[...] Cal’s  Retreating Deadline  Method is basically “forgetting” the real due date and making one that works with your schedule. [...]

I am in a creative line of work and never really thought of allowing myself to quit (for the day maybe just for that project) once I know I’ve gone past that productive point.

This seems like a common problem with people who work on self-directed projects — the guilt that you should always be working more.

There is no huge distinction of the two methods, but I prefer starting early because it saves me the time of altering existing schedules to be one day earlier.

While an excellent idea, I would most likely not use this method. However, for those who suffer from deep procrastination, give this idea a try, along with some type of work progress journal (another great idea mentioned in Straight A’s).

But don’t you ever end up suffering from “deadline blindness” since you know that none of them are real, you just start psychologically ignoring the deadlines on your calendar?

Not really. But I honestly dislike working on things the day before they’re due. It’s too much pressure on one day. Makes me lose sleep. The problem I sometimes face is with collaborators, as they get confused when I show up frantic about getting a paper done and they have to remind me that the real due date isn’t until the next week or some such.

(I say this knowing that with some discipline you can start sticking to your own fake deadlines. Like when anyone tells themselves, “I have to get this done today.” and does, it feels good. But I feel that if I did this with too much stuff and had dozens of deadlines on my calendar, I would start getting deadline blindness.)