(White Rabbit GIF made with giphy.com)
Oh, time management. I, like most college students, am a horrible procrastinator. I always lie to myself and say "Oh, but I work better under pressure!" When in reality I don't actually work better, I just work faster. I feel like I am working better when a deadline is quickly approaching when I am actually just working faster to turn something in rather than producing my best work. The problem is that I tell myself I am going to start early on a project but still end up waiting until the night it is due to finish. Over the last few semesters, however, I have gotten better at finishing work early rather than just on time. As an English Writing major, you learn not to take the process of revision lightly. Always leave yourself time to read and revise your work before turning it in; that way you ensure that you are turning in your best work. The How to Beat Procrastination article by Caroline Webb stuck with me because a few of the tips she outlines have really helped me. I have been using the "tie your first step to a treat" method for a while now. I always tell myself "If you finish x paragraphs you can take a short break for a snack or your favorite drink." This method has helped me keep going through some pretty tough writing assignments. I am actually using this method right now, there is a Barnes & Noble gift card calling my name but I told myself I wasn't allowed to book shop until all of my assignments were done. The gift card is sitting on my desk taunting me as I type. I also really liked The Important Habit of Just Starting by Jory Mackay because starting really is the hardest part. I always have trouble starting a project. It is something I am still working on. I think I laid out a fairly good schedule for this class and spaced out the work so it is not all clustered at one end of the week or the other - I tried to make it balanced so as to not get overwhelmed.
Hahaha, I love the GIFs in your post! The white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland was perfect and caught my attention in the blog stream.
ReplyDelete"Oh, but I work better under pressure!" LOL, I've definitely heard this one before, and I never realized that it's because people are working faster, not better! That's probably so true!! Also, I have to agree with you, starting is the hardest part of a project, assignment, or just studying! When writing a paper, I start with the body or conclusion instead of the introduction, and that usually helps.