My Traditional (But Not Recommended) Project Strategy by Autumn

My Traditional (But Not Recommended) Project Strategy by Autumn - December 2017 Scholarship Essay

On a school project, particularly those of the individual variety, the one tried and true strategy I have is to procrastinate until two or three days before the deadline and then proceed to hide up in my room, eliminate distractions to the best of my abilities, and spend all my time and effort for the next few days on that assignment. While it is not a plan for the faint of heart, nor is it something that I would ever recommend to anyone unless they were perhaps my worst enemy, it has not yet failed me. My grades and scores on projects suggest to me that this is potentially a good and effective strategy, and my mind decides to believe that until I am in the midst of the there-is-no-way-I-am-possibly-going-to-get-this-done-on-time panic, immediately after which I swear that I will never subject myself to this again. My grades don’t suffer (which is something that I cannot say for everyone), but my mental health certainly does. And then I have to remind myself, which is more important for my overall quality of life?
There have been a few times in my life where I have actually done something in a responsible manner where there was no pressure to get it done in the next 24 hours, but they were some of the best times of my life. I had a snack near me, was reclined in a comfy chair, and was reading or writing or doing whatever other requirements the project may have had. I was calm and clear headed, and that allowed me to be particularly efficient in my actions. I never had to pause to calm down and assure myself that I would in fact be just fine if something did not go exactly to plan, and I was able to wake up the next day with more than four or five hours of sleep under my belt. Those were blessed experiences, and I still aspire to emulate those more.
Group projects are considerably easier to be responsible with because there is the pressure of what other people will think of you if you don’t get this done in the time and manner that you assured them you would. No one wants to be thought of as lazy or a terrible person to have a group assignment with, and so most (particularly in the more advanced AP or IB type classes) will try even harder to get things done well and in a timely manner. That reduces stress for not only them, but the other people in the group as well. Everyone knows what it’s like to have that one group member that doesn’t do anything and the other people have to carry their dead weight, and no one wants to be that person.
My recommended strategy for doing projects (and yes, I have actually done this before) is to start formulating the plan for the project the day it is assigned. That way, the idea will not seem rushed as you can sleep easy knowing that the assignment does not have that distinctly I-did-this-in-three-hours look to it. I have allotted time, about an hour each day, for that specific project, so a lot of time is spent on it, but not all at once so you are able to evaluate the project’s message and appearance much more effectively. Keep a slow and steady pace whenever possible, and that will help more than binge-homeworking ever will.