365 Facts: #356 (Random--Procrastination)
I can't believe I haven't done this one yet. Oh, wait, I can.
I am an A-1 procrastinator. Always have been. I can remember back to the fifth grade and having to do a report for Social Studies and starting it at 9 o'clock on a Sunday night the day before it was due. As in, started reading the book I needed to report on at 9 o'clock. Since that worked so well, I did it again in eighth grade, this time with a project that counted double, once for English and once for History. I kicked ass. Hooray for my double-A+ Watergate paper. It didn't necessarily work all the time--I got a B on the music project due in seventh grade where we had to make up a book about the instruments in an orchestra--but it worked enough that that was how I'd end up working on projects. I always tend to put things off until the last minute.
Okay, I'm not like that 100% of the time. Thankfully. There are times when I realize the importance of something and I do work on it ahead of time. Actually, I almost always think about working on whatever project it is. I do want to get it done on time and not do a half-assed job. And then I think of some other project, either something more pressing or more interesting, and that's what I'll focus on. Then time will pass and, oh crap, I have to go back to that project. It's worse when there's not actually a time limit on a project, because then it can founder indefinitely. My song, for instance. Sure I got it done for camp--barely--but there are some changes that need to be made and I haven't ever gone back to tweak it. I know several people who aren't too happy about that, yet I let it just sit there.
I'm not sure what to do about this aside from making a list and checking things off as I go. I used to tell my students, when they'd procrastinate about playing a certain passage, for example, to just do it and get it over with. Things end up being not so bad when you just do them. It's the act of trying to do them that sets us back. Perhaps this is what's meant when we're told to get our acts together.
I am an A-1 procrastinator. Always have been. I can remember back to the fifth grade and having to do a report for Social Studies and starting it at 9 o'clock on a Sunday night the day before it was due. As in, started reading the book I needed to report on at 9 o'clock. Since that worked so well, I did it again in eighth grade, this time with a project that counted double, once for English and once for History. I kicked ass. Hooray for my double-A+ Watergate paper. It didn't necessarily work all the time--I got a B on the music project due in seventh grade where we had to make up a book about the instruments in an orchestra--but it worked enough that that was how I'd end up working on projects. I always tend to put things off until the last minute.
Okay, I'm not like that 100% of the time. Thankfully. There are times when I realize the importance of something and I do work on it ahead of time. Actually, I almost always think about working on whatever project it is. I do want to get it done on time and not do a half-assed job. And then I think of some other project, either something more pressing or more interesting, and that's what I'll focus on. Then time will pass and, oh crap, I have to go back to that project. It's worse when there's not actually a time limit on a project, because then it can founder indefinitely. My song, for instance. Sure I got it done for camp--barely--but there are some changes that need to be made and I haven't ever gone back to tweak it. I know several people who aren't too happy about that, yet I let it just sit there.
I'm not sure what to do about this aside from making a list and checking things off as I go. I used to tell my students, when they'd procrastinate about playing a certain passage, for example, to just do it and get it over with. Things end up being not so bad when you just do them. It's the act of trying to do them that sets us back. Perhaps this is what's meant when we're told to get our acts together.