Rabby
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What you're describing is not so much an inner quality or inherent vice, but a set of habits. "Inner quality" implies a fixed mindset... you don't want that because it's hard to improve when you think in terms of immutable state. You need a growth mindset to apply to this problem.
The reason you're able to suddenly do your work at the deadline is because that's when your emotions reach a high enough state to force you into action. People are moved by their emotions... hence the root of the word. So you need to start learning to use your emotions effectively, basically to force yourself to work. Making lists or something probably won't help -- what makes you have to do the things on that list? You'll still wait until the last minute to start, and that won't be good for you in the long term.
I would suggest thinking about what emotion is triggered when you're right at the deadline. Is it fear of failure? Pride? Anger that something isn't done and it's preventing you from doing something else now? If you can figure that out, you can move that emotional state back and access it when you're not right at the deadline. It will take some thought, but you can rewire your motivators to be just as panicked, outraged, gung-ho, or whatever, much earlier in the process. The key is finding those emotions that force you into action.
Habits, the external kind like daily routines and things we do with hardly a thought, are a good intermediate tool for getting this EQ hacking right. One reason is that habits tend to have internally timed deadlines. Or they have deadlines based on other events. So if you can manage to make a habit of doing <insert work here> every morning before you finish your first cup of coffee, doing that work will start to feel like a deadline itself. Why should you care about that? Because you get motivated when you have deadlines, right? So start having them for things other than the end of a project. Give yourself repeating, daily deadlines, and if you get angry or frustrated when you miss them, great! Let that drive you not to miss the deadline the next day. Your work will naturally transition from "frantic bursts of activity" where it is now, to daily progress. That in turn will even out the emotional roller coaster of deadline --> omg work! ... and turn it into a less frantic form of motivation. It's much more satisfying to work this way.
I hope some of that made sense... you didn't exactly ask for Carl Jung, but I've been through the same thought process you described in your post. Maybe you'll get something out of it. Good luck
The reason you're able to suddenly do your work at the deadline is because that's when your emotions reach a high enough state to force you into action. People are moved by their emotions... hence the root of the word. So you need to start learning to use your emotions effectively, basically to force yourself to work. Making lists or something probably won't help -- what makes you have to do the things on that list? You'll still wait until the last minute to start, and that won't be good for you in the long term.
I would suggest thinking about what emotion is triggered when you're right at the deadline. Is it fear of failure? Pride? Anger that something isn't done and it's preventing you from doing something else now? If you can figure that out, you can move that emotional state back and access it when you're not right at the deadline. It will take some thought, but you can rewire your motivators to be just as panicked, outraged, gung-ho, or whatever, much earlier in the process. The key is finding those emotions that force you into action.
Habits, the external kind like daily routines and things we do with hardly a thought, are a good intermediate tool for getting this EQ hacking right. One reason is that habits tend to have internally timed deadlines. Or they have deadlines based on other events. So if you can manage to make a habit of doing <insert work here> every morning before you finish your first cup of coffee, doing that work will start to feel like a deadline itself. Why should you care about that? Because you get motivated when you have deadlines, right? So start having them for things other than the end of a project. Give yourself repeating, daily deadlines, and if you get angry or frustrated when you miss them, great! Let that drive you not to miss the deadline the next day. Your work will naturally transition from "frantic bursts of activity" where it is now, to daily progress. That in turn will even out the emotional roller coaster of deadline --> omg work! ... and turn it into a less frantic form of motivation. It's much more satisfying to work this way.
I hope some of that made sense... you didn't exactly ask for Carl Jung, but I've been through the same thought process you described in your post. Maybe you'll get something out of it. Good luck
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