Too Much Time on my Hands by Anastazia

Too Much Time on my Hands by Anastazia - December 2020 Scholarship Essay

The class of 2020 has not been given any sort of advantage for continuing education. This certainly isn’t how I imagined my college experience to be. I had planned on attending a university out of state, living in a dorm room and having a part-time job on campus. I had everything lined up, and enough scholarships to almost completely fund my tuition. Then COVID happened, and the travel restrictions left me stuck in my home state. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I could’ve transferred to the online program – but my scholarships were specifically for in-person courses. I was forced to transfer to a local community college, earning an online degree in criminal justice.
Now that I’ve made it through the first semester and have settled into a routine of work and school, it’s time to start thinking about the new year. Considering that 2020 has been interesting to say the least, I have no idea what 2021 is going to bring. At this point, it’s best to be prepared for anything – literally. I know from experience that I’m not going to have control over most situations. However, I can set goals for myself and my education.
My educational goal for 2021 – a “New Year’s resolution” of sorts – is to manage my time more effectively when it comes to schoolwork and scholarship applications. It’s not that I’m known for procrastination; in fact, I tend to be extremely efficient most of the time. The problem that I have isn’t the fact that I put work off, it’s the fact that I have a hard time starting it. I’ll sit down and be completely ready and willing to do my homework – then spend the next hour having an internal argument over what topic my paper should be on.
I intend to resolve this problem by allocating a specific time period during which I can brainstorm ideas for my projects. For example, I can give myself 10 minutes to write down a list of ideas. At the end of that 10 minutes, I will select the best idea from my list and begin working immediately. I’ll probably have to force myself into this new routine at first, to prevent myself from overthinking a million other ideas and wasting all the time I have to actually get work done.
I may not be able to control everything that happens in life, but I can make the most of my time. Getting my work done efficiently means I have more time left over for the things I want to do, or that my assignments won’t be late if something comes up. I resolve that this year I will make the best possible use of my time in continuing my education.