It’s a fact. Everyone during the past few weeks has been stressed because of the summative deadlines. From personal project for G10s to SNR for G9s. I don’t know about you, but for me, I’ve never been this stressed and exhausted in my entire life. I’m sure we can all agree that we have skipped deadlines and asked our teachers for extensions at least once during these past weeks. For some of us, we just don’t do well with deadlines. While it’s a way to stay organized and prioritize tasks for others, it’s a way to panic and stress over for some of us! I’m right or I’m right? Well, this article will discuss the impact of deadlines on our health. It is a good or bad thing? It there something wrong with me If can’t keep to deadlines?

Well, we all know that deadlines are basically the time limit in which something must be completed. Deadlines are pretty much part of our everyday lives; whether you’re a student, business person or just an employed adult. Typically when most people think about deadlines, they associated it with: time management, prioritization, organization etc. All the positives that pretty much many of us as students strive for. But, as you all know, it’s hard to stick to deadlines. Whether you’re done with your work or not – depending on the importance and length of the work – the little and simplest things set us back.

There’s always a good side and a bad side in every situation. For instance, psychologists have found that for many as the deadline approaches, they often become motivated and work really hard at that task, increasing their performance. It explains why we panic at 12 am trying our best to finish our work or edit it. The downside is, the improved performance as the deadline is swimming around, it doesn’t last. After the arousal increases, you start to slack down, overwhelmed and distracted. For my fellow IB students, ‘arousal’ can simply mean when you start to FREAK OUT!! It has a connotation of nervousness and stress, that is caused by the awareness of the consequences that come if you don’t complete the task along with the tiny little time you have to complete it. Don’t we all have those moments where a deadline is on the rise and we just don’t care about the quality rather about finishing the actual work?

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is one way to explain why deadlines work and don’t work. Intrinsic is basically the motivation within. You do certain things because of satisfaction and pleasure. And of course extrinsic is conducted by external factors. These two factors correlate with each other to get us up and running! But when it comes down to it, intrinsic motivation is a better choice. Why? Don’t you do a certain thing only when you like doing it? Or don’t you sometimes find yourself complete an assignment that is due in 2 weeks or more just because you like it? Or is it just me…?

So, is it a bad or good thing. It honestly depends on every individual. Deadlines are there as a reminder for us to complete certain tasks, as a way for us to prioritize work – especially when we have tons of them. In our lifetime, it’s impossible to avoid deadlines. Whether you like them or not! Unless you never get a job or happen to be set for life, you’ll have to deal with deadlines one way or another.

A lot of people sometimes feel guilty when they can’t keep to deadlines. It’s normal to feel that way. Especially if your peers and friends are completing their tasks on time and seem to be organized. You can’t help but feel like something is wrong with you for not being organized. When you find yourself feeling that way you should ask yourself “was the deadline durable?” cause sometimes teachers give us ridiculous deadlines that are impossible to keep up with, especially when you have other subjects going on. “What hindered or stopped me from keeping to a deadline?” this could be from procrastination, simply forgetting or just not having the motivation to do the task. Figure out the issue, and then work on ways to improve and do better. A little advice, it starts with setting reminders on tasks!

Soures

https://www.psychreg.org/psychology-deadlines/
https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2015/apr/20/the-power-of-deadlines-voter-registration-election