Writing an NIH proposal? Time can be your best friend or worst enemy.

Perhaps nobody provides better advice than NIH on how to plan for the writing of a grant application.  In the "Plan Your Application" section of the recently updated NIH website, "Organize Your Time to Complete the Application" stresses the importance of submitting your application days, not hours, before the deadline.  Considering the large number of proposals I have seen submitted minutes before the deadline, under great stress from the PIs and everyone around them, I highly recommend taking NIH's advice on this.