Deadlines are quite fantastic things…

Deadlines are really quite fantastic thing, for simple dates, they have an almost otherworldly power over the actions of humans. Truly in the world of times, deadlines are the kings, emperors, shahs and rajahs. A group of normally calm rational people could be going about their lives as they generally do, when suddenly a deadline raises its head and anarchy breaks loose. Suddenly these rational people start panicking, a lot. Normally diurnal people become nocturnal or even both. Buildings such as libraries, offices and computer labs which may have been deserted by certain times in the day are suddenly full to overflowing. Power usage increases with the increased use of computers and this also causes an increase in network traffic. If deadlines could be represented by a mathematical function, they would be a very steep normal distribution or bell curve, with the effort on the vertical axis and the time of the deadline located slightly after the middle of the curve (effort decreases slightly below peak before submission/delivery but doesn’t disappear due to late submissions/delivery).
As often as possible, I try to ignore deadlines, and get work done as early as possible, though it means more work earlier in the semester; it allows me to relax closer to deadlines. Sadly this plan doesn’t always work, especially for assignments given over vacations. Personally I like vacations, I think of them as times to relax and not think about work, whereas the university model describes them as time to complete large pieces of coursework. As you may realise there is a slight difference of opinion there. As a result of this, coming out of a vacation I generally find myself a member of the deadline frenzied, working almost nonstop to submit assignments on time.
The important thing is, however, that I do submit the assignments, because as a matter of principle I refuse to submit an assignment late and lose marks. That is just a personal rule of mine. As far as I am concerned once a deadline has passed my graph is a flat line, with no effort present at all. The good news is that while at school, every passing deadline indicates you are getting closer to the end (likewise at work, every deadline indicates you are getting closer to retirement). This is a good thing, embrace it, and thank the deadlines for allowing you to get closer to attaining whatever you are aiming for. Think about it, if there were no deadlines, there probably wouldn’t be a timeline on progression, leaving you stuck in limbo for an undetermined period of time.
To all of you with deadlines coming up, good luck; to all of you who have missed deadlines, even more luck. I hope all of you are able to complete whatever task it is you have, and will be able to celebrate the sweet freedom of having nothing to do soon.