If You Want to Meet That Deadline, Play a Trick on Your Mind

From The New York Times, studies show how fooling ourselves to think deadlines are closer or within certain specific parameters help us get started with the work needed: 

Research into procrastination has noted that people have much less concern about their future selves than their present selves — and are willing to sell their future selves down the river for the sake of present ease. But when the present marches into the future, and we are confronted with the work that our past selves refused to do, we pay the price in unmet deadlines, all-nighters and general torment.

So if a few little tricks can manipulate us into thinking that time is of the essence, why not give them a try?

People Who Go to Bed Late Spend More Time Worrying About Stuff

Melissa Dahl, Science of Us: 

The later you go to bed at night, the more likely you are to be haunted by persistent, negative thoughts throughout the day, suggests a new study in Cognitive Therapy and Research led by Binghamton University psychologist Jacob A. Nota. He had 100 undergrads fill out surveys that asked about their sleep habits, what they worried most about, and how often they worried.  

The students' average reported bedtime was 1 a.m., but some went to sleep as early as 10 p.m.; others stayed up as late as 5 a.m. After analyzing their responses, the researchers found an association between repetitive negative thinking and later bedtimes. Worrying was also linked with less time sleeping overall. 

Tim Brown: The Career Choice Nobody Tells You About

IDEO's CEO Tim Brown:

Here’s what I’m saying: Although my unplanned career path turned out fine, choosing to go wide versus deep should be made consciously, not accidentally. Each path offers tremendous reward if followed with passion and commitment, but each requires different skills and approaches to be successful.

Going deep requires incredible focus, lifelong commitment to a single cause, a willingness to be patient towards achieving success, and the confidence to follow a path others may not understand or value. Whether it’s as a research scientist, designer, chef or software engineer, committing to a single discipline and pushing it as far as you possibly can holds the potential to make a significant dent on the planet.

Going wide, on the other hand, is about making connections between what you already know and what you’re curious about discovering. It requires systems thinking in order for the whole to be greater than the sum of the parts. It means developing the skills to collaborate for the purpose of learning. It’s about seeing the creative possibilities in breaking down boundaries and describing the world, your organization, the problem in new ways. It probably means having a difficult time describing to your parents what you do.

I can relate to Brown's career, mine has also been decidedly (and purposely) wide. 

Seth Godin: Keep Making a Ruckus

In this wide-ranging question and answer session, bestselling author Seth Godin advocates us to be bold. Whether it’s a toxic work culture or stagnation in your craft, Godin urges us all to recapture the child-like delight in taking a risk.

“You may know how to use fancy design tools, but if there isn’t that leap that leads to connection, it doesn’t matter….you’re not making art,” says Godin. “We didn’t build stuff because we need more beautifully laid out menus. We did it because people want to be touched, noticed, and connected.”

James Victore and Ben Barry: How to Build Your Own Career

In a world where there is no more “traditional path” how to we take our career where we want it to go? In this interview with 99U Director Jocelyn Glei, artist James Victore and Facebook’s Ben Barry share the lessons learned from forging their own path — both outside and inside of a larger organization. One of the first misnomers? That you need to pay your dues. “That has fear in it,” says Victore, “If you have something you love, pursue it with all of your heart and the universe will help you.”