Up against the deadline

So, I was just thinking earlier how well I've done on NaBloPoMo and I haven't missed a day. WOO HOO!!! I just looked at the clock and realize I have about 20 minutes to get this post done. Whew...nothing like being up against a deadline, right?

Let's talk about that...I'm the type of person that will procrastinate to the deadline, yet know that I work better under pressure and can pull off amazing work that way. Why is that? What is it about the deadline that makes me perform, think, concentrate better?

In college, I'd wake up at 4am to cram for a 9am class. Granted, I didn't have the best grades in college, but only because I didn't try. I have a degree in Recreation Management, which sounds like a blow off major, right? Not so much...I had hard classes like Physiology of Exercise, Legal Aspects of Recreation, Kinesiology (which spell check thinks should be Gynecology! HA HAA!!!), Sports Nutrition (which was REALLY hard!), but I also had classes like Camp Counseling (which I took with a guy who used to play for the Chicago Bulls), Play: Theory and Methods, Dancing through the Decades (that wasn't required, but took it anyways!) and Sports Labs, which were like PE class and every 2 weeks we had a new sport we learned. I know the majority of the rules for things like bowling, volleyball, basketball, football, speedball, football, tennis, track, archery, handball, and wrestling. Yes, we had to wrestle. It was interesting. ;)

Wow...that was a tangent if I've ever seen one before. OK...back to deadlines and procrastination. You'd think that I'd learn after so many times that my procrastination, though it brings better results for me, causes way too many negatives, like stress, and I'd try to change my ways, right? Wrong...I know deep down that procrastinating is better for me. It's the perfectionist who believes that the added stress and deadlines cause my brain to work better, therefore, I procrastinate even more.

I have learned to manage this so it doesn't become a weakness. How's that? I set deadlines for myself that allow buffer time if I don't meet them. The sad part is that I know the deadline I set is not the drop dead deadline, so sometimes I over look it and wait for that final date to creep up on me. It's such a catch 22.

So why not change my ways? Because it's the way I am. The benefits (better work, more creative thinking) far outweigh the stress, so I learn to deal with it. That's me...that's the way I roll. What about you? What do you do that causes you stress, but you do it anyways because it's better that way?

btw--I have 8 minutes to spare! =)