CAN YOU PLEASE MAKE THE CLOCK STOP?

Deadlines are something we all face on a day-to-day basis, and while being on top of deadlines and getting things done ahead of time is what should be the norm, something I've learned from my time assigning deadlines to a group of young writers is that a large percentage of people, if not most of them, just can't do it.

So, where's the missing link here? Are the deadlines assigned to us by our teachers or by editors to writers too harsh in the first place? It's hard to believe that because in SHOUT, the writers pick the deadlines themselves, and where I go to school, the deadlines never seem daunting at first. It's only when I put it off for weeks and a project is due in two days that the world feels like it's crashing around me.

I have a theory, and no, it's not that everyone is lazy. Like many things to do with the human brain, the main player here is incentive. For a lot of work that is assigned to us, the only incentive to get it done is what would follow if we didn't. The only time in my life that I've done anything ahead of time when I've looked forward to the end result, like an article that contains some treasured thoughts, that once written, I expected to get good feedback on.

In conclusion, all we need to maintain our deadlines is cookies when we do it, not an F when we don't.

– Azmin Azran, Sub-editor, SHOUT