-Deadlines-
Now I am not one to give advice in this area, as I am still working around the issue of deadlines. Oh deadlines, due dates why must you be so far but come by so quickly? It is a conspiracy I say, you tease us with your distance, you allow us to dawdle to our hearts content yet out of nowhere do you emerge from the darkness like a sick plague!
I just quickly wiki'd 'Deadline' and discovered that the term originated from prison camps during the civil war period...who knew!
"Guards would shoot anyone who crossed the deadline." These deadlines were lines drawn along the inside of the prison walls, approximately 19 feet from it. This hindered prisoners from climbing over or tunneling under it.
So I guess we use it now as the contemporary term to associate with timelines, as it is a stern situation and should not be messed around with.
Types of students on deadlines
Just to clarify, there are many students out there who deal with deadlines differently:
- There are some who would leave their work to the last minute and do their absolute worst because not much effort has been given to it, and their strive to JUST FINISH it would overpower their common sense - thus producing just a mediocre final product.
- There are those who would start early into the given period of time. But that doesn't necessarily mean they will receive A's...nonono.... dont forget it is the content that matters and not how early you start. Yes these students do get the advantage of collecting all their desired information/materials to complete assignment, but do they have a direction?
- Ones that are eager to get it done (no direction/takes the easy way out).
- Ones that are the studious type that start early because their ideas just vomit out their brain, which unfortunately cannot be contained.
I am one of the one who would leave assignments to the last minute, but do an excellent job.
Yes I am tooting my own horn, however deadlines are my greatest inspiration and motivation. Without them I would be lost forever in time and space as we know it. I would have no purpose to complete work given to me.
Just as long as I have an idea and a direction would I produce MY work.
Note that my take on this is completely risky, I always need to plan ahead first, if i know the task is either difficult or easy to to do then that is my mental time limit. I would know when to start myself.
REMEMBER:
Prior to the start of your work ALWAYS PLAN AHEAD!
Know your stuff. (the more you know it, the easier it is).
You need to have a mental time limit to know when you should start.
In the past
One of my past assignments was to read some news features from the local newspapers and indicate / identify the components within them then analyze the use of these components (in essay form-with a word count of 1,500 words). Silly me, thought this was an easy task, so I left it. My smart brain decided i should do it the night before it was due. A MISTAKE!
I had no idea that choosing a feature would have been tedious. Then starting to indicate components (vox pop, quotes, language used...etc) was similarly irritating BUT, most annoying part was cutting out the writeup. Yes sir. I had to also cut it up and to paste it in my essay. My final piece looked like a paper mache reject. Laughable upon first sight. I can safely say that i put in all my effort to make it adequate for the markers.
I stayed up all night to produce the eyesore, an hours sleep was all I had. Upon waking up I had to get ready for my 1 hour commute to my university and face that lecture hall to hand in my essay.
The outcome: Because I knew the seriousness of my situation I really kicked my own ass to get it done and to make sure it wasn't less than acceptable. I was determined. My final mark was not 100% but a mere 60%. So of course I was happy to know that I had a passing grade after all the sleep I sacrificed.
I wont say I learned my lesson and not do it again, However iv'e adapted it to suit me, and now I am content with the way I work.
