The last minute does something pretty extraordinary for people. It forces us to act.
The deadline is here. The paper is due. Auditions are today. Just one spot left. When time runs out, tomorrow isn’t an option. Today is all that’s left.
But while the last minute is great for getting us going, it usually hurts the work. And it always causes stress.
What if we reversed it and behaved that way at the beginning? Instead of waiting to act until there is no other option, we can choose to act when there are hundreds of options. Hurry at the beginning and then polish at the end.
Quality goes up and stress goes down when you start in the first minute.