Deadlines: Good or Bad?

Mar 31

Are Deadlines Good or Bad for Creativity?

BIG THINK16 May, 2014

What's the Latest?

New surveys conducted by the Harvard Business School suggest a more complicated picture of deadlines, and understudying their nuanced relationship to creativity can help you do your best work--on time! While participants of the survey were giving evidence of less creative thinking on time-pressured days, they reported feeling more creative on those days. Richard Boyatzis, a scholar of organizational behavior and cognitive science, said: "You show me somebody who says, ‘I’m an adrenaline junkie, I perform my best under stress,’ and I’ll show you an idiot."

What's the Big Idea?

The closer a deadline is, the less open we are to outside ideas, which are the lifeblood of creativity, say researchers. Still, deadlines do confer some benefits, like giving us a strong reason to prioritize the task at hand and not worry about smaller matters. "A deadline allows you to clear away other stuff," says Boyatzis. "Psychologically, you make a deal with yourself that you’re not going to worry that the washing machine may need replacing." You focus on just this one problem. "That’s where it helps."

I found this article because I'm just starting Chapter 10 of Frankenstina. Mind you, I have 17 more chapters to go and only 24 days to do them in. I want to leave myself at least a week for final editing and publishing for the October 31, launch date.

I have never set a deadline for a book. Ok, ok...I did but didn't keep it. But that was when I first started writing and no one was expecting any thing from me. I only had about 12 followers then. Now I have over 15,000 and a few of them are expecting to see Frankenstina on this Halloween.

I must admit the deadline has me motivated, but panicking also. I don't want to disappoint you guys.

Wish me luck!

Jerrimiah Stonecastle

Stonecastle Publications

"Throwing Stones at a Glass House"

Jerrimiah Stonecastle

Born and raised in the slums of New York, he was raised by a single mom who earned her Master's in Early Childhood Development while working as a teacher's aide. She sent young Jerrimiah to the prestigious Power Memorial Academy for Boys, the Alma mater of NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He worked part-time after school to help his mom pay for his tuition.

He declined a full scholarship from Concordia University and joined the US Army and became a combat medic. He returned to New York upon his discharge where he was hired by the NYC Chief Medical Examiner’s Office as a medical stenographer.

In 1982 he joined the New York City Police Department. In 1983 he was recruited by the Organized Crime Control Bureau (OCCB) as an undercover officer in their narcotics division. He finished out his career as a detective assigned to the Bronx Homicide Task Force.

When he retired in 2002, he relocated to Florida to pursue his passion for writing. After hundreds of rejection letters and reading Amanda Hocking's story, he decided to self-publish his own works. In 2016 he formed Stonecastle Publications LLC and has published 30 books so far. He has an additional 400 fiction and nonfiction novels in draft form in his company's literary vault.

On October 31, 2018, He launched his first horror novel "FRANKENSTINA" and released the sequel "FRANKENSTINA REBORN" on Halloween 2019. There are two more books in the horology.

On March 7, 2023, he received the Literary Titan Book Award for the apocalyptic thriller "A Flash of Light".

Stonecastle Publications LLC

"Throwing Stones At a Glass House"

https://jerrimiahstonecastle.org/

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