The Relationship Between Deadlines and Procrastination

Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational is a novel that concerns consumer behavior. Dan believes that people do not make rational decisions as most economic theories suggest. He suggests that rather they make predictably irrational decisions. The book discusses the many experiments he has conducted to prove this theory of his.

In the book, Dan he talks about an experiment he did with his college classes concerning deadlines. He was teaching a class with three sections. Each section would have three papers due over the 12 week course. He told the first class that they can turn their papers in at any point before the end of the semester, however hey had to set their own deadlines that they were expected to stick to. The second section was told that they had no deadlines whatsoever. The third section was giving strict deadlines they were required to stick to with no flexibility.

So which one of classes received the best average grade on their papers by the end of the semester? The section with the best grades was the one that required the students to stick to strict deadlines. The section with the worst grades was the one that set no deadlines at all. And in the middle was the section that was told to set their own deadlines. Two conclusions could be made from this experiment. The first one was that students procrastinate. The second conclusion was that the best way to cure procrastination is to take away students' freedom and to set strictly enforced deadlines.

Personally, I would rather have teachers enforce strict deadlines for each project equally spaced on during the semester. Before this semester, I would have told you I'd prefer to do projects on my own time. This semester for me has been full of projects that don't have strict deadlines. I already have found myself procrastinating more than usual, which ultimately creates unneeded stress in my life. It is only about 6 weeks into the semester, and I already feel like I am far behind on my school work. Even though deadlines can sometimes create inconveniences, they help you stay on track for the semester. While you can still procrastinate up to the deadline, the work won't pile up near as badly. There will be smaller pileups rather than a large pileup at the end of the semester, which is what I fear will happen to me come December. It will be interesting to compare my grades after this semester to my grades in previous semesters.

Having no deadlines sounds like a dream come true at the beginning of the semester. You feel empowered, and experience a sense of freedom. However, the average student feels overwhelmed and regretful when they cram all of their projects that don't have deadlines into the last week of the semester. Spaced out deadlines are ideal, and will help you not procrastinate. Next time you are working on a large project, try setting deadlines for different parts of the projects that group members can hold each other accountable for. Even setting personable deadlines is better than setting no deadlines at all. The word "deadline" shouldn't be daunting. Instead, it should be seen as a motivational word that keeps you away from the consequences of procrastination. So, make sure to always "Keep Calm and Meet Deadlines"!