Seeing the Big Picture by Emily

Seeing the Big Picture by Emily - December 2017 Scholarship Essay

In all truthfulness, I almost always get away with procrastinating on my projects. Sometimes, I do not even start on my plans until it is the early morning of the day the project is due. However, I always have an end goal in mind, and that decreases the stress load tenfold. I am not saying that waiting until the eleventh hour is the path to success, but having every detail of a project planned out perfectly is not the best idea either. Ultimately, through using a strategy that balances both organization and spontaneity, I have created some of my best works and received some of my best grades, and I highly recommend it for any student’s success.
All of my projects start with the same two goals in mind: understand the objectives, and envision the final product. By understanding the goal of the project, I am able to visualize what the teacher wants to see come out of the project. Then, by brainstorming ideas of what the final project might look like, I provide myself with something to work for. Having an idea of how the final project will appear also becomes a source of excitement that helps to propel me through the tedious parts of making the project.
After I have met my first two goals, I begin to plan. Through creating a timeline and checklists, I am able to stay organized. Using these lists as a framework, I acquire a sense of stability going forward, which is important, because there are many problems that can arise during the actual process of making the project.
That being said, the next step is to begin creating. I generally try to complete everything at once, viewing it as a rough draft. Usually, in the making of the rough draft, I discover a number of problems, and have to adjust my visions accordingly. Being able to work around obstacles like this is crucial to being successful in any project. Either way – with problems or not – after the rough draft is completed, I go back through the project and perfect what can be perfected while still trying to keep the entire project from looking too uniform. Projects that are too perfect looking can become boring, as there is nothing to hold the viewer’s attention. On the other side of things, if the project is too sloppy, then it is too difficult to focus on at all. There must be a balance of organization and design, so that the project can be, in simple terms, perfectly imperfect.
After the project has been revised, and assembled per my greatest efforts, I go through one more step: asking for feedback. I do this because, in the end, the goal is to impress the audience and the teacher. Inquiring whether or not the project meets standards or is visually appealing can affect the overall perception of the project. If the feedback is constructive, and if I feel that the advice would tie into my ideas, I will revise the project once more to incorporate all of the revisions suggested.
This process has always worked for me, and hopefully it can work for others. What is critical to the success of this strategy though, is starting with the end goal and working towards it. If there are setbacks along the way, simply adjust and keep going. My method is meant to be simple and logical. Of course, there are other ways to go about making a project, and this is just one of those. Yet in my experience, I have discovered that this strategy is foolproof. However, I truly believe that the greatest indicator of success comes not from the strategy of the project, but rather from the amount of passion and effort the creator puts into it.