How often have you procrastinated on a school assignment only to find that once you finally started working on it, you were more productive in those few hours than you’d been the entire week you had to complete it? It’s a common phenomenon for students to experience bursts of productivity when there is an upcoming deadline, leading them to accomplish more in a shorter amount of time than they did over the time they had spent procrastinating. You might believe that this is a result of the brain’s capacity to function more effectively under pressure and in other stressful situations, increasing overall productivity. While this belief is common in schools and workplaces, it is not grounded in scientific evidence. Instead, it’s a story we tell ourselves based on what we have experienced in the past. This article will explore the fallacy of this idea and further explain the importance of finding a balance for optimal performance to overcome procrastination.