You DO NOT do your best work under pressure.
Many people claim that they do their best work under pressure. They often say this with great pride as if it is a testament to the fact that they have nerves of steal and do not crumble under stress. The science of our brain function suggests that this is not true. In fact, quite the opposite is true.
The part of the brain that takes control when procrastination has brought us to a near breaking point is our fight or flight system, also known as the lizard brain. Your belief that you produce your best work under pressure is likely a logical fallacy known as confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is when we seek evidence to support our hypothesis while ignoring evidence to the contrary or alternative explanations. For example, if your tendency to procrastinate is systemic, then it is likely that the only time you actually complete tasks is under pressure. So yes, it may in fact be the best work you do, but that’s because it’s the ONLY work you do.
You have the potential to do far better work!
Creativity does not spring from the lizard brain. Our best work happens when the perceived risk if we fail is relatively low. This allows our intuitive brain (the fast brain) to operate more creatively, with a certain ratio of low risk mistakes, and we generally find it easier to get into “flow” — that wonderful state of enjoying what we are doing so much that time vanishes.
This is why it is so important to have a work culture that fosters psychological safety and practices the principal of “Fail Hard. Fail Fast. Fail Often.” These cultures foster creativity by making it safe to explore, try new things, and sometimes fail. The fear of failure leads to inaction, procrastination, or simply playing it safe. Innovation is not typically the one brilliant light bulb that went off in someone’s head. It is much more messy than that. We don’t usually get it right on the first try. Innovation is more often the product of many failures, each resulting in a slightly different approach, eventually leading to a breakthrough. To provide a space where innovation can thrive, failing needs to be expected as part of the journey. But don’t forget the middle part — “Fail Fast”. The faster we fail, the less expensive our failures are. We learn, and we pivot.
Conclusion
You will likely do your best work when you are not under pressure. When we wait until the last hour of the last day to deliver on something important, it is not safe to fail. In fact, we have to get it right the first time because this is our only shot. When it is not safe to fail, we switch to the lizard brain. This results in very little of anything amazing.
The research behind this concept is documented quite extensively in the book “Thinking, Fast and Slow”, by Daniel Kahneman. I highly recommend this read if you want to better understand the many logical fallacies we are susceptible to.
