Deadlines can be frustrating. They can leave you feeling hopeless and not in charge of situations, especially when you’re not finding the task at hand quite easy.
There’s nothing wrong with feeling pressured to meeting your deadlines. But the feeling of frustration can cost you your mental health. Everyone at a particular point in their lives has been in your shoes. What’s wrong is if you let the pressure get to you. And it makes you feel overly worried and a little depressed.
People perform adequately on a cognitive task when they know its finishing.
We theorize that opportunity cost (OC) reduces near a salient end-point, finding out time to perform other important tasks.
By reducing OC, salient end-points reduce mental fatigue/experienced effort.
In another study, people were asked about the biggest contributing factor to their stress and the most common cause was deadlines (30%). The second most common cause of work stress was being responsible for the lives of others (17%), followed by competitiveness (10.2%), and physical demands (8.4%).
Tips How to manage deadline pressure
Analyse the task at hand and divide it in meaningful bits: This would help you narrow the job down to tiny manageable pieces, so you don’t overwhelm yourself thinking the job is very enormous. You could attack each bit of the task purposefully and without unnecessary fears.
Set a reminder for yourself to keep the time frame in check: Do this even if the time frame for delivery seem long to you, as it will help you keep in mind the most important aspect of the job and stay focused, so you don’t fail to deliver.
Create a timetable for yourself: A timetable would let you know what to do and at what time of the day. This is so you can prioritize the most important things and leave the not so important for later. It would help you finish your task faster and help keep your nerves at bay.
Ask for help: There’s nothing wrong with asking learned colleagues for help. Most of them have gone through some things you’re going through and would be more than willing to offer their guidance as long as you ask for it. Asking the right people questions about your problems works a great deal in helping you solve them faster.
Breathe: Don’t forget to come up for air once you’re feeling trapped and caved in with your thoughts. Take a break, go for a walk, and go eat something, or just talk to someone. It helps you unwind and relax so you can start thinking once again.
Music: I get the best ideas when I plug in my earphones, and I’m listening to some good music. Even science has proven that listening to music helps reduce stress levels and makes us feel good. When the pressure from the job sets in, turn on your favourite music and listen, I bet you’ll start feeling better in a couple of hours.
Sleep: Never underestimate the power of sleep, as there is nothing more relaxing to the mind and the brain of course than a couple of hours of good sleep. It recharges you and leaves you with more than enough energy to complete the task ahead.
Stay positive: Block out all forms of negativity that may come with the task and just remain focused on the good things you’ve achieved so far, no matter how far behind on the deadline you may be. It would leave you feeling happier and much more on top of the situation. Positivity is key.
Before you take up any task, make sure you can shoulder the pressure that comes with it, so as not to box yourself into a tight corner. Always remember to keep an open mind