A good backup to this, is that in the essay writing example, the student will undoubtedly write a better essay at the end of the semester when he has learned more and has other peers asking questions about it, than if he started right away and wrote it. The math makes perfect sense.
Of course this all breaks down as soon as there's an actual deadline attached to the task, with actual negative consequences from not meeting it. Using GP's "if you feel resistance, put it off until tomorrow" method, I ended up putting things off way past their deadlines, which is why I no longer use this approach.
Yet, I do use this approach. And I've been running a consulting business for 24 years, and I've been a columnist for IEEE Computer Magazine. I've written two books, done zillions of talks.
I have missed a few deadlines, yes. That's not the end of the fucking world. But what might be more of a problem is doing poor quality work.
When I wrote Software Realities for IEEE Computer, I never missed a deadline. How I did that is I never knew what the real deadline was. I instructed the editor to give me a series of deadlines that I would treat as real. But if I really couldn't meet one with a good article, I would ask for the next (also fake IRL) deadline.
Pressure does help, but it's just ignorant and abusive to treat procrastination like a disease and disrespect your intermal mental rhythms. You will burn yourself out that way, kiddo, as I did before I figured this shit out.
