I use Medium’s scheduling feature all the time. Not as a false deadline, but to schedule stories in advance for consecutive days. Sometimes three or four days in advance. I always post at 8:00a Eastern Standard Time (New York) in the US. That gives my story a full day in my time zone. It is good for the early risers in the US and the night owls in Australia.

By the time I get up at 9:30-ish and take a shower and look at Medium there are usually already claps and even a comment or two.

It automates the publishing process. But requires you to have the discipline to wait before publishing a story. Both good things, I think.