Originally Posted by
iAnnAu
The three nonconsecutive semesters I spent in college, I kicked the ass out of all my assignments as early as possible. Aced everything.
... And hated every minute. Institutionalized learning can kiss my ass.
When left to my own devices, I have a much more enjoyable time learning. I go at my own pace, delve into aspects of a topic as they catch my interest, and devise my own checks to see if what I'm absorbing has a decent correlation to reality.
There have of course been times in the workplace where I have to wait to the last minute to do something even though I know the deadline - usually because I have to wait on other people to do their part before I can do mine. And I freely admit that there is a feeling of need-created inspiration - I remember usually feeling a heightened sense of accomplishment when whatever it is gets off my desk at the very last second. But I hate having shit hanging over my head, and usually I can be fairly efficient at knocking it out ... so then I can go goof off without having to remind myself to get back to work at some point ...
I've even worked myself out of a few jobs in the case of being hired for a temp assignment and finishing the project much sooner than they expected. It doesn't work for me to slow myself down - I just get bored and *that's* when I start making mistakes! Argh!