As I entered my last year of my bachelor’s program at Lakehead University, I made the goal to bump my average up to the arbitrary percentage of eighty-two. An eighty-average is a great goal as a student but I wanted a tiny edge in the battle known as “Master’s Program Applications”. However, like a few of my university friends that I have made over the years, I have an unfortunate weakness when it comes to maintaining my average: I am a habitual procrastinator.
This constantly leads me to submit sub-par work, strewn with grammatical and structural errors as I don’t have time to revise anything. I tend to leave my writing to the last minute as I spend too much of my time brainstorming, less time mapping it out, and not nearly enough time actually putting words on the page. Every procrastinator knows the stress of last minute, caffeine-fueled writing only to submit the assignment just in time. Or it could lead to a procrastinator’s worst nightmare: a missed deadline. The panic and stress caused by this are completely avoidable as I am starting to learn in the course “Professional Writing in Digital Contexts.” For the non-procrastinators out there who just don’t understand these self-destructive habits, take a look inside the mind of a master procrastinator.
Some people say that there is a positive side to the “personality of procrastinators”; however, it is not a great habit to keep during post-secondary studies, especially if you want good marks. So from one procrastinator to another, here are some simple writing habits to develop that will help you meet that submission deadline and maintain that GPA.
1. Sit Down and Write
A common problem with procrastinators is we like to reassure ourselves that we will get to it later. Right now is not a good time, for whatever reason. I have to take the dog for a walk. I have to buy my mom’s birthday present. I’ll just watch one more episode of The Office before I get started: it’s only a thirty-minute break, right? Putting things off and telling yourself you will do it later is the number one tool used by procrastinators. The best way to overcome it: simply sit down and write. Force yourself into that chair, and write. Even just a little bit. Writing small sections over the course of a few weeks nearly eliminates the stress of writing good work, unlike the panic caused by trying to finish it all in one night. As the old adage goes, “The best way to get things done is to begin.”
2. Blame Yourself
I used to believe in the age-old “writer’s block”, a myth that many students like to point a finger at when confronted by late term papers. This course has already taught me that writer’s block is a convenient thing to blame, but it doesn’t really exist. The blame is on the writer (or student). If writer’s block doesn’t exist then the onus is completely on yourself. This circles back to step one: just sit down and write – you have nothing to blame but yourself if you don’t. This mindset helps me to force myself to get started.
3. Revise and then Revise Again…and Again.
As mentioned in Writing and Editing for Digital Contexts the purpose of writing “is always to communicate your ideas in your head to an audience through (mostly) words.” (Carroll 2). Most university careers centre around this concept of writing: exams, term papers, your final thesis – all of these involve writing. More importantly, these things involve effective writing. Revising your work, again and again, is an important aspect of this. Procrastinators often don’t do revision effectively enough…we don’t give ourselves enough time to!
So when you’re struggling to get a paper done, just sit down and write, challenge old writer’s myths, and give yourself enough time to edit your work. What are you waiting for?
Key Words
- Procrastinator
- Writer’s Block
- Student
- Deadline
- GPA
Sources
Carroll, Brian. (2017) Writing and Editing for Digital Media 3rd ed. New York, Routledge, 2017.
Perpetual Student 