The Heat is On and the Deadline Looms: Pressure

Pressure. Deadlines. Details, agendas, word counts, editing, frustration. All these things frighten me, yet somehow I work best under pressure. When I have a deadline looming closely, I am able to just sit down, focus and get things done. Time is, of the essence, I’m told. And it really is. When I know something HAS to be in ASAP, I stop worrying about “am I good enough,” or “will people like this.” I just worry about making sure that all the info is represented and makes sense enough to be read.

I’ll admit, I am a procrastinator. Not because I want to be, but because I tend to get all my worrying about being a good writer out in the early days of a project. Then when it comes down to the wire, I just sit and write because it has to be done. Don’t get me wrong, I still have that niggling voice in the back of my head that says “this sucks” and “why did you decide to do this?” But when the pressure is on to perform and something on the paper, doubts take a backseat. They have to. They are still there, but they aren’t as important as getting something done.

Pressure. It can be a good thing if it makes you productive.