Most of my friends study for exams the night before. Most of my friends write their 5-10 page papers the night before. So why don't we just have a one week long semester? Here's how it will work:

1. On Saturday, all the professors in all the classes you've signed up for will email you the notes.
2. Starting Monday, you will goto your class, give the exam and be done for that class for the semester.

You're going "hell no!". Yes, me too. That, itself, is the point: you're on the university clock and calendar. Me too!

I believe every school environment or work environment has its own clock and calendar. At school, your brain expects to have a whole semester to do the 10 page paper. So what happens when the professor tires to pull the deadline closer by a week? The class panics. It makes little logical sense considering majority of the class will be doing the paper the night before--regardless of when it is due. But it does make sense that as a student, you are reeeally deeply programmed to have a looooong time to do something.

Change to a startup environment. Here, when I have a need, it is usually for something that I need now. On top of that, the actual stuff that needs to be done may be something that is traditionally seen as a "big deal." Yesterday I realized I need to shoot a two minute video to show to potential clients. I have about 36hrs to find people to be in the video, find a camera, find an editor and everything in between. As a class project, this could be a semester long thing.

This is probably the number one culture shock for students on campus dabbling with startup life.

To those wondering why this happens to startups, let me explain. A large part of startups is dodging bullets and climbing hurdles that are about to shutdown your dream. As a founder, most of my day and night is spent thinking about dodging the next bullet. When an idea pops up the might address a problem, it usually needs to be implemented immediately. There is little sense of day/night or weekend/weekday for a founder. It's all the same. 

The tangible result of this is I often find myself doing stuff that others think would take a month for them to do. Many of these people are super smart! It's absolutely ludicrous but...I don't blame them. As a student, I have the very same attitude and view. It's only when I change into my Founder Mode do I get to experience the One Day Month. 

For those on the outside, as a founder I also have the other polarity: I can go a week without getting much done. This is for the most part very dangerous, at least for me. This time is filled with supreme confusion and lazy energy. I try to snap out of this mode asap though I know founders that have made it work where going a few days without getting much done does not impede on their startups' progress.