Preface: I wrote this while conducting a real-time experiment on the effects of procrastination and how it may affect one's ability to structure ideas in a blog.
Buzz. Your cell phone goes off and you take a quick peek at it to see what the alert is. It is at that instant, that of an entire lecture hall of 154 people, the teacher happens to be looking at YOU. He then calls you out in front of the whole audience and berates you for using a cell phone in his class. That's a catastrophic distraction. Not speaking from experience or anything but....
Distractions have been incorporated into everything we do, mainly due to easy internet access. It is fantastic being able to talk to people at all times, play games when you're bored (or putting off assignments), and listening to music. The rapid advancements in technology has made our lives easier in some ways, while complicating it in others. Social media has emerged as a great platform for meeting new people and keeping up with old friends, but it catalyzes an obsession with checking it every time the opportunity arises. I can get easily distracted, not just by social media, but by many random things (see pictures below).
Here are a few things I did while writing/procrastinating this blog post. It was a journey of self-discovery, but also a plea for help.
Buzz. Your cell phone goes off and you take a quick peek at it to see what the alert is. It is at that instant, that of an entire lecture hall of 154 people, the teacher happens to be looking at YOU. He then calls you out in front of the whole audience and berates you for using a cell phone in his class. That's a catastrophic distraction. Not speaking from experience or anything but....
Distractions have been incorporated into everything we do, mainly due to easy internet access. It is fantastic being able to talk to people at all times, play games when you're bored (or putting off assignments), and listening to music. The rapid advancements in technology has made our lives easier in some ways, while complicating it in others. Social media has emerged as a great platform for meeting new people and keeping up with old friends, but it catalyzes an obsession with checking it every time the opportunity arises. I can get easily distracted, not just by social media, but by many random things (see pictures below).
Here are a few things I did while writing/procrastinating this blog post. It was a journey of self-discovery, but also a plea for help.
My roommates and I had a competition to see who could hold the most wheat thins in their mouth.
I looked at celebrities photo-shopped on to other celebrities, featuring Danny Andre (Danny Devito/ Eric Andre).
I made toe-tally awesome friends.
I realized after I finished making my toe people, I was not getting anything done. I downloaded the focus@will app (because anything named "will" is probably pretty awesome :P) and now I am chugging along at a nice pace . The music is soothing, kind of a jam too #ad #plug. It is helping me focus a lot better now. Speaking of focusing, the honors student need to start focusing on their program requirements including service hours, honors courses, and maybe start to think about an undergrad thesis. In order to meet these requirements, goals need to be set so that you're not trying to cram everything in the last few weeks. Motivation and time management are two of the biggest factors when setting goals. If you start a routine, knowing where to prioritize everything, it will help you plan out your life much easier. The planning part will be key, especially if you've got a thesis coming up. This part could not be stressed enough by Dr. Desiderio, to make sure that whenever you do research or an activity that relates to your major, write it down in detail so you can reference it later in a thesis or resume. The same should happen every time you volunteer, write down the hours and an organizer contact so you can have credit for it if you need it, especially for the honors program.
Organizing your agenda by prioritizing your activities, balancing the social/school/work triangle, and planning goals accordingly, can help you better structure your day. With these aspects in action, your overall well-being can improve and you will become a better functioning member of society.
References:
This is was a well-planned blog post. I admire the use of rhetoric and hypothetical situations to engage the reader together with your personal accounts of the topics discussed in a well-organised , succinct manner. In essence, I believe that the use of your experiment using the scientific method in which you documented the experience with photographic evidence and its finding is what will captivate your target audience. In other words , the reader will be flummoxed with what they have read but will have gained knowledge in the process.
ReplyDeleteWill, I am pleased to see proof of the "I can fit 15 wheat thins in my mouth" GroupMe message. I hope that your struggle with procrastination becomes easier as you work to plan throughout the upcoming weeks - I know that I will have to amp up my planning skills as well. I enjoyed reading your blog post!
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