In my younger days when I had some sort of inappropriate belief in some sort of natural justice, I would routinely curse those who insisted on handing in essays and coursework late. Here was I, an organised chap, able to produce the work within the deadline, who recognised that the existence of a deadline was actually part of the point. If you gave me two days to write an essay, it would surely be a different one to the one written over three weeks.
This priggish, prudish version of myself has existed unchanged for the last ten years, with the exception that somewhere along the line I started backsliding too. As we know it is remarkably easy to hold a belief whilst acting in a way contrary to it, and certainly at work deadlines soon dissolved into “I get the job done eventually” mindset.
So what is so great about handing stuff in late. Truth be told the best thing about it is that actually the problem I had with it as a kid is just not true. Someone requesting a week deadline is usually doing so because they HAVE NOT STARTED IT YET. So well known is this truth, subverting it by doing two weeks of work and then getting an extension is unheard of. Thus you can do a better job. And people don’t think you are some sort of spod with a stick up his arse. Yay!