have this reassuring surety anymore either, which was a big part of why it always did work out before I think. So now I just tell people to be careful with their personal 'axioms', and to not stress them to a breaking point.
  - wholinator2 3y ago
    I can also relate that pulling off all nighters at school tended to be at least a little rewarding. Either i was learning something interesting or building something cool but the similar calibre problems at work don't have the same allure. If I'm doing the same at work it either means work was incorrectly planned and now I'm expected to fix that, or someone else broke something unnecessarily and now I'm expected to fix that. It's just an entirely negative context to extra work now. I'm not really learning anything, I'm not getting paid more, I'm not getting a cool project out of it. It's just an accidentally (sometimes) manufactured catastrophe that someone with more money or power has declared is my fault or responsibility. I definitely do much better in academia
scarface_74 3y ago
I work in consulting and I refuse to do “staff augmentation” type work where there is a predefined bucket of money and no goals or deadlines at the beginning. I also jump on projects where there is a short deadline and reasonable scope. It forces focus. I also try to jump on any project during pregnancy-sales so I can help shape the scope and deadlines.

I think this is the reason deadlines work so well for some people: the need to finish task X before tomorrow autodeprioritizes everything else.

by gumby 3y ago

I think this is the reason deadlines work so well for some people: the need to finish task X before tomorrow autodeprioritizes everything else.

tommilukkarinen 3y ago

Lovely insight.

TeMPOraL 3y ago

That works nicely until your brain figures it out and it stops working - instead of "autodeprioritizing everything else", it just cranks up the fear of impending failure to the point nothing has any priority because you can barely think straight... For me, this switch happened somewhere between my last year at university and my second job. As a part of it, I lost the ability to "pull off all-nighters" - not in the sense of being able to stay awake that long, but in the sense of being able to do anything useful in that time.

mckirk 3y ago
I can definitely relate to that. I don't think it's necessarily an effect of your brain 'figuring out the trick', but more an issue of a part of your 'identity' getting shifted in an unhelpful direction. When I was younger, I was absolutely sure that I'd pull off whatever was required of me, even if that meant doing everything under a ton of pressure. But at some point, the circumstances just didn't allow that anymore... And after the first time that this paradigm didn't work out anymore, I didn't have this reassuring surety anymore either, which was a big part of why it always did work out before I think. So now I just tell people to be careful with their personal 'axioms', and to not stress them to a breaking point.
- wholinator2 3y ago
  I can also relate that pulling off all nighters at school tended to be at least a little rewarding. Either i was learning something interesting or building something cool but the similar calibre problems at work don't have the same allure. If I'm doing the same at work it either means work was incorrectly planned and now I'm expected to fix that, or someone else broke something unnecessarily and now I'm expected to fix that. It's just an entirely negative context to extra work now. I'm not really learning anything, I'm not getting paid more, I'm not getting a cool project out of it. It's just an accidentally (sometimes) manufactured catastrophe that someone with more money or power has declared is my fault or responsibility. I definitely do much better in academia

scarface_74 3y ago

I work in consulting and I refuse to do “staff augmentation” type work where there is a predefined bucket of money and no goals or deadlines at the beginning. I also jump on projects where there is a short deadline and reasonable scope. It forces focus. I also try to jump on any project during pregnancy-sales so I can help shape the scope and deadlines.