Polishing the Axe
Do you ever feel that you sometimes really need deadlines before you take action? I certainly do. I am at my best tidying and cleaning the house if I know that people will be coming over soon. At no other time is the house so quickly dust‑free and the toilet spotless, as if it just came out of a sanitary store. Or what about planning ahead and doing groceries for the whole week? Well, that's not me, although it results in having to go to the supermarket in the evening after work to buy some dinner.
It’s a bit like that ancient story about the lumberjack who gets one day to chop down a tree. Instead of getting straight to work, the lumberjack decides to spend some time sharpening his axe first, until there is barely enough time left to actually start and bring the tree down. That sharpening perhaps wasn’t even necessary, but since the lumberjack had the whole day anyway...
It gives me, in any case, a reason to impose a number of deadlines on my students during a half‑year semester. What truly matters to them is that after half a year they have built a portfolio showing that they have developed enough skills, but if they are anything like me, little work will be done until the semester deadline approaches fast. Sometimes too fast.
Deadlines help to stay sharp, to get to work and not postpone a large assignment for as long as possible.
And, I’ll be honest... I prefer to spread all that grading work over the course of an entire semester rather than having to do everything at the very end. A little self‑protection is also okay.