Stop Letting Deadlines Control You

[00:00:02] Intro (Dr. Christiane): Picture three jars. Pour water into the biggest one, and it barely looks full. That’s a timeline that’s too generous. Your effort just spreads out. Pour it into the tiniest jar, and it overflows. That’s the panic at midnight. But the middle jar holds it perfectly. Enough pressure to focus, enough room to do the work. This is the Happy Healthy Hustle podcast, and I’m your host, Dr. Christiane. Today, Sammy and I get into Parkinson’s Law and how to find your middle jar. Follow the show and tell me in the comments which deadline you’re shrinking this week. Let’s get into it.

[00:00:49] Dr. Christiane: What’s going on, Sammy? You seem kind of down on yourself here today.

[00:00:53] Sammy: I’m just a little upset. I completed my full assignment, and then I forgot to turn it in last night just ’cause I was waiting to turn it in, but ended up getting a zero on the assignment ’cause I was waiting to make sure I got it completely right, and then I would turn it in. But obviously I forgot to do that.

[00:01:07] Dr. Christiane: Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself. I mean, smart, capable people still procrastinate. You procrastinated on turning it in.

[00:01:17] Sammy: Yes, yes.

[00:01:18] Dr. Christiane: You didn’t procrastinate on actually getting it done.

[00:01:20] Sammy: That’s true, yeah.

[00:01:21] Dr. Christiane: So that’s good news.

[00:01:23] Sammy: Definitely.

[00:01:23] Dr. Christiane: And there’s always a learning moment with everything. But I want to show you something really cool right here. So think about your assignment being the water that fills this jar right here. And the jar being the whole week that you had to complete your assignment. So you completed your assignment, but the deadline, so the top of the rim of this glass here, was still far away. So you kind of got things done, and then you were slowing things down. You’re like, “I have a lot of time.”

[00:01:52] Sammy: A lot of time. Just relaxing.

[00:01:54] Dr. Christiane: I’m just kind of cruising along, and maybe there’s something I wanna change. So you didn’t even think about the deadline because it was so far away.

[00:02:02] Sammy: Yes. It’s like, almost like I forgot about it.

[00:02:05] Dr. Christiane: Yeah. But it was great. You got it done. You got started.

[00:02:07] Sammy: I mean, it’s not great at the end of the day. Not great in the grade book, but good that I did it.

[00:02:12] Dr. Christiane: So let’s think about now the opposite. True procrastination. I have this tiny little jar. Look how cute that is, right?

[00:02:21] Sammy: It’s so tiny. It’s petite.

[00:02:22] Dr. Christiane: I know. It’s like a petite practice in a certain way, where you do something and the deadline is really, really close. But now think about this. That’s when you’re stressed. I have to hold this actually really carefully so that I’m not tipping the water over the deadline, right, over the jar. So you get things done because the deadline is really close. Do you think this could be your best work?

[00:02:44] Sammy: Sometimes, but I think I need a little bit more time.

[00:02:47] Dr. Christiane: Okay. So here we completed work, but the deadline was really far away, and we forgot to turn things in. Here…

[00:02:54] Sammy: This is too rushed.

[00:02:55] Dr. Christiane: This is rushed. And I have to be really careful when I pick it up. And I basically just get it done because the deadline is so close. And it’s nearly, like, panic.

[00:03:04] Sammy: Yeah. It’s like that’s when you’re stressing. You’re like, “I can’t leave anywhere until I get this done.”

[00:03:08] Dr. Christiane: Yeah. This could be like an overnighter.

[00:03:12] Sammy: Overnighter, yeah.

[00:03:13] Dr. Christiane: Where you’re like, “Oh my gosh, deadline close. I don’t have time to sleep.” And if curious, audience, I have a sleep video if you’re curious about my sleeping habits. I’m just pointing that out. But let’s go to the Goldilocks. Look at this. I can pick it up.

[00:03:27] Sammy: Perfect. You don’t have to worry about it spilling.

[00:03:28] Dr. Christiane: I feel comfortable. So imagine, again, task is our water. Deadline is the top of the rim right here. How does that look like? It’s proportional, isn’t it?

[00:03:39] Sammy: Yes, a lot better. It’s like you have enough time to get it done without completely stressing out. But you know you’re not gonna procrastinate doing the assignment.

[00:03:47] Dr. Christiane: Exactly. Because when you do your task, you see the deadline, but at the same time, you don’t rush because the deadline is so close that you cannot do anything else in your life, and you just feel that this task is all-consuming in your life. And at the same time, you see the deadline, because it’s not as far away as, like, a whole week out. So what’s really, like, I mean, this is what I call the Goldilocks rule. It’s not too far, it’s not too close.

[00:04:20] Sammy: It’s perfect.

[00:04:20] Dr. Christiane: So what do you think? How could you use this now for your assignments in the future?

[00:04:25] Sammy: Definitely. Well, learning, honestly, more from this one, I would know that if I have assignment that’s due, say, a week later, right? I would try to get it done right away and solidify it and turn it in so I don’t make the mistake of forgetting about it, ’cause we have so much time, which can lead to procrastination.

[00:04:42] Dr. Christiane: Good.

[00:04:42] Sammy: And with this, I’m gonna start being very happy when a teacher assigns me assignments that I have, like, three or four days to do, because then I have the perfect amount of time to do it, and then I can even have a day to revise it, but I’m not stressed like this one. That one’s my biggest fear. That’s like studying when you don’t have enough time.

[00:04:57] Dr. Christiane: The stress jar. This is, like, the intense one, right?

[00:05:00] Sammy: Yeah, this is intense. This is the chill jar, and this is just right.

[00:05:08] Dr. Christiane: Yeah. So in our lives, sometimes it’s actually good to start early. It’s called Parkinson’s Law. Parkinson’s Law really just means that you need to find the right spacing between your task and the deadline. And that also means that you can’t be so hard on yourself, because smart, capable people still procrastinate until the last minute. So keep that in mind. Now you learned a new psychological term for that, and of course, I hope that the next assignment you’re going to start early.

[00:05:40] Sammy: Definitely, especially after learning this, I think I can figure out what’s going wrong in my brain, and hopefully not make the same mistake.

[00:05:46] Dr. Christiane: Love that.

[00:05:46] Sammy: And keep the grades up.

[00:05:47] Dr. Christiane: Get your task done and turn it in.

[00:05:49] Sammy: Exactly.

[00:05:51] Dr. Christiane: Awesome.