Time Strategies

(Pixabay)

The first article that I read for this assignment was "The Important Habit of Just Starting." It had a lot of information that seemed helpful in resisting the urge to procrastinate. By nature, I am a huge procrastinator. When I was younger, I always had a fear that any project I began wouldn't be able to live up to what I had in my mind. Over time I have learned to adapt to that fear, or I suppose that I just mostly ignore it now. The biggest example that I can think of is writing long-ish papers. I would always have the same reaction before starting, and I've now come to think of it as a ritual. First, I panic, convinced that there is now way that I'll be able to find resources that I need, that I won't be able to make it the length that I must, that I won't finish it in time, and that it's going to be terrible. Then, I suck it up and just start. Eventually, I do finish, it's always long enough, I get in turned in on time, and I'm generally proud of the product I created. I now just look at the panic as the first step of the process, deal with it for a minute, then move on and ignore it. In an effort to combat my procrastination tendencies, I also allot way more time than I will actually need for the project. For my capstone paper last semester, I started actually writing about a month before the paper it was due. Some of my classmates waited until only a day or so before the due date. I absolutely cannot do that! Waiting until the last minute means that, once you finally do start, that is the absolutely only thing that you can do until you're done. Nope. I need the occasional day where I can just not do it, because I have something fun happening. On the days when I am actively working on the project/paper, I have to be able to take the occasional break, just because I feel like reading for pleasure or playing a video game for an hour. It works for me, and it allows me what I consider to be safe procrastination time.

(Flickr)

I also read "The Psychology of Checklists: Why Setting Small Goals Motivates Us to Accomplish Bigger Things." I love lists. I make them constantly. I don't have a particularly organized system for making them, because I wouldn't use it. I use the Notes app on my phone. Grocery lists, packing lists, daily to-do lists, types of heirloom tomatoes that I might someday want to plant. I love them all. I learned to love checklists in the Air Force. The article talks about breaking down large projects into smaller, more manageable pieces. The Air Force is the king of that. There are Quick Reaction Checklists for emergency situations, Daily Checklists for every task that needs to be accomplished that day, further broken down by shift. They are incredibly useful and satisfying.

The schedule that I devised for this class is as follow:

Monday - Reading, Storytelling (3 hours)

Friday - Project, Project Feedback (2 hours)

Saturday - Blog comments (1 hour)

That schedule seems quite reasonable and easy to maintain. I foresee it being an effective way to budget my time. In addition, I plan to always be working ahead, in order to combat any procrastination urges that I might have!