We're Only Human: Looming Deadlines; May / June 2011; Scientific American Mind; by Wray Herbert; 2 Page(s)

This time of year is deadline season for many people. It seems that wherever we look, there is a clock or a calendar pressuring us to move faster and stop dawdling. For some it is the end-of-semester crush, with papers to write and books to digest and comprehend, whereas others are rushing to tidy up a hundred loose ends before that big family vacation. Whatever the precise reason, the lament is the same: so much to do, so little time!

But do we really have too little time? Are these deadlines really looming, or do we in fact have more leisure than we imagine? It is always tricky to think about time, and new research now suggests that deadline pressure might contribute to our distorted view of how much time we really need to get everything done.