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In a recent study, students were given three choices to hand in their work: All at the end of term; at three dates chosen by them; at weeks 4, 8 and 12. The students given the strictest deadlines got the best grades; the ones with the most slack in their schedule got the worst.
"Pressure is a privilege." Billie Jean King famously said that, and it's true: Pressure can create diamonds. It's not about the raw quantity, mind, it has to be the right kind of pressure or you'll buckle and meep and just plain fail. So: pressure gives you the chance to achieve beyond your presumed capacity. You'll never really sprint unless there's glory or squishy-under-traffic or velociraptors involved.
This is why I enter races. It's not about proving myself, beating anyone else, or even as markers in training or a celebration of how far I've come - though it was all that, once. Now I race because I know that the race will pull more out of me than I think I have to give, and I freaking love that. I've come full circle on the drill instructor demanding all veiny-necked to "Give me 110%, Marine!" I don't tolerate crappy maths; but my 100% threshold is wrong; it's these pressure events that recalibrate it, and that's a delight.
This November there's NaNoWriMo, a one-month novel writing challenge. Sturm und drang and doubtless a ghastly pot-boiler at the end of it, but talk about shooting for the moon! And on the 3rd October is an even more terrifying challenge: 24 Hour Comics Day. 24 hour, 24 pages. That's a stimulants-and-xylene mainline right there. But doesn't everyone think, "I could do that"?
"Pressure is a privilege." Billie Jean King famously said that, and it's true: Pressure can create diamonds. It's not about the raw quantity, mind, it has to be the right kind of pressure or you'll buckle and meep and just plain fail. So: pressure gives you the chance to achieve beyond your presumed capacity. You'll never really sprint unless there's glory or squishy-under-traffic or velociraptors involved.
This is why I enter races. It's not about proving myself, beating anyone else, or even as markers in training or a celebration of how far I've come - though it was all that, once. Now I race because I know that the race will pull more out of me than I think I have to give, and I freaking love that. I've come full circle on the drill instructor demanding all veiny-necked to "Give me 110%, Marine!" I don't tolerate crappy maths; but my 100% threshold is wrong; it's these pressure events that recalibrate it, and that's a delight.
This November there's NaNoWriMo, a one-month novel writing challenge. Sturm und drang and doubtless a ghastly pot-boiler at the end of it, but talk about shooting for the moon! And on the 3rd October is an even more terrifying challenge: 24 Hour Comics Day. 24 hour, 24 pages. That's a stimulants-and-xylene mainline right there. But doesn't everyone think, "I could do that"?
