Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Under Pressure



As you know, I'm a planner, list maker, scheduler, doer. Yet part of me thrives on leaving shit until the last minute while the other part of me wants to punch my own self in the face for doing that.

In college, I used to wait until midnight before I started writing a 20 page paper that was due in the morning. If I didn't wait until the last minute to write this blog post, I'd have a photo for you of me with a stack of Victorian lit books and sources on my head while I sat and did not write my major paper and instead participated in a power hour with roommates and friends, leaving the paper until the next night. It was like I had to amp myself up to be able to really clamp down and focus. And invariably those papers came back with As and comments like "very insightful, good connections."

Say what? And I'd re-read them - no time for editing when you leave no time for editing, yes? - and think hot damn those are good connections.

I didn't do that with every paper because I don't make a home on the edge, I only visit it sometimes. The papers I prepared in advance honestly weren't as good.

I thought I'd grow out of this, but I haven't. I was doing everything at work except writing one paragraph - literally, four sentences that went together - and I put it off until I absolutely could not put it off anymore. I ended up producing a winner right out of the gate.

This only happens to me with creative or writing tasks. Rote tasks I'll do ahead all day every day.

It's like when I wait until I can't wait anymore, floodgates open in my brain and it just flows. I don't edit myself before I start. I wish I could do that all the time, but there's something about the last minute that seems to inspire me. Maybe it's the lure of pulling it off and the adrenaline rush when I have. I've always been good in pressure situations. Do you thrive there too?

This is ourselves

Under pressure


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29 comments:

  1. I laughed my ass off at this because I can SO relate to those college behaviours. In fact, my mom used to complain because my older brother and I had a "rule" (pre-college) that we didn't do homework, write papers, or study for tests unless it was dark. None of that getting home from school and doing homework nonsense for us.
    College. I was such a crammer for tests. I used to set my alarm every hour on the hour just in case I nodded off or fell asleep the night before finals, because I would always be cramming the night before (having done nothing to prepare myself before.)
    My final Social Theory paper, last semester in college, I remember a fellow student being pissed at me when they found out my grade on our final paper. See...most of the other students had been working on it all semester and met with the prof several times during office hours. Not me. And, my grade and comments were like yours. I wrote about Michael Jackson unsuccessfully searching for personal truths in a post-modern world. How I remember that, I have no idea.

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  2. Oh gosh thinking back to papers in college gives me chills! I'm sad to say I do leave things to the last minute! xo, Biana - BlovedBoston

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  3. lol college shenannies. i used to spend more time calculating what percent i needed to score on a test in order to pass, go out/party and then come back to allocate that much brain power to studying for the test.

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  4. I am a lot like you in that sense. I do my best work under pressure. I hate it, but it does always work out for me!

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  5. I can totally relate to this! I always thought my work was way better when I was under pressure. But it gave me such anxiety knowing I was under the clock!
    Evelina @ Fortunate House

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  6. Unfortunately, yes, I have been known to frequent the edge myself. In college, I, too, got back some stellar grades on papers and projects that were thrown together in an adrenaline rush at the last possible moment. These grades just reinforced my tendency to procrastinate. Fast forward 16 to the present - At work, it's not unheard of for me to be frantically working on an IEP right before the meeting and printing that sucker off 2 minutes before I walk in to meet with the parents. I seriously try not to do that very often, because I don't like the panicked feeling, but sometimes it just is what it is... Life happens. Funny post! Have a good one!

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  7. This IS so me, too. Especially the paper writing thing in college. I only had one professor make me rewrite and it's because he didn't agree with my viewpoint, not how awesome my writing skills were. Stupid subjective art school! Even at work, now...I'll make self-imposed deadlines for things that wouldn't have them just so I'll finish them, hah!

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  8. Hahaha! I don't think I produce better stuff when it's last minute, but sometimes having extra time doesn't produce extra quality, so I'd say sometimes first ideas are the best. I do have an "under pressure" brain that takes over when a crisis happens. Like when Toast escaped or Luke had a weird spasm and I was afraid he was having a heart attack or something - my brain throws together an action plan, I carry it out, and then once everything is under control and everybody's safe, then I freak out and cry or express whatever emotions hits me.

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  9. I don't thrive under pressure but I'm a natural born procrastinator so I do find myself waiting until the last minute to do things. Sometimes it's a win and sometimes it's a fail.

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  10. Haha I thought for sure that this was a habit I would grow out of after college, but that was definitely not the case! And what Ericka said- the high marks on papers written under the gun definitely reinforced this behavior. I still leave things for the last minute, and like you, I've found that I thrive there and produce the best work when I wait until the last minute, at least in most cases.

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  11. Oh, hell yes. My most memorable instance was in high school when I had to write a paper on freedom. I wrote it the night before and turned the subject around, titling it "Freedom?" and not only did I get an A, but my teacher entered it in a contest. Crazy. I think that solidified my bad habit of waiting until the last minute for just about everything and of course, I'm still that way today, but not always with such great results.

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  12. Sean is you. He does exactly what you do and it's worked very well for both of you. Always late night and last minute papers !
    I try and get stuff done ASAP and end up doing it a bit half-assed. Love The Queen intro! Love. Your. Momma

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  13. Depending on my mood, I do work well under pressure. Other times, I don't. I think it's all how I wake up in the morning. haha If I wake up in a bad mood from a bad night of sleep, it's just a bad day.

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  14. I hate pressure... but always seem to put myself in the spot where I either HAVE to thrive in it or sink like a torpedo. So weirdly, I actually do well in it - but my panic attack side hates it.

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  15. I did/do the exact same thing. Especially in college. Especially especially with creative writing assignments. And it's not because I didn't want to write the short story... it's because I was saving the best assignment for last. And then I'd end up finishing it at 5:30am under three blankets with my fourth Mt. Dew taped to my hand and Family Guy on mute in the background. Creativity is weird. Haha!

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  16. That is exactly how I worked in college, heck even as an adult I still do for the most part. I still get a kick out of the fact that a paper I wrote just hours before it was due was the paper that the professor loved and asked to keep as an example for other students.

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  17. All of my best work was done at 2 am the night before it was due, post-night out at the bar. Sincerely. If you go back and look at my A papers, they were all done after drinking in the middle of the night. Just how my brain works best, apparently. I still do it with blogging...

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  18. I definitely start to feel a rush when I wait until the last minute to do anything. I'm really bad about procrastinating with blog posts, like last night when I stayed up until 11 to finalize the one that got posted today. I also procrastinate on household things, and because of that I had to spend 30 minutes organizing laundry because I had done it months! Ugh!

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  19. It's gotta be a trait of 'creative' people or something - I do my best work under pressure. I procrastinate like a MUTHA and then bang stuff out right before I have to. It's a blessing and a curse- a blessing because I'm able to do that (and still do things well) BUT a curse because I'll NEVER EVER do anything in advance. Ever.

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  20. I'm very similar. It drives me nuts to wait to the last minute to do something, but at the same time it usually is when I do my best work. So weird, right?!

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  21. I'm the same way! As much as I love being a planner, I always procrastinate til the last minute as I did in college, and now I do with my real work and blog stuff. If that's when our best comes out then all the power to it :)

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  22. This is totally me. 90% of my blog posts are written at 6am the morning they go live because I do best when I just have to do something right now to get it done in time. And I always put shit off in school too. I always used to ask people what it mattered if I was a procrastinator because I always pulled it off in the end and it was my best work so who cares?

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  23. I didn't do it in school but I'm always procrastinating at work & am productive :). Pressure can bring out the best in us!

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  24. I'm always amazed at what I can pull off with a last minute deadline. I think to myself - wow, look at you go!! However, I still wish I were better at carving out time to do things in small efforts rather than a last minute panic. In my next life, that's my hope!

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  25. HAHAH this is me too. With everything. Work, blog, life. I'm reliable and you can count on me... but I'll be honest, I procrastinate!

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  26. Yes and always! I remember writing a paper in a British Lit class the night before and getting back the most amazing comments on how good it was....and it actually was! I was so proud but yet hated myself for waiting and then missing a whole night of sleep/fun to write it!

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  27. I definitely did this a few times in college but quickly realized my creativity doesn't flow well under pressure and last minute. Panic and worrying hinders any creative flow so I need to avoid at all costs.

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  28. i always waited until the last minute for assignments as well, though i swear i read somewhere once that it's better to do that or maybe i just imagined it lol.

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  29. Every year, I plan for principal's presentation. And every year, it doesn't get there until the 11th hour. Not because I don't take the week off to work on it, but because it takes that week to get my creative juices really flowing. This week, I had a presentation for the new schools... went into the office... knocked it out in two hours... presented it the next hour. That's really when I'm at my best but it's a terrible way to live so I try not to do it that way. I do like what I come up with under pressure though. I think it's a tremendous gift.

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