I’ve been on sabbatical from my academic position since September 2020, and I committed to myself this year to avoid any task that has an important or urgent deadline. Reflecting on some of my major sources of work stress, I came to realize that time pressure was near the top of the list. For me, time pressure comes with a sense of urgency, physical feelings of tension, worry that I might not get everything done on time, and resentment about how much I have to do and how little time I have to do it. I think I’ve known this for many years, but the role of time pressure in my life came to the forefront at the beginning of the pandemic. I suddenly realized that I didn’t have to hurry to go anywhere, and along with this realization came a sense of peace and relief (see my previous blog about how commuting is stupid!).
In my various jobs, I often deal with a variety of deadlines: grant and book deadlines; deadlines for submitting administrative paperwork for various things at the university or otherwise; deadlines for completing course preparation work, submitting grades, and writing and sending reference letters for students or colleagues; deadlines for submitting reviews of manuscripts, books, or grants. The list goes on, and on, and on!
Part of my problem is probably that I take these deadlines pretty seriously. One of my colleagues includes a quote at the end of his emails that says something like, “I love deadlines, I love the whooshing sound they make as they pass by.” I think I’m probably a little too much of a Type A person to fully embrace that philosophy, but I’m getting there.
All that being said, deadlines do have some advantages. If you were taking a course, and the instructor told you that you can take the final exam whenever you want, when would you start studying? What if they told you the exam was in 4 versus 8 weeks? Most of us would probably work a lot harder if we knew when the exam will occur, and the deadline were sooner.
Interestingly, this is what we found in one of our recent research projects. In a major randomized clinical trial (a study comparing two treatments by randomly assigning patients to one treatment or the other), we compared 6 to 12 months of dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) for people suffering from borderline personality disorder. We called this study the FASTER DBT study, and we conducted the research both at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and at Simon Fraser University. We wanted to figure out whether a shorter version of DBT was any worse than a longer version. Findings indicated that 6 months was not worse than 12 months in terms of reducing self-harm and a variety of mental health symptoms. Interestingly, we also found that patients in the 6-month condition seemed to show quicker improvements in certain areas. These areas included borderline personality disorder symptoms and general psychiatric symptoms. Although we can’t explain these findings with 100% confidence, I do suspect that, when people were told that they were going to get 6 months instead of 12 months of treatment, they might have been motivated to work a little harder. In addition, their DBT therapists might’ve also been motivated to work harder. Although deadlines and time limits can be stressful, they can also help us stay motivated and regulate our behaviour.
I think it’s important to use time pressure to our benefit and not to allow it to create chronic stress. There’s no easy way to do this, but a few skills and tips come to mind.
First, before you agree to do some thing that has a tight deadline, give yourself time to think about it. Avoid acting on impulse or quickly agreeing to urgent requests, unless it’s absolutely necessary or some kind of emergency. When I remember to use this strategy, I often tell people, “I’ll need a couple of days to think about whether I can fit that in.”
Second, in most circumstances, it’s effective and acceptable to negotiate deadlines. In some circumstances, it’s impossible. If I’m going to submit a grant, I have to submit it by the deadline, or else my application simply won’t be considered. In many other circumstances, it’s possible to use interpersonal effectiveness skills to negotiate deadlines that work for you and the other person involved. Using the DBT interpersonal effectiveness skills of DEAR MAN, I often start by describing the situation and expressing my preferences. One example is: “I’ve got a fair amount of work on my plate right now, and while I am interested in helping you out, I probably won’t be able to get to as soon as you’re hoping.”
Third, I generally don’t accept the deadline, “as soon as possible.” When someone asks me to do some thing as soon as possible, I follow the U.S. policy to avoid negotiating with terrorists. No, I don’t tell the person that they are a terrorist! But, I do ask them to specify what they mean by “as soon as possible,” usually by saying that I’m not sure what that means and I need to have a more specific timeline so that I can figure out whether it’s possible.
Fourth, I think I can be helpful to take inventory of the things that we all do with a sense of urgency. Do we have to do with any of these things? Could we cut down on the things that we do urgency and still be there for other people and productive with our work? I think we can, but it takes some skill. ~Alexander L. Chapman, Ph.D., R.Psych.