procrastination

pro·cras·ti·nate (pr½-kr²s“t…-n³t”, pr…-) v. pro·cras·ti·nat·ed, pro·cras·ti·nat·ing, pro·cras·ti·nates. --intr. 1. To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness. --tr. To postpone or delay needlessly. --pro·cras”ti·na“tion n. --pro·cras“ti·na”tor n.

It's the thing all BUA students have or will master. If you haven't yet, give it time. If you desire to learn more, ask about Toby Kilroy, the man who began his senior thesis with weeks to go.

REAL TIPS TO AVOID PROCRASTINATION: (scroll down to the bottom for TL;DR)

(Most of this is going to sound hackneyed and trite, but it really does work.) 1. Setting and achieving goals. Every day. Before you go home, ask yourself: what do I need to get done tonight? Do I have any long-term projects? What tests are coming up? Even when you're short on time (for instance, trying to balance academic classes with extracurriculars), you'll find that the amount of time you do have can be incredibly productive, but only if you know what you're going to do //beforehand//.

2. Start it now. No, really. When you're done with this page, close the window and start working on it. 2a. For essays in particular: //You need to start these as soon as you're given them.// Just sketch out an outline and work on it for half an hour every day. Essay-writing is //not// a magic ability that you either have or you don't. Like any other skill, you have to practice at it over time, and the more you procrastinate on developing it now, the less time you'll have later. Yes, even if you're getting good grades in Mr. Gambone's class starting the night before.

3. This perhaps applies to essay-writing the most, but set //meaningful// goals. Here's a bad goal (what I did to at the beginning of freshman year): - Have the essay finished in 2 weeks

That's... good. Let me guess what you're going to do: half-heartedly settle on a prompt, do nothing for a week and a half, panic when you realize that you only have 3 days until the deadline, and write a worse essay than you could have.

Here's a better set of goals (what I try to stick to now): - Monday: Decide on your favorite 3 or 4 prompts and start skimming the text for examples //(20-30 min)// - Tuesday: Decide on a prompt and keep looking for evidence/quotes //(30 min////)// - Wednesday: Begin to sketch up an outline, including quotes from the text (//25-30 min////)// - Thursday: Finish outline, schedule appointment with teacher (or Mrs. Brown at her Writing Workshop) for going over 1st draft (//30-35 min)// - Friday: Fill out outline, figure out how points within each paragraph will come together //(30-35 min)// - Saturday: Draft //(60-75 min)// - Sunday: Draft, make sure essay is presentable; begin thinking about revisions //(70-75 min)//

- Monday: Meet with teacher/Mrs. Brown, go over draft, TAKE NOTES; figure out how you want to revise; schedule 2nd meeting if necessary and possible //(30-35 min////)// - Tuesday: Begin global revisions //(55////-70 min////)// - Wednesday: Wrap up global revisions, begin to focus on details if possible //(45-60 min//) - Thursday: Begin revising ideas within a paragraph and evidence //(35-40 min)// - Friday: Wrap up editing process, make adjustments to flow between paragraphs and ideas, reword sentences as necessary //(35-40 min)// - Saturday: Make whatever changes you need to make; you should essentially have the final product by now //(25-35 min)// - Sunday: Proofread for spelling/grammar, laugh at classmates scrambling to write a 1st draft //(20 min)//

Well, that was more than I planned to write. Looks like I may be creating a page for essays after all.
 * Anyway.** This is how you should be planning: break an assignment up into small chunks, and know what you're going to be doing //every day.// None of the time allotted to the assignment is over the top, and you'll have a //damn// good essay by the end of the two weeks. Same goes for studying for tests and longer projects. If you figure out, //in detail//, what you're going to do before you start, you'll do better. Plain and simple.

4. The only time you shouldn't necessarily be planning what you're going to do next summer is during the previous summer. As someone who's been there: you do //not// want to sit around bored all summer waiting for something to happen. Get involved with community service! Take a course! Travel! Do ANYTHING, but //plan it in advance//, especially given that a lot of programs have January/February deadlines.

Whoops. This went on longer than I expected. As soon as you can: 1. Figure out what you need to do, whether on the scale of days, weeks, or months. 2. Split it up into smaller chunks that are doable and quantifiable. 3. Actually do it.
 * TL;DR**

Boom. BUA isn't actually terribly difficult. If you don't procrastinate, you'll rise to the top. That's it.

Ignore everything below here. I don't know what the hell is happening down there.

COMMENTS FOR SRDJAN DIVAC

He's the man. Knows at least four languages, and is the teacher who is most likely to be a secret agent. Also, he made a ton of money during the dot com boom, so now, he's a millionaire.

Yeah, he may knows 4 languages but how do you know he speaks other languages which is not English that well. Tell him stop showing off for what he is not. And no matter he is a millionaire or billionaire a guy like this should not get any praise from any one. And tell him that today is the anniversary 2 years since his unborn child that he wanted me to kill ,dead by today.IF THE BABY STILL ALIVE HE OR SHE WILL BE 1.5 YEAR OLD ALREADY !!! Last Ex-ray the baby heart does existed !!!! You never gonna know how it feel like because you never cry at front of doctor and nurse at the hospital. Also tell him that if I have money enough to take care of my self, for giving birth for the baby and to take care the baby then Abortion will never happen in my life. I WILL NEVER GONNA TAKE A GUY LIKE SRDJAN DIVAC AS A FATHER OF THE BABY ,IT DOES NOT MATTER TO TAKE CARE THE BABY ALONE WITH OUT JERK.

ASK HIM TOO IF HE STILL REMEMBER THAT ONCE HE SAID HE PREFER A BABY GIRL AND WILL PAINT THE PINK ROOM FOR THE BABY !!!!! GO WEAR SKIRT SRDJAN DIVAC !!!!!!!!!

IS THIS THE GUY WHO YOU CALL HIM THE MAN.

Be warned; the list below is dangerous and should only be used with the utmost care and prudence. If it isn't, you risk... something....
 * 1) Games
 * 2) Solitaire
 * 3) Minesweeper
 * 4) Tetris
 * 5) Pinball
 * 6) Sudoku
 * 7) Puzzles
 * 8) Video games
 * 9) Online games
 * 10) Social Things (For that small portion of BUA that has a life.)
 * 11) Talking to people via:
 * 12) Facebook
 * 13) First Class
 * 14) Instant Messaging
 * 15) Real life (IT EXISTS!)
 * 16) Miscellaneous
 * 17) Sleeping
 * 18) Sitting in the assigned lounge. (ie. The Freshman Lounge (currently situated in Stone's Hallway), the Junior-Senior Room)
 * 19) Doodling
 * 20) Staring off into space
 * 21) Writing on the BUA Handbook

In conclusion: don't do it. If on the off chance it is unavoidable, please exercise caution.