I’ve always been a procrastinator with a guilty conscience (thanks, Mom). I have a take-home exam for one of my classes that’s due Monday night. I’ve had it for two weeks. We finished the material covered on the exam probably three weeks ago. I know what I need to write for each essay and they are both outlined in my head. I just haven’t been able to bring myself to sit down and spend two hours to write the darn thing.
I wish I could use the legit-sounding excuse that I’ve been too busy with working almost full time and taking almost full-time classes, but that is so not the case. I’m certainly busy enough, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised about how much free time I have. The problem is that I will do anything that is remotely productive instead of writing this exam. This morning, when I promised myself and Robin that I was going to knock the exam out, I found myself instead something that we both know I hate doing…I cleaned my apartment. I put away laundry, took out the trash, swept the floors, vacuumed my miniature living room, did the dishes that had piled up in the sink, and scrubbed my bathtub. I cleaned the burners on my stove, for crying out loud, and reorganized the shoes in my closet. I’m not so bad that I will let myself sit around and watch TV/read for pleasure/take a nap instead of doing my work, but I’ll be getting an oil change and going to the grocery store before I sit down to bang out six pages.
So, now I find myself spending Saturday night sitting in my office in Herndon finally about to write my essays. It’s William and Mary all over again, with me forcing myself to go to the farthest, most inconvenient location imaginable (Morton Computer Lab) to deter myself from leaving, hitting play to some unobtrusive music on my iPod (Death Cab, and it has to be through headphones), turning off my cell phone (this is the hardest part), and going for gold (or, I guess, an A).
Wish me luck.
I wish I could use the legit-sounding excuse that I’ve been too busy with working almost full time and taking almost full-time classes, but that is so not the case. I’m certainly busy enough, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised about how much free time I have. The problem is that I will do anything that is remotely productive instead of writing this exam. This morning, when I promised myself and Robin that I was going to knock the exam out, I found myself instead something that we both know I hate doing…I cleaned my apartment. I put away laundry, took out the trash, swept the floors, vacuumed my miniature living room, did the dishes that had piled up in the sink, and scrubbed my bathtub. I cleaned the burners on my stove, for crying out loud, and reorganized the shoes in my closet. I’m not so bad that I will let myself sit around and watch TV/read for pleasure/take a nap instead of doing my work, but I’ll be getting an oil change and going to the grocery store before I sit down to bang out six pages.
So, now I find myself spending Saturday night sitting in my office in Herndon finally about to write my essays. It’s William and Mary all over again, with me forcing myself to go to the farthest, most inconvenient location imaginable (Morton Computer Lab) to deter myself from leaving, hitting play to some unobtrusive music on my iPod (Death Cab, and it has to be through headphones), turning off my cell phone (this is the hardest part), and going for gold (or, I guess, an A).
Wish me luck.
2 comments:
Gee, next time just come over to our place, and then if you don't feel like studying you are welcome to clean the place.
Are you thanking me for your guilty conscience or for teaching you how to procrastinate?
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