Procrastination is Not Key by Christine

Procrastination is Not Key by Christine - January 2016 Scholarship Essay

As one sits and ponders with 2015 coming to a close and the New Year right around the corner, the question “What is my New Year’s resolution going to be?” is undoubtedly on the minds of many. To children, it often can be to eat less sweets, or listening to Mom and Dad. To a grown adult, it could be to get their finances in order, buy a new house, start a family, and attend their child’s sports games. Now ask this question to a young adult in college. Very often one gets the response of “not going out as much on the weekends”, or “stop spending all my money on food” – reasonable resolutions. However, looking at the bigger picture – my career and my future - I decided that the year of 2016, to better me as both a student and overall individual, I am going to stop procrastinating.
Every single Sunday night, and every single night of exam week, you can walk through just about any college campus library and find these poor procrastinating souls slugging down coffee at 3:30 in the morning, working hard and diligently in their studies; work that could have been completely at a, say, more normal hour of the day. Instead, due to procrastination, these students are stuck in that library at an ungodly hour of the night, to more than likely have to return to campus for class just a couple hours later. Sad to say it, but I was and have always been one of those poor souls. It is with those nights of fighting my eyes to stay open but wanting nothing more than for them to close, that I realized I cannot keep procrastinating, waiting until the absolute very last second to get work done. Not only is it not my all I am giving on the task at hand, but also not good for my health.
Driving home from the library at five in the morning, I found myself night after night barely able to keep my eyes open, and several times having to pull over to rest for a couple minutes before continuing to drive. Sitting on the side of the thruway, I realized I need to stop. I cannot keep living this lifestyle. I found it was incredibly hard to keep my eyes open for my 8am class that morning, and for the classes following. Coffee consumption was at an all-time high, sleep was at an all-time low, school work was not at 100% effort, and it was breaking my wallet to do so.
2016 is the “New Year, new me” motto as a college student and as an aspiring educator. I have decided with the turning of the New Year and starting with the upcoming spring semester, that assignments will be started as soon as they are assigned, not at midnight the day before it is due. Staying organized by writing assignments down in my planner can help me visualize and see my time table I have, and how to plan on completing them. While this is a huge change for me as a learner, as a student, and as a person, I know that this change is for the best and will genuinely help me to be the best that I can be; to be the best learner that I can be, the best educator that I can be, and to get the best grades that I can.
Being a special education major and deciding to minor in a whole different language, the challenges I face in front of me especially as a college senior are tough, and the work load is more than I can imagine. With a good work ethic, staying organized, and most importantly being able to effectively manage my time by completing work ahead of time and not procrastinating, I know that I can make it through this upcoming semester and the semesters to follow in flying colors.