A listener has this dilemma:
I love my job and all the people I work with, but I’m dealing with a strange phobia that I’ve had since my school days. I can’t seem to accomplish major projects unless I’m under deadline pressure. Just like in school, when we knew a project had to be turned in by a certain date, I could never bring myself to do any more than gather the materials for the project until the night before. I’d still end up turning in an amazing project the next day that got top marks but now in my work life, it’s the same thing. When there’s a company deadline to get a project finished by, I find myself doing everything but working on that project until a day or two before the deadline. I’ll surf the web, go through my emails, work on researching other things but even though I know I should stop those things and work on the project, I just can’t find the motivation without the deadline staring me in my face. It’s been noticed by my manager and my coworkers but they haven’t made it an issue yet because my work is always thorough and on time, but if an emergency situation ever came up during those crucial hours before deadline I would be in a terrible situation.
Do other people operate this way? Can I cure myself of this desire to only work under pressure? I like my career and my job and would like to stay in it without jeopardizing it with this odd behavior.
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If you have a dilemma for our listeners, send an email by clicking on Mike Richards above.
