I have been such for as long as I can remember. Elementary was easy, I could skate by easily on minimal work. Middle school was the same way and I made it through there with nothing lower than a C. In 8th grade English class, all the students read a short book entitled "The Cay." Basically, an older Jamaican man and a boy on vacation end up in a raft and wash up on a small Caribbean island. They have to work together to survive their predicament.
When the class finished the story, we were given three or four weeks to complete one of a variety of projects. I chose to create a model of the island the story took place on because it seemed to be the easiest. Time passed and finally, just before dinner the day before the project was due, I decided to gather the materials to start making the model. My mom decided with my time restraints, the sequel project would be better. I had a conflicting band concert that night, so it was around eight o'clock before I got started. In 5 hours, I had completed the sequel and left it up for my mom to edit for me. She read what I had written and knew it was an A paper. In fact, it received a perfect score.
Then, as a sophomore, my final English project dealt with poetry. It was a book of original works, with a couple of examples of printed authors, Each page was to be fully illustrated. I had written most of the poems by the night before the project was due. All I had to do was type them, format them, print them, color each page (about 25) in fully, and assemble it into a book. I think I started about 3:00, broke only for a quick dinner, and finished by 5:15 the next morning. Since I had to be up at 5:30 anyway, I didn't feel it was wise to sleep. This would be my first of a few all-night performances during my school career. This project was A+ work also.
I have had other experiences with this also, but I feel those best illustrate my problem with procrastination, namely that it works. Sure, it is a struggle to finish sometimes. I leads to a lot of stress and negativity. In fact, my overall grades could reflect that. There were times that I was doing just what I had to to pass a class, but then, there were problems with lower than expected grades on those projects I had chosen to do. Still, I have been a big advocate for procrastination, until recently. I felt the adrenaline rush was what was getting me through. There is no doubt it kept me focused. I didn't have time to let my focus shift from my work. I would "complete" a project in time because I had no other choice.
I say "complete" because in reality, they were not, something my parents loved to point out. "If you are doing this kind of work in such a short time," they would say, "imagine what you could do if you took your time with it." I have begun to agree with them. Last week, I mentioned a story I had submitted for writing class, and how I was thrilled with how impressed I was with the class as a whole. Well, it was that story that absolutely convinced me something is not write in constantly using procrastination to accomplish tasks.
Because of time constraints, I was absolutely forced to cut that story short. The end didn't come together correctly, and in fact, I found out after the fact that there was a significant character reassignment, but a couple of stray mentions slipped through and confused the readers. In addition to that, I didn't have time to edit the piece as well as I would have liked, and I am unsure if I left in grammatical errors, one of my biggest problem areas.
I have shrugged this feeling off before, but I haven't been able to this time. I feel bad. I have not represented the best of my talents, yet these people, not knowing me or my writing, must now judge my work based only on what is presented to them. In addition, I have done this more and more with the pieces in my writing group, because they are familiar with my writing, and if it doesn't get edited fully, then, oh well, they know this isn't my best work. So now I am using procrastination to feel lazy. I maintain that procrastination and laziness are separate, but the first can lead to the latter if not careful.
In conclusion, I have now decided to focus on limiting my procrastination, especially in my writing. As a profession, laziness will not fly in the writing world. Since my procrastination is turning into such, I need to work on spacing out my writing so I finish in a comfortable time frame. This may even lead to more projects, because if I get stuck on a project, I can work on a different one without having to worry too much about the deadline on the first. I have one week left to edit this piece and re-submit it for a grade. If I get it done by Friday, I could even get the edited version submitted to my writer's group for our meeting this Sunday. Here's hoping.
If you find yourself waiting until the last minute to do things, and feel it may be getting in the way, simply start small. Start doing whatever it is, maybe just a day later. If it is multiple items, focus on getting one thing under control. The next thing should be that much easier to undo. If this doesn't work, set micro-goals. Put daily goals into your cell phone's calendar setting. Set reminders, multiple if you can, that you need to reach a certain goal by the end of the day. Stick with it, and in time, it will get easier.
Until next time,
Jon
P.S. This Friday I plan to make the first of a weekly Flash Fiction Friday post. I hesitate with "Flash," though, because knowing me, I don't write short. It could end up being the first of a multi-installment story. I hope you guys will enjoy.
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