Ahead or Behind the Curve

My boss asked me and my co-worker to turn in our abstracts for a conference for him to review. The conference deadline is Friday and he is asking us to turn them in on Thursday. I told him mine had been in his mailbox since Tuesday and he said he did recall my telling him that on Tuesday. My co-worker said he had not started one yet and was not sure that he was going to do one.
My boss then began "telling us a story" about a previous employee who always had his papers and presentations finished 4-5 months ahead of schedule. Now let's forget that I have only been on the job for a few months, and we can forget that I am head of the publication requirements for an entire year on the job in that short time, but WTF? I turn mine in before he asks about it (oh yeah, did I mention I found out about it on Monday?) and get lectured while my co-worker does not plan on doing one and it is all good.
My response to the story was that once you get ahead of the curve and have been doing the job for awhile you should be able to prepare presentations quickly and ahead of schedule. Perhaps I am ahead of the curve or perhaps I am permanently behind the curve....ideas?