If you are are often late for class or you find yourself handing in work late and generally not meeting deadlines, it may be due to cognitive bias. This means your thinking with an error built in. We all have cognitive biases which affect the way we think and behave. Becoming aware of your cognitive biases can help you overcome them, and in this case avoid lateness and the associated stress.
The Planning Falacy
The planning fallacy is a cognitive bias that means we underestimate how long something will take. We make this mistake despite knowing from previous experience that things take longer than we estimate. An example of the planning fallacy in action is getting ready in the morning. We often run out of time to get ready, have to rush around or are late, despite the fact that we get ready every morning and know how long it takes. In our mind, it doesn’t take as long as it does in reality.
How To Combat it
In the example above, getting ready is a regular activity; we get dressed everyday, or most days at least. For any regular activity that you keep underestimating, I recommend timing it. Tomorrow, when you get ready for class, time how long it takes you. If you want to be scientific about it, time the task or activity for a week and take an average of the results. Now you know exactly how long you need in the mornings and you will never be late again.
Some tasks are ongoing and can’t reasonably be timed, for example working on a project or an essay. A general rule of thumb that I advise students to do, is to pad your schedule. Add in twice as many breaks as you think you need. You then have some padding, if a particular part of the project takes longer than expected, you can utilise some of the extra breaks. If you are on track, you can choose to take a break or get ahead of schedule, whatever works best for you.
A final option to overcome the planning fallacy is to set ‘fake’ deadlines. This is something I do at work, and I advise students to do the same. If you have an essay due next Friday, set yourself a fake deadline for say, next Wednesday. Ideally, you get it done by Wednesday, avoiding the stress of an impending deadline. But if you fall fowl to the planning fallacy and you overrun, then you have some leeway built in, which saves you from pulling all nighters or seeking last minute extensions.
