Search Results for: blog writing and the dangers of procrastination

On Procrastination III

The last two times I’ve explored procrastination. In the first part I wrote about that peculiar individual who always gets everything done on time but is a chronic procrastinator. They ALWAYS wait until the last minute to do the things they do but ALWAYS get things done. Somehow, though, they know they could do better. The minute after that paper is handed in or that presentation is given they see the flaws, the mistakes, and the areas for improvement. Their procrastination drove them to get things done, but not to do them as well as they could have. While their … Continue reading →

On Procrastination II

Last time I admitted to my horrible tendency to procrastinate. One of the interesting things about procrastinators is that they tend to hate the fact that they procrastinate even if they’ve accepted that procrastination is “just how they work.” Having been a procrastinator for as long as I can remember you needn’t worry, I’m one of you. I always did my best work the night before. Still, after I’d handed in my work or given that presentation I always knew that I could have done better. A little tweak here, a little more preparation there. While procrastination drove my success, … Continue reading →

On Procrastination

Anybody else have trouble working on things (in a serious way) unless the deadline is just around the corner? It’s a classic problem. Procrastination. Teachers can generally identify work done in a slipshod manner, it generally involves a loss of sleep for the student, and an entire sub-genre of t-shirts have sprung up in praise of and admiration towards the procrastination of the slacker. Slacker or not, the important thing is, in many cases, simply being on time. If there is a deadline, and you consistently make it, then you’ve certainly solved a problem. Getting things done on time is … Continue reading →

Writing and the Dangers of Procrastination

Earlier in the semester I was a substitute for one of my wife’s high school classes while she was spending time with our newborn son. My wife requires the students write a final research paper by the semester’s end so part of my job was to get them thinking about a suitable topic to write about. This situation forced me to think about how, exactly, one can prepare themselves to write. Writing, then, is my subject for today. I’ve spoken about note-taking before but it is extremely important when you are thinking about writing. It is even more important if … Continue reading →

My Own Schedule

There is a terrifying thing happening recently concerning my schedule: I’m in charge of it. While this has to some extent been a dream for a long time it comes with its own magnificent set of problems. The biggest problem is keeping whatever schedule I set for myself. In some ways this has always been a problem (even before I was taking care of my son during the day) but in other ways having a great deal of time on my hands with so many things to do I get a little bit lost in the middle of it all. … Continue reading →

The Empty Highlighter

In one of the classes that I teach (acting) I used to have the students participate in an exercise I call the “highlighter game.” It was meant teach the students something about specificity, imagination, and simplicity regarding objects. One by one each of the students would draw an attribute from a hat filled with small pieces of paper and imbue the highlighter with that attribute from point A to point B. Simple. I’ve kept that relatively unused highlighter ever since as a simple reminder of how simple learning can be with the right idea. Earlier this week, however, something happened … Continue reading →

Back to Basics #1

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Perhaps I’m getting back to basics. My attempts at reading and writing this summer are still going strong. I’ve really made great strides thanks to a discovery about what to do when reading a difficult book. The stack of books on the “to read” side is lightening while the books on the “already read” side are growing stronger each day. Along with all of this reading I’ve also tried to do some writing but that has been a difficulty recently. Back to Basics is my therapeutic cure for all of the things I’ve been trying (and failing) to accomplish this … Continue reading →

Self Reflection as Self Motivation

If I haven’t said so before: I’m a Ph.D. student. One of the things I study is playwriting (writing for the theatre). My instructor recently gave a wonderful final assignment. Our final paper was a guided self-assessment of our work in the field of playwriting over the past 4 months. While I’ve been accustomed to lengthy well documented and researched papers in graduate school I found this one of the most difficult, enjoyable, and learning filled papers I’ve ever written. Do you ever stop for long enough to actually assess what you’ve accomplished in a given set of time? Many … Continue reading →