This is for the procrastinators among you. The ones who claim that working under pressure is a good thing. Who believe that their best work comes when they’re faced with an immovable deadline.
Our question to you today is: Really???
Let’s look at some evidence, shall we?
Here’s what we shall offer:
If you know your material cold — if you’re an expert in the subject, and have a command of the tools of the trade, then yes, producing quality output under strict constraint of a deadline counted in days is absolutely possible.
And we will ask you:
Have you ever written essays that got you admitted to business school before?
We’re preaching to the choir with this one, since anyone reading this around about the day it was first published is by definition taking action and getting in the right position to make a success story for themselves.
But still! Let’s be honest about our own tendencies!
There’s a reason we have a whole set of posts tagged “procrastination” here on the blahg!
One way to check how honest you’re being with yourself?
We wrote a post called “Your cat litter box will be very clean this summer” — do you remember reading that one?
First self-test: Can you identify how long ago that was?
Was it just last week? Over a month?
What’s your best answer?
Figure that out before reading further.
If you can easily recall that it was posted exactly three weeks ago, then that’s a good thing. It means your ability to track time is intact.
If you couldn’t actually place that in time, that’s fine — the pandemic and the 2020->2021 blur has done that to many of us.
(Can you believe that 2021 is now half over?? OMG!)
OK, there’s a Part 2 to this exercise though:
Now that you know that litter-box post was three weeks ago…
Can you name all the tasks you’ve completed and the progress made on your essays since then?
Jot down a quick list.
What effort have you put forth — tangible effort, not just reading about the effort you know you need to be doing some day?
Some of you will be sitting here smug say “Yeah, I’ve totally done stuff! I even have my first essay drafts about ready for you to read, EssaySnark!”
However, those people are in the minority.
AND THAT’S OK.
That’s why we keep talking about this stuff. This whole time-passes phenomenon.
It’s crazy how quickly it slips away.
So, here we are. If you’re in the U.S., then we’re at the beginning of a three-day weekend. You probably are not thinking about writing essays right now. And that’s fine!
But just remember that the don’t-feel-like-writing-essays thing is the condition of stasis, which at some point in the coming weeks — definitely before another three weeks passes by — you’ll need to overcome in some way.
This is no guilt trip, it’s just a friendly reminder of reality.
And, actually, if you were able to tick off a number of items that you literally have gotten done already, then pat yourself on the back! You get full credit for that!! Any last single items on the MBA Application Project Plan that’s been checked off is a win.
We’ll continue to gently cajole and remind and light fires as we move ahead. Cramming and doing all-nighters simply does not create the best output, especially not when you’re learning the skills on the fly.
The next three-day weekend you see, in September, you will definitely be using for essays!! For now, there is time. (Sort of.)
Enjoy it but be intentional!
We’ll see you next time, BSer!
Tell us what you think.