An Expedition: Slaying Procrastination

So far as I can remember,

procrastination is something that I have to deal with in my life at one point or another. This happens more frequently as I grow up. When I was several years younger, I didn’t call it procrastination; instead, I called it -- doing something a few minutes, hours or even days from now.

Flashback

I remember a time when I was in grade eight, my classmates and I did a project for a school event. I was tasked to create a product that I would sell. I was given a week to prepare. My idea was to create a video tutorial that would teach the basics in making a Lego stop motion animation, and I would save it in a CD to sell. I planned to come up with a visual and audio guide tutorial. Days passed quickly. And the night before the date of the event, what I only had were the pictures I took needed for the tutorial --- that’s all. Panicked crept in! Then, I thought,

Why didn’t I finish it earlier?!

But I needed to come up with something; otherwise, it would be a disaster.

Preparation on Panic Mode

It was 7 o’clock in the evening. It was the night before the event when I decided to finish the project. I predicted to finish it at 11 o’clock in the same evening. So, I started working. I transferred my pictures to the computer, set up my editing software and recalled the flow of the tutorial because I didn’t write it down in the first place. I used the windows movie maker to edit the pictures, sound effects and the background music.

Hours passed and my dad reminded me to sleep because I would have to wake up early the next day. But I continued working… And when I glanced at the clock, it was already 12 midnight! And I wasn’t done yet with my project. I was hoping to finish it by 1am, but then I realized that I didn’t record my voice over yet, which was a crucial part in the guide. I felt annoyed because I was so sleepy, but I had to continue working. Hours passed, and my mom woke up at 5am. By this time, I was almost finished recording the audio and editing. Finally, I finished it at 6am!

The Big Day

I took a bath and prepared to leave the house with zero hours of sleep. I barely ate my breakfast because I didn’t feel like eating. Well, my adrenaline was up! That sustained me to be able to interact well with the attendees – parents, teachers and students and answer their questions. What a relief that I sold all of my items! It was a successful event for me.

My Reflection

After what happened, I learned the following:

1. Have one main goal in a project

2. Make small goals that can lead to the main goal. Small goals include taking and editing pictures, incorporating voice over, reviewing work, writing the script, adding sound effects and background music.

3. Create a schedule and stick to it to avoid cramming.

At Present

Sometimes when I need to do something I would say, “Eh I'll do it tomorrow". An hour passes and I say, “Ehh I'll finish it in the afternoon, “ then I would say that i would finish it after an hour. Later on, I'm about to sleep but I haven’t finished my task.

One of the things I do now is when I know or remember that I have to do something, I would immediately get on my feet and move and do the task. Basically, I would be like a robot programmed to do a task at that time. And, I would start the task as fast as possible so my brain that says “do it later” won’t affect my intention to do the task at hand.

Procrastination is still a lingering temptation for me, but through the habit that I am currently doing like writing down my main goals then making small goals lead to accomplishing my main goal.

Also, I write down all the things I need to do and categorize them from the most important to the least important. This helps me recall what I need to do and makes my mind clear especially if I need to do plenty of work. All these help me combat the lazy feeling I may have.

I believe that making very small progress to one’s goal is better than making no progress at all.

Here's my second brain that helps me remember what to do.

I added some post-its to categorize activities by:

1. To-do
Everything i need to do on a certain day

2. Waiting For
I write down if I am waiting for something like a reply from an email or a feedback about something.

3. Someday
Here is where i write the things I would like to do someday

4. References
I write things like useful website or resources.