Procrastination Contest: Entry #2

Here's the second of our five top entries for the procrastination contest. This one is by ELI student Eric Yeroshefsky:

It’s hard to think of where you might be 10 years, 5 years, or even one week from now. All anyone knows for sure is what is happening in their life at that exact moment, and honestly, who wouldn’t rather spend their time with something other than homework assignments? Most people are very aware that they are procrastinating, but they rationalize with trite excuses: “I produce better work at the last minute,” “It’s easier for me to focus when I’m close the deadline,” “I’ll do it later.” But why do we make excuses for school work? We are obviously valuing our present greater than our future.

My number one tip for procrastination is to realize the reason you are studying and taking classes online, which is to achieve a future goal. We are too busy to take classes in person; we work, we have family, we have other responsibilities. But, we are unique students, in that we have taken control of our own future, and decided to better ourselves by taking the initiative to squeeze classes in to our already packed schedules and we are mature enough to understand we want more out of school than just grades; we want to truly learn. Clearly there is something lacking in our life and we desire to achieve something greater than what we currently have and to be better than we currently are.

I have graduated from a 4-year college, but I have decided to take some ELI classes to better prepare my chances of getting accepted in to Graduate School. You must constantly remind yourself of why you are taking ELI classes and this will surely stop your procrastination. Hang a note of your goal on your door, take a picture of the place you want to be and tell everyone you can about your aspirations. If you are constantly being reminded of tomorrow’s goal, it will be easy to understand why it is important to work hard today. By delaying your assignments, you’re ultimately justifying the delay of your future dreams.