I think this is the reason deadlines work so well for some people: the need to finish task X before tomorrow autodeprioritizes everything else.
For me, this switch happened somewhere between my last year at university and my second job. As a part of it, I lost the ability to "pull off all-nighters" - not in the sense of being able to stay awake that long, but in the sense of being able to do anything useful in that time.
When I was younger, I was absolutely sure that I'd pull off whatever was required of me, even if that meant doing everything under a ton of pressure. But at some point, the circumstances just didn't allow that anymore... And after the first time that this paradigm didn't work out anymore, I didn't have this reassuring surety anymore either, which was a big part of why it always did work out before I think.
So now I just tell people to be careful with their personal 'axioms', and to not stress them to a breaking point.