TLDR; with a deadline looming, my productivity shot up exponentially.

I’ve had mixed feelings about deadlines. Having perfectionist tendencies, I often felt that they prevent me from doing my best work. When I do the best work I can do, I feel extremely satisfied. Like a craftsman after a finished piece of work. However, this also leads to a lot of unfinished projects.

On the flip side, when deadlines have been set, my productivity goes up by multiples, and I experience a different sort satisfaction - the joy of solving a problem.

It feels like different sides of the same coin. I imagine the first type of satisfaction is what an artist feels, and the second, what an engineer feels.

I realize I need both to feel satisfied with my work. But I also realize, that all projects don’t need to have both.