As a freshman at Baruch and a first time college student I believe that procrastination is the single most important thing that hinders me from completing my work on time. This is an especially bad habit that I am trying to break myself of. Whenever, I get an assignment I immediately look at the due date and count the time I have between the present and the due date. However, no matter how hard I try to plan in advance to work on something I almost always leave it to the night before. While that may have worked in high school where the work was comparatively far less difficult it will not cut it in college. The work is simply too much and too involving to leave it to the last minute. Leaving it to the last minute leaves me overwhelmed and frustrated. Most times before a paper is due, I am up late into the night writing, rereading and proofreading what I have written. I know that writing a paper beforehand, and giving myself more time to proofread it, always gives me a better essay.
I need to break myself of the mindset that the assignment is due later so I can push it out of my mind. The moment the work gets out of mind then I forget about it until I hear an announcement in class or I remember from reading old notes that something is due. College professors do not remind me when something is due or not due, so the responsibility lies completely on me. The transition is somewhat difficult because I am accustomed to high school where there are constant reminders as to when something is due. In fact many teachers often take the extra step of getting students emails to remind them when certain assignments are due. None of this happens in college, which gives me a certain amount of liberty and responsibility to make decisions as to how I manage my work load.
This whole procrastination issue I believe cannot be solved overnight. I am trying to balance my time between a job, school and my social life. This juggling act takes its toll on me but I need to understand that no matter what, school comes first before everything else. I am paying for these classes and if I fail them it is only going to hurt me. The professors don’t care about individual students. In a class where they have hundreds of students they cannot be bothered to learn everyone’s name. At the end of the day they are still making their money and my pass or fail means nothing to them. So I’ve learned to put school first before anything else.
In addition the school has provided planners which I do not make good use of. I believe that if I try to write everything down in the planner and utilize all its calendar reminders that I’ll be much better off. If I follow use my planner I’ll be in much better shape.
Procrastinating always leaves me with sleep deprivation because I work late into the night. This continues a cycle where I am less awake and less attentive in class. Not being at my peak hurts me because I absorb less of the lecture and it ends up in a cycle where I am always tired. Being at my peak will help me stop procrastinating because I will be more alert. I will also realize the consequences of leaving an assignment to the last minute. Leaving everything to the last minute results in a meltdown of my mind. I feel all the work pile on and my frustration increases and I get a huge headache. Being sleep deprived isn’t healthy either. My dad always told me to make sure that I got eight to nine hours of sleep no matter what. I often disobey his advice and I finally realize why he says what he does. The human body needs time to rest and recuperate after a long day. Sleeping is the body’s way of resting the mind and repairing any damage. Without a well rested mind I cannot hope to learn.
So in conclusion, what hinders me from doing my work is procrastination. I have realized what it does to me. It makes me turn out lesser quality work and it leads me to not finish some work on time and adds to my sleep deprivation. I pledge myself to stop procrastinating and to take the initiative on my work. I will start my assignments that day I get them!
