A great cellist once said that when the pressure is on–and a deadline looms–to produce a large piece of creative work, the only way to get the job done is to lose perspective. Perspective, that is, that tells you how truly important this one deadline is in the grand scheme of your life (not very), and to what extent it truly matters if you simply give it the ol’ college try and get it over with (not much). Or to be more extreme, as another great thinker recently put it, we are just specks of dust hurtling around the sun on a ball of rock and ice. Well, with that much perspective, you are unlikely to get out of bed in the morning, much less accomplish anything.
Therefore it is necessary to lose perspective, become consumed by the idea that nothing matters more than the task at hand, and tear through it with adrenaline pumping. The key, of course, is to call upon this level of focus when you need it, and not to let the accompanying stress seep into all your waking (and non-waking) hours.
Few have made the case for a balanced approach as compellingly as Randy Pausch. A brilliant computer science professor with terminal cancer, he has reminded thousands (through YouTube) that time is our only real resource. It’s scarce to begin with and once used cannot be recovered. Check out his lectures on achieving your childhood dreams and time management.
