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How to Finish a Huge Assignment or Project Overnight
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The great American writer Mark Twain once said,
“Never put off till tomorrow what may be done the day after tomorrow just as well.”
When we live by that advice, though, we sometimes find ourselves chugging concentrated coffee at 2 a.m. in a valiant effort to stay awake and finish a huge project that’s due in 6 hours.
As productive as I’d like to think I am… I’ve been there.
If you’ve been there as well – or maybe if you’re there right now – this week’s video is for you. I’m not going to waste time lecturing you about the importance of planning, there are other videos for that – let’s just look at the best plan of attack when you find yourself in a time crunch.
Now, we’re going to look at some specific concepts related to planning and willpower in a minute – The Impact Effort Matrix, Ego Depletion – but let’s start with the foundation: location selection .
I think your location is vital when you’re working under pressure, and personally I like to pick my study locations based on their “vibe” – that is, what’s going on around me. I tend to favor coffee shops and libraries – I still go to my university library at times even though I’ve graduated – because I work well when I’m surrounded by other people who are also working. Also, close proximity to caffeine is helpful.
The most important part of location selection, though, is avoiding the “call of the pillow”. When you’re studying in a time crunch, it’s likely you’ll be doing it late into the night. That’s why you want to get as far away from your bed as possible.
The later it gets, the more you’ll start rationalizing how good a nap might be and the more you’ll start deciding that certain parts of your project don’t matter. So pick a place where going to bed would be more effort than finishing the next part of your project.
That piece of business taken care of, it’s now time to plan your efforts . Before you start working, take some time to break down your workload into individual parts. Then, it’s time to figure out which ones should get the bulk of your attention.
Dwight Eisenhower often remarked that,
“What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”
In the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , Steven Covey popularized the “Eisenhower Decision Matrix”, which is based on this principle. In the matrix, tasks are categorized based on their importance and urgency.
When you’re in a time crunch, though, everything can seem urgent – so importance is the factor you should focus on in this case. To that end, let’s use a similar but more fitting tool – the Impact/Effort matrix .
Here, tasks in a project are given scores based on their impact to the overall success of the project and the effort it will take to implement them. To illustrate how this works, here’s an example from my life.
When I was a senior in college, one of my final projects was building a web app. My idea was called AMPanic, and it was an app that would require you to log in and tell if you’re awake before a certain time – otherwise it would send an embarrassing email to someone. This was actually the precursor to the early wake-up system I use now, which I detailed in this video .
With this project, though, I found myself in a time crunch trying to finish it. So I broke my project down into different parts that I’d have to code and prioritized them using this Impact/Effort matrix.
The core functionality – the code that would let you set an alarm and an email message, the code that would schedule and send the email on time, and the function to cancel the email if the user checked in on time in the morning – those required a lot of effort to build, but they also had the highest impact on the project.
On the other hand, some parts of the site – like the About, FAQ, and Contact pages – didn’t have as high of an impact, but they were low-effort tasks. Since they didn’t take much time to create, I made sure to include them to make the site look more complete.
The main element of the site that I chose NOT to focus on was the user registration and login system. A proper one needs functions for resetting passwords, but I decided that the core alarm setting functionality would be more important to my grade since that was the point of the whole project. So I used a login system I had written for an old project and didn’t bother creating a way to reset passwords.
In the end, it was a worthwhile decision; the alarm system was more advanced than most of the other projects in the class, so I ended up getting an A.
To assign Impact/Effort scores to each component of your project – or each assignment if you’re juggling multiple – consider the following factors:
- What the core deliverables are
- The grading criteria for the project, what which components count for the most points
- What percentage of your grade each assignment counts for
- How much each component will contribute to the knowledge you need to have for tests, which usually impact your grade the most
Once you’e assigned scores to each component, I think it’s a good idea to tackle the ones with the highest impact and highest effort first. This is due to Ego Depletion – a phenomenon explained in Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking, Fast and Slow . Citing research from the psychologist Roy Baumeister, he reveals that:
“…an effort of will or self-control is tiring; if you have had to force yourself to do something, you are less willing or less able to exert self-control when the next challenge comes around.”
Use the bulk of your willpower to complete the harder tasks first; that way, you’ll only have to deal with low-effort, high-impact tasks when you’re feeling drained.
That’s where we’re going to close for this week. If you select your location well, plan based on impact and effort, and tackle your tasks in a way that utilizes your willpower effectively, you’ll make if through your time crunch in one piece.
Need help finishing a personal project you’ve been procrastinating on? Read this next .
If you’re unable to see the video above, you can view it on YouTube .
Looking for More Study Tips?
You’ll find more tips on planning, study environments, and maintaining willpower in my free 100+ page book called 10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades (While Studying Less) .
The book covers topics like:
- Defeating procrastination
- Getting more out of your classes
- Taking great notes
- Reading your textbooks more efficiently
…and several more. It also has a lot of recommendations for tools and other resources that can make your studying easier.
If you’d like a free copy of the book, let me know where I should send it:
I’ll also keep you updated about new posts and videos that come out on this blog (they’ll be just as good as this one or better) 🙂
Video Notes
- Eisenhower Decision Matrix
- Impact/Effort Matrix
- Ego Depletion
What other topics related to working under tight deadlines would you like to see covered in the future?
Do you have any additional tips? Share them below 🙂
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- Secondary Education
- School & Secondary Education
Do you leave assignments till the last minute?
- Thread starter fantasia
- Start date Dec 6, 2003
Heaps of people do that. I did that when I did the HSC. And you see many many people in the morning (and afternoon) rushing assignments.
they do that because they are idiots
Active Member
Originally posted by Redp3n they do that because they are idiots Click to expand...
Butterfly_Wings
Cornflake girl.
I always did that in high school. Because i had no motivation to do otherwise, and could get away with it easily. in UNI i changed my ways somewhat cos there are just too many, and they are physically impossible to do overnight.
freaking_out
Saddam's new life.
yeah, try to start the assignments as soon as possible- which for me was the nite bfore it was due. :mad1:
greeninsanity
All love is equal.
Originally posted by greeninsanity ah, it's bad. I always think that I'll get up early in the morning and finish an assignment but when it comes down to getting up or turning off my alarm... logic says 'can always finish assignment at lunchtime'. Click to expand...
[Studying...]
I sometimes do that, like right now l have a hospitality assignment due in two days and l've just started it. I don't normally do this, but l don't care...its my fault anyways.
Originally posted by Misturi I sometimes do that, like right now l have a hospitality assignment due in two days and l've just started it. I don't normally do this, but l don't care...its my fault anyways. Click to expand...
- kmart supervisor -
The morning of... I had a bad tendency to do that in year 11... now in Year 12 I'm trying to cut back to at least the night before... but I just don't have any motivation, I can't be bothered, the assessments are boring, ridiculous and aren't essays... Give me a nice essay any day but some of these abstract things with teachers trying to be creatively lazy... argh! The assessment tasks to far have been basically one command + apply it to the syllabus. Get a bunch of sources, apply it to the syllabus. Get a criminal case, apply it to the syllabus. So on and so on...
Lexicographer
Retired 13 may 2006.
Yeah. But I can type assignments in my sleep, so it's not so bad.
Originally posted by Ziff Yeah. But I can type assignments in my sleep, so it's not so bad. Click to expand...
Gregor Samsa
I improved in that sense during Year 12. Prior to that, almost every assessment I did was a 'the night before' effort. Thankfully, this changed somewhat, actually composing assessments early. The best I ever did was with my Extension History major work.. Finished it three weeks before it was due. :0 As for the issue of motivation itself, think that if you begin early in most cases, you're setting yourself up to do better. If it doesn't come out the way you want it, don't worry, and try again when you're in a more relaxed state. It's a luxury you can afford when working early. Another important benefit is being able to edit and refine your work based on feedback, which worked very well for English assessments throughout the year. I understand it is hard to triumph over procrastination though.
yes i left them to the last minute, but by that i mean that i would aim to finish it sunday at 11 or 12 midday. so i would do it fri, sat sun
dirty trick
i do better at assignments i do later than ones that are completed weeks before
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My assignment is due tomorrow and I haven't even started it yet!
English expert at Atomi
Well, if it really is due tomorrow, let’s do this and do it quick! You could have anything due tomorrow, so instead of a step-by-step guide let’s focus on some tips and tricks to pull off this craziness. Legions of students before you have done it and legions of students after you will do it so have faith—you can do it 💪.
1. Prioritise
This probably doesn’t need to be said but if it’s due tomorrow then clear your schedule tonight—this is absolutely your top priority right now! Normally we recommend getting plenty of sleep but if you have something due tomorrow, tonight's the night to push your bedtime back a little bit (still no all-nighters though!)
2. Get your head in the game
Okay, no matter how much of a mountain it seems, this has to be done tonight. Don’t let yourself even consider the option of handing it in late—just thinking that will make it even harder to finish in time.
It’s time to get your head in the game and focus on the task ahead. You want to grab some water and make sure you’ve eaten. Then, set yourself up in a clean, bright area, find a supportive chair and grab all of the resources you'll need to do your assignment.
You can check out our video on Study Spaces for everything you need to set up the perfect workspace.
3. Work out exactly what you need to do
To work as efficiently as possible you should first understand exactly what you need to do.
That means you need to think about exactly what ideas or topics you need to cover and what your approach should be. So, read the assignment and marking criteria carefully and identify any keywords. Also highlight any important details, like the word count or page limit, the submission format and any other info that will affect how you approach this task.
This will vary massively depending on the assignment. The point is basically just that you should make sure you know exactly what you need to do before you start. Trust me, it’ll make everything quicker if you do ⏰.
4. Do a brief plan
To make sure we can get this done properly in one night, the next step is to plan your answer. This will make it a lot easier to start writing and, if you have to do any research, you will know exactly what you’re looking for.
So, sketch out a brief plan onto a page. Work out what needs to go into your answer and how it’s going to be structured. It might feel difficult or pointless to plan at this point, but if you can get some of the hard work out of the way here it’ll become much easier to write!
5. Research efficiently
Now, this one is obviously only relevant if you need research for your answer. Gathering research for an essay or report can take time. By using the keywords from the syllabus and assessment notification, you’ll be able to focus on the resources that you actually need. As far as you can, drop your research straight into the plan and you’ll be moving much more efficiently.
Don’t forget to reference as you go! This will save you time and ensure you don’t make any mistakes 😅.
6. Quality over quantity
This is a seriously important tip. When you’re really under pressure, it can be tempting to just smash out as many words as possible so you can hit that word count—don’t do this! It’s just going to give you a whole lot of waffle and even worse marks.
Instead of waffling, stick to your answer plan, use your research and fall back on the ideas in our lessons . It will get you a much better result for not that much extra work ✅.
7. Do your final read over tomorrow morning
Once you’ve finally pulled off that answer, it’s time to go to bed. You’re probably going to be too tired, too stressed and too wrapped up in your answer to be able to give it a proper check and edit.
So, just get some sleep now, set the alarm 30mins earlier tomorrow and read over it again with fresh eyes and a clear mind. You should be able to pick up any little mistakes and make the whole thing read a lot better and generally end up with a stronger answer!
Even though this isn’t ideal, you can still pull it off! The secret is to be as efficient as possible. So, keep calm, find out exactly what you need to do, plan, research properly and don’t waffle.
Oh and next time, don’t leave your assignments to the last minute 😅. Instead, watch our lesson on Planning an Assignment and use the downloadable planner so you aren’t in this sticky situation again.
For more study tips, tricks and advice, keep reading the student blog or follow Atomi on Instagram . See you there 👋.
Published on
March 15, 2022
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