Falling Together Piece by Piece by Kayli

Falling Together Piece by Piece by Kayli - December 2017 Scholarship Essay

Looming in the corner of the mind lies a month and a day: the deadline of the next assignment. With overloads of other assignments, tasks, and various commitments, finding the time for a lengthy school project can seem near impossible. Placing pencil and pen and whatever supplies necessary down on the table seems to be the correct avenue towards busting out the perfect project, if only one can work hard for hours at a time until it is done. It’s more complicated than that, and at times procrastination can be the death of an hour that could have been productive. To more effectively construct the best school project to turn in, it is essential to chunk the project reasonably and find ways to complete each chunk without distractions.
Often, hours go by near the computer or papers as one can do nothing more than stare at the instructions and wonder how to start. Oftentimes as well people tend to finish an assignment or even a large project a day or few before the project is due. To really break out a fantastic piece of work, the ultimate strategy is to chunk the amount of work to be done. This can be done by analyzing the project and finding out how it can be divided into pieces that are neither too large nor too small, and making a list of all that needs to be completed. For example, an essay can be chunked into the following parts: looking for resources, taking notes on said sources, writing the intro paragraph, each body paragraph, then finally the conclusion and revision. It can be quite simple to draw a line on any type of project, such as a poster board or sculpture, for certain tasks that can be completed in a good amount of time. A good chunk will take longer than 15 minutes to complete but no more than 2 hours, otherwise the project will either take too long to complete, or procrastination and fatigue will begin to creep in before anything can truly be accomplished. This works in the sense that it will allow someone to feel accomplishment and really get something done; and to feel as though they earned their break. It will also allow the brain to truly focus when working on a piece of an assignment, maximizing the quality of the work. Effective chunking requires scheduling: choosing certain dates and times to work on each task, and using the rest of the time to eat properly, sleep, and take their mind off of the project at hand, though using their project time to actually work hard on what needs to be done.
However, there are strategies to complete chunks of work without distraction. Regarding doing the pieces themselves, there are two ways to approach the portions of work that you have placed into the realm of time before you and before the deadline. When taking a chunk, one must look to themselves and understand how well they know they can take an hour’s worth of work. If they can work hard on their project without drifting away, it’s best to go hard at that one segment without stopping until the small portion is completed. If they are like me, an hour’s worth of work requires at least 2 small breaks. Pomodoro and other apps that help schedule breaks after short periods of work can be really effective ways to ensure the completion of a full chunk of the project. In addition, scheduling can be done to place work in the morning, when people are naturally more productive, or at a low point during the day, when no other commitments are staring them in the face. One can schedule snack breaks, and work towards earning snacks in the middle of their work or stretch breaks, etc. In conclusion, there are numerous ways to ensure that working on a school project is as successful as possible, and figuring out how to work towards the goal and when to take a break is essential.
All in all, the deadline that sits in the back of your mind can be controlled, rather than left to grow stronger as one thinks about it to no avail on where to start. School projects must be made to be manageable before any talk of success can come about. Before even thinking about how to earn the best grade, one must figure out how their project can be divided into parts, then look at each part and decide how they can do their very best on each. That is the best strategy for success on a school project, and must be the first step anyone takes before embarking on their assignment journey.