By Timothy Mudie on December 10, 2008 4:44 PM
I've always been a procrastinator. At the beginning of the semester, when professors pass around sheets so students can sign up to give presentations, I always sign up for the last possible slot. Of course, I tell myself that it means I'll have more time to work on it, but I end up doing the whole thing the night before. Like I said... I'm a procrastinator.
But this semester, I decided to sign up early. And, through some stroke of luck, all my big papers and projects were due just before Thanksgiving break. So, while all my friends are freaking out about the vast amounts of work they have to do, I am sitting pretty. Now, I'm not saying this to brag (ok, I'm not saying it just to brag), but because it really comes as an epiphany: procrastination just isn't worth it.
I have friends who will gasp when they see I've written this (assuming any of them actually read this blog). But if undergrad taught me how to knock out a twenty-page paper overnight, grad school taught me that this might not be the best idea. Not only did I sign up for projects earlier, but I'm trying to work on papers days before they are due (though usually not more than two or three). This has bled over into my internship, where it is yielded dividends pretty much immediately. This probably isn't surprising to a lot of people, but I'm staggered. And I hope my experience can help some of you get a handle on ending procrastination before you even come to grad school.
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