First let me start by saying that in my last few weeks as your Campus Correspondent, I will be posting regular blogs. So welcome to the first “Thoughts From the Editor.”
Now I think we can all agree that procrastination is a tired subject. Everyone knows what it is, and almost everyone (at least in college) does it. We’ve all talked about it, been guilty of it, and seen it time and time again. But bear with me.
This past Monday I finished my shift at the bowling alley I work at and went into our bar to have an after-work drink and relax for a bit. I did have homework I could work on, of course, but after work you just need a little me time to relax. Plus my favorite bar tender was working, and who can pass that up?
A regular customer was at the end of the bar enjoying his normal beer. The subject of school came up, as it often does when I’m clearly neglecting doing homework, and he mentioned his wife’s current assignment. She’s back in school for a higher nursing degree and frequently brings a book or some homework by the alley to work while she or her husband bowls. Earlier in the evening I had seen her sitting at the bar with papers and books spread out in front of her. It looked liked a pretty intense assignment, and I commended her for her dedication.
He mentioned how stressed she has been over her current assignment. And just as I was working up a sympathetic sigh in her honor, he finished by saying that the current assignment was a five-paragraph essay. Five paragraphs? Are you serious? I’ll be honest, I laughed. Here I am not doing any prep work on a ten-page term paper and she’s stressing out about five paragraphs. I would love a five paragraph essay!
Now before you think I’m being mean, I do fully understand that as a journalism student, writing comes easier to me than some. I’m well practiced in BSing my way through papers, especially when they’re short. It was just the initial shock of the assignment (and possibly my second whiskey sour) that gave me a little giggle.
And then I thought about it. I’m sitting in a bar having a drink knowing that I have homework due the next day as well as large assignments that I could be getting a helpful head start on, and I’m not even thinking about them. She, on the other hand, is giving more attention to a five-paragraph essay than I’ve given to most assignments all year. She had even changed the subject because she thought her first one wasn’t good enough.
I was a little jealous of her dedication. It didn’t matter that it was a short assignment. She was going to do the absolute best she could. She was going to write the best five-paragraph essay that professor had ever read, so help her God.
Now, I know that no matter how many times you hear this, you’re probably going to continue to procrastinate. But it does give you something to think about. We tend to take our education and our intelligence for granted. Think about how awesome your assignments would be if you actually dedicated some time to them in advance. If you actually pretended like they matter! Crazy, right?
But it was just a thought.