5 Things You Should Always Ask For

The Time to Do It Right

When I taught undergraduate college students, I was shocked by how many of them asked for extensions on deadlines. Office hours were a veritable chorus of "This paper will be so much better if I turn it in tomorrow," which sometimes actually meant "I'm going to go start it right now." I was shocked mostly because I somehow never in the whole of my educational, working or personal life had gotten the memo that deadlines are sometimes, maybe even often, arbitrary. Huh. And when the work presentation is going to be way better in a few hours, or maybe even just a few minutes, why not ask for the extra time? After all, everyone wants the best end result.