Meeting Deadlines

During an evening lecture, a student told me he had just submitted an assignment. I asked another student how he was doing. He said he would work on the assignment after the lecture, and hoped to submit by the deadline at midnight. I was quietly astonished. Suppose that he'd had the flu, or suffered an accident, or had an emergency? OBSERVATION: As it happens, he did very well. It has been my own custom, if given a deadline, to finish in half the time -- and I don't remember ever being challenged by a deadline, or indeed not finishing in half the time. I may have felt challenged at the start, yes -- though not challenged in finishing on time. (This is, in my view, the secret to my own high grades).