Some of my best ideas are for work I am not doing

Ihappen to be a procrastinator and in fact find that I perform a lot better when I am under pressure. I do think some of your best ideas come when you are under some kind of pressure, whether it is time or anything else. However, when you have to do something ‘right now’, you might not produce the most creative work but the pressure could yield the answers that are needed. As they say, ‘necessity is the mother of invention’, if you have the motivation you do the work. Sometimes, that motivation is a shortage of time.

I also hate it when I have a faraway deadline. Some of the better work that I do is either on projects that I have absolutely nothing to do with, so it is a friend’s project and they are simply picking my brains for ideas, or something that I have to literally deliver tomorrow. Alternatively, you can also get original ideas when you are out for a walk or taking a shower.

As for what is the best balance to be productive at work — I guess you should have a team of people who work differently. If you have the right types of team members, with some who are more deadline-oriented and others who are procrastinators and deliver great work on a tight deadline, that would be ideal. The other alternative is to weave your tasks in such a way that they offer you a combination of both work styles.

From Mr Philip Apaza