Ultimate Success 101! by Matt

Ultimate Success 101! by Matt - December 2017 Scholarship Essay

School projects are akin to taxes and death, no one gets out of them! Whether it is group or individual "the project" is a part of learning in school that everyone can remember, or is going through right now. A genuine strategy that I use in order to avoid procrastination and leave the project to the last minute is planning! This sounds very simple, but from personal experience I have found planning to be fundamental to my mental and physical well being.

When a teacher gives an end of term project or mid-term the first goal I make is to look over and read the information carefully. Again, this sounds simple, but it is fundamental to read the instructions provided! Second, if there are items about the project which I do not understand I ask the teacher what he/she means with the instructions provided. Third, I set up a timeline and put into chunks what I plan to accomplish so that I have measurable goals to work with on a daily/weekly basis and provide some measure of accountability to myself personally. Fourth, I then begin to research whatever it is I need in order to start or organize the project.

These steps have proven to be instrumental in my academic development and have given me a better appreciation of managing time wisely and not waiting until the "last minute" to pull off a several week project. Likewise I have noticed that my ability to "see" a big project and not be intimidated by it has increased as my abilities to break down projects have improved. I now look at projects as opportunities to share what I have learned and developed with the project, and not as dreaded assignments that teachers have created to torture students!