On Writing and Procrastination

I recently read Megan Mcardle's article, "Why Writers are the Worst Procrastinators," published on the online news network The Atlantic. Before delving into the writing, I thought to myself, do I really have time to read this article? It's so long! Thinking about the four-page reflective memorandum due tomorrow that I have yet to start for my engineering course, I decided that I did have time and began to read.

For the majority of the article, I was stunned by how much I found myself relating to the poor mindsets explained by Mcardle. For years, I have nodded off my extreme procrastination habits to working better and more efficiently under pressure, however this article made me understand my true reasons for putting off writing assignments until the last possible minute: given an excess amount of time and in fear of writing badly, I would rather not write anything at all until the pressure of a looming deadline becomes too extreme, and the fear of not performing well is overtaken by the fear of not turning in the assignment. This article has made clear to me what I have been blind to all throughout high school and my first year of college. I see talent as an innate and engrained ability, rather than a skill that can be taught and developed.

Following along with the article's examples, I had always been the child who would finish readings and projects before my classmates in elementary school. I had always told myself that this was simply because I was good at reading, or good at the subject the project was for. Even now, as a college student, if I finish an exam earlier than the majority of the class, I tell myself it's because I am naturally good at solving differential equations. This article has allowed me to recognize my error in this perception. I now realize that, although I may be more inclined to easily remembering how to solve differential equations, my success in this course is not because of natural talent in math - it's because of the dedication and commitment I put into understanding how to evaluate solutions and learn equations.

I did not expect to undergo a paradigm shift by reading this article, but now that I have, I am going to try to change my working habits. Rather than put off writing assignments until several hours before the deadline, I will attempt to at least create an outline or introduction several days in advance. By acknowledging the error in my judgment of my own abilities, I hope to be able to make a change in my habits for the better.