TM4T Techniques 5.1.5.1 - General Techniques: Time Shift Assertively

Now many teachers practice time-shifting automatically - doing important work well in advance. However, a lot of those teachers simply do it wrong, and do not reap the - considerable - benefits of this technique.

These teachers misunderstand what is involved in 'doing things in advance'.

They mentally identify two ways of doing things, either (i) quickly at the last minute or (ii) in advance, at a more leisurely pace. If this is what you choose to do, that is fine, but this is not what TM4T advocates. The TM4T technique of time-shifting imlies that work should be done quickly, well in advance. Note that 'quickly' does not equate to 'in a rush'. The 'rush' part - the feeling of being slightly uncomfortably out of control - arises not from working fast (this is a good thing we want to do) but from working close to a deadline (this is a bad thing that we don't want to do).

You should therefore time shift assertively, working as quickly as you reasonaby can without rushing. If you are doing work without any pressure, you should be less likely to make mistakes and more likely to finish it quickly. If you finish quickly, you have more time to spend on other, nicer things: that is why we practice TM4T. 

Doing things early, but spending a long time over them does not gain you any time at all; it simply delays the inevitable build up of pressure that leads to stress.