By: Emma W.
Admit it, we all do it: procrastinate. Hey, I even procrastinated writing this article over the last five months. For most people, it’s something we’d like to change, but the problem is that some of us don’t even realize that it’s a problem. It all starts when you’re bestowed with a complicated and undesirable task: your English teacher assigns you a 2000-word essay on existentialism in Grendel, and it’s due in two months. You forget about it until the weekend before it’s due. Sound familiar?Of course, you didn’t mean to leave it for this long. You even fantasized planning it out and finishing it a month early. However, you wanted to make it really good this time, maybe even pass the paper, but you never really had the time to spare with your busy schedule and all. How did this happen? AGAIN? Well, I have the answer. It’s really quite simple. You ready for it? Here goes...
Just write the freaking paper. It’s really not nearly as dreadful as you think; in fact, the less you think about how stressful it is, the less stress you’re inflicting upon yourself. Stop over-thinking and sit down, take out a sheet of paper, along with a pencil and your copy of Grendel, and start doing it. If you need to plan your time, schedule a realistic timeline for completing everything. Check your agenda to see when you can actually work on it. After this incredibly difficult task, start your essay. Plan an outline if you need to. Since everybody works differently, figure out what kind of a student you are. If you like listening to music, then put on some music. For big projects, like the 2000-word essay on existentialism, it may be slow and since there’s little motivation for your progress, it’s easy to give up and keep refreshing Facebook for notifications. Hang in there. Just turn off what distracts you (log off of Facebook). When you finish, (and you can, believe me) you will be surprised that it was that simple. “Holy cow, that took me only thirty minutes?” Hooray! Now you can review it twelve times (just kidding). It may take you a while to realize this, but there really isn’t much to assignments. Don’t think about how much work you have. Why stress out over something that reasonable teachers assign you and fully expect you to be able to finish in the time they give you? I know students in full IB who are involved in eight hundred school clubs and extracurricular activities, on top of FULL IB and they’re getting by (just scraping by their 99s). They’re superheroes, I admit, but the main aspect that sets them apart from underachievers is their inhuman mastery of time management. You’ll understand by the time you learn to manage time that that’s all there is to it: you will get stuff done and have virtually no stress, and let’s not forget the comforting knowledge that you can do it.
All inspired and pumped up now? Good. Go and get ‘em! Your glimmering future awaits! Now if you’ll excuse me, I should take my own advice and go and start that extended essay...
