By Janet Park
Procrastination… This has always been my vice and I’m sure many of you continue to suffer from this weakness as I do. A salient, recent example of my procrastination can be this blog post, and how its due date slipped my mind after repeated postponement.
My goal this year (which unfortunately continues to be a goal as it seems impossible to conquer completely) is better time management and work ethic. To me, this mainly entails being proactive and aware. However simple those two elements may sound, they have proved to be demanding but of great yield to me.
I see being proactive as a great method to excel. Making the effort to see professors during office hours can give you a great advantage to better understand assigned material. You must make it purposeful, and prepare to see your professor with questions and topics in mind. Choosing one of the first due dates for group project or presentations can give you similar advantages. Besides, there’s less expectation to meet and surpass as the first group going. You can avoid the cruel comparison that is inevitable because none have gone before you. The ideas here are simple, but the actions required to follow through gets trampled by laziness and wicked mental persuasion.
Being aware is also key. Honesty with yourself, your work ethic and grades, is crucial when making changes and striving towards a goal. You have to come to terms with your bad habits in order to isolate and change them. I’ve caught myself trying to persuade myself out of meetings or neglecting to participate or ask questions in class simply because I didn’t feel they were worth the effort. But these simple actions can keep you on task and put you in the mood to bang out a tedious assignment you’ve been avoiding.
I can think of two moments in which I have accomplished both of these this semester, and I consider them to be more daring in contrast to my usual reserved nature. I used to think that because of my relative independence, I didn’t need office hours, extra help from my professors or even my peers. Now, I don’t view this as undercutting my independence but rather, taking advantage of the opportunities present for me to do well.
Finally, just for fun, I’ll share a list I deliriously wrote one late night freshman year about my procrastination (from a personal blog I have):
“While my roommate gets a good night’s sleep every night… here is a list of things I do
-play tetris
-drink water
-pee
-try not to late night snack
-eat snacks
-take long, hot showers
-write a couple sentences for essays
-listen to john mayer
-reblog pretty pictures on tumblr
-hardcore stalk on facebook
-play tetris
-watch the clock
-have internal struggles and debates about whether or not to stay up
and finish work
-stay up and fail to finish work
-go online window shopping
-add items to cart as if I had the money to buy them
-bookmark things I want online
-read over old texts
-play tetris
-think about how great life will be after I finish the current work that is creating a huge, heavy ass burden in my relatively simple life
I haven’t been sleeping much lately.”
Lately, I’ve been sleeping slightly more than not much. Hopefully, I can continue to improve my work ethic and hopefully, I’ve encouraged you to do the same.
Janet Park is a sophomore English major, currently exploring paths
outside the teaching track (although teaching is still a future
option). She spent most of her summer interning for a wonderful
non-profit online litmag called Wild River Review
(www.wildriverreview.com) and driving down to the beach with friends.
She hopes to be fluent in Spanish one day and is excited to study
abroad and later, travel the world.
The Sophomore Year Experience at TCNJ 
laurabreault93 said
I really enjoyed reading your post Janet. I must say, you have EXCELLENT writing skills! I can totally relate to this post, and your list of things you do while your roommate sleeps is hilarious. 😀
I am new to wordpress, so I’m trying to find some inspiration.