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In each period, the harder an agent works on a task, the more likely the final completion of the task is. The agent receives a reward if she completes the task, but pays the costs of working. At a certain period, an exogenous deadline will suddenly stop the agent from working. We compare two information regimes; one where the agent knows when she will be stopped (deadline awareness), and one where the agent is not informed (deadline unawareness). We find that the expected probability of completing the task is greater under deadline awareness (unawareness) when the reward is low (high). We extend the result to an agent with time-inconsistent preferences, and we find that when the agent is a (sufficient) procrastinator the scope for deadline unawareness vanishes.
