www.fastcompany.com: When you’re working on a big project, it’s easy to get behind. With the best of intentions, you set a deadline for completing your work, only to find that you can’t keep to the schedule. Either you end up having to push back the completion date or finishing it in a mad rush of caffeine-fueled late nights.
5 comments:
As a huge procrastinator, this article really resonates with me. I like to tell myself I work better under pressure (which, to a degree, is true), it would be much better if I worked on a timeline that allowed me to get work done in a manageable amount of time rather than save everything for the last minute. I liked what this article says about thinking more on a smaller scale rather than constantly thinking about the final product. I agree with this point because I feel like when many people are trying to start working on a much larger project, the end goal seems extremely daunting. However, if this end goal was separated out into many smaller goals, this would be a much more accomplishable task and would be much easier to complete during the given timeframe. I am going to try to implement these practices into my daily life and work to try to manage my time better with big projects and a heavy workload.
Massive projects. I’ve been finding myself doing more projects in my short time at CMU’s School of Drama than I ever did in any high school I went to. I guess it’s the nature of the conservatory program, and how the learning has transformed due to the pandemic. I actually find myself enjoying larger projects more than smaller assignments because they feel more “realistic” than other short-form assignments. Procrastination on them though… now that’s tough. I can procrastinate nearly anything, and usually if it’s a project I’m not all too motivated by, I might find myself struggling to finish it the weekend before it’s due. I feel like it’s more habitual than anything; or maybe if I needed to point a finger and blame something, it could be my lack of motivation.
Big projects are SO intimidating to start. It's really hard for me to find the motivation to begin something that I know will take me longer than a week or two to finish. I hopefully will never be so desperate that I enter a “commitment contract” with someone (no judgment to those who do) but I might come close. I think the thing that resonated most with me from this article was their reference to sit down with the idea of accomplishing something manageable. Don't expect to write the whole book in one sitting. Set your goal as one paragraph and see where it takes you. I also appreciated the reminder that the perfect is the enemy of the good as that is something that often stands in my way. I am definitely going to try to be less hard on myself in the future especially when judging myself on projects that may just be good, not perfect.
I truly hate big projects, which is funny since CMU is only big projects and less and less small worksheets or papers. For me starting a big project is the most difficult as I truly don't know where to start or I'm worried I will find a better idea later but be stuck with the idea I already started. I do think about how much time it will take me to do the project itself and get rid of other assignment while I am doing my thinking process and figuring out what to do for the project in general. I try my hardest not to put off big projects as I like to turn in a projects with a certain level of finish and that just is not possible when you only give a day or two to do a huge project. I like the idea of breaking projects into smaller parts and creating deadlines for yourself with those projects, but I hate it when that is dictated by a professor's deadlines. I like it when a big project is assigned upfront and I can pace myself and work on it on my own time especially since certain parts of project take me longer or shorter to finish. I have been trying to stop procrastinating but of course I'm not perfect.
A large part of adult life is deadlines. At first it starts with school, and then it carries on into work. A key part of success is being able to make those deadlines. Speaking for myself, in highschool I was able to procrastinate as much as I wanted and no matter what I would still finish the project with a good grade. As I enter a different environment I have learned that is not possible. I can’t just simply not do work because I do not feel like it. That can be hard because everyone has days where they simply can’t do work but I am learning that I have to access those days and figure out which are the truly serious ones and which are the ones that I can at least do something, no matter how small. Everything mentioned in the article I already knew, but saying something is very easy whereas putting it into action is far more difficult. It can take years and when you don’t have years to achieve those goals it can make succeeding in projects all the more daunting.
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