I like this and feel it is useful, though an important corollary of this heuristic is that you have to know how much time you will need for the task. This year I at one point had to get a serious deadline moved at (or actually, slightly after) the last minute as I was unable to meet it. I have a tendency to work as you propose but since returning to work after my maternity leave, my internal clock for when to start work pre-deadline was way off. My previous ‘last minute’ was based on an expectation that I could use my downtime to meet a deadline, whereas now with a baby my downtime is inflexible. My estimates of how long something will take me are improving (after a brief overcorrection).
I like this and feel it is useful, though an important corollary of this heuristic is that you have to know how much time you will need for the task. This year I at one point had to get a serious deadline moved at (or actually, slightly after) the last minute as I was unable to meet it. I have a tendency to work as you propose but since returning to work after my maternity leave, my internal clock for when to start work pre-deadline was way off. My previous ‘last minute’ was based on an expectation that I could use my downtime to meet a deadline, whereas now with a baby my downtime is inflexible. My estimates of how long something will take me are improving (after a brief overcorrection).