Why wait until the last minute?

THE Easter weekend is over and with the Royal Wedding about to happen, we have two more Bank Holidays to look forward to in the next week.  For me, I am counting down the days until I finish my second year of University – now just over a fortnight away.

     I thought today – ‘let’s go into University’ and take advantage of almost an empty environment and get some work done.  I have finished the majority of my assignments this year, except a boring and tedious law exam and evaluations on several topics, where I have to critically assess my work this year.  Typical!  I get to Uni, and the institution is shut!  Why?  It isn’t Bank Holiday Tuesday!  Next up, we will be having a holiday for every political party in Britain.  It is ridiculous.

UNECCESSARY: Why put yourself in this situation?

     Okay, I probably should have checked the university website first before I went in and I only live five minutes away, so it wasn’t like a waste of petrol.  However, give me a break!  It is far from good enough and like I said, it’s not a Bank Holiday, so I don’t understand it!  Does it surprise me?  No, not really.  All the same, it is still incredibly frustrating.

     It also got me thinking about deadlines and getting assignments in on time.  Luckily, I am in a position where I’m not running around like a headless chicken.  In fact, I tried that a couple of months ago and let’s say, it put me in a very bad place.  The relaxed approach I took after March does seem to work.  However, it does get me thinking, why do people wait until the last minute to get work done? 

     For some, it is the way they work.  If so, it can’t be faulted and if that’s how it is approached by them, it’s fine.  However, it could be made a bit easier by getting the job done a bit earlier and quicker.  99% of the time, stuff done at the last minute is nowhere near as good as bits and pieces produced or handed in a fortnight earlier.  I was guilty of that myself at times, especially in Secondary School – largely because it didn’t matter so much.  If I leave stuff until the last minute, I feel frustrated in myself and realise – ‘Crud, why did I decide to take that approach.’  For me, it doesn’t work.  It might do for others, but I always struggle to see the advantages of it.

     Now, some people can just be desperately unlucky and everything they seem to touch goes wrong.  Consequently, I feel for these individuals, who work so hard and get little reward for it.  It wins more respect with me if they have worked hard on a project and are putting the finishing touches to a masterpiece of work just before the deadline.  For those who like wake up at 3pm on the afternoon before a deadline is due and have done like 10% of the work, you’d only have yourself to blame, especially if you had started receiving the work months before.  In my case, some of my assignments begun way back in September 2010, so excuses run thinner than ever before.

     Leaving it till the last minute?  For me, not an option – just an annoying distraction.

March - A personal self-reflection

CLOCKS: British summertime has arrived and brings fresh hope

WHILST I spend time blogging on worldwide issues and hobbies that interest me, I felt like doing a personal blog to sum up recent weeks for myself.  The clocks have gone forward and hence, British Summertime has arrived.  I have hope, belief and conviction that things are turning the corner, when three weeks ago, things looked rather bleak.  March has tested me and I have learned some lessons which I feel have improved me for the future.

     The beginning of the month was the low point of 2011 so far.  I turned issues that were bad for me into situations which completely took me to the brink.  Having numerous problems with a laptop is pretty bad, but I should have dealt with them in a far more calm and considered manner than I did.  It affected me far too much.  I also returned to University after a production week with an attitude of ‘I don’t care,’ ‘I can’t be bothered,’ and ‘I wouldn’t compromise.’  It was the first time that I had shown any form of attitude like that in my 18 months at the University of Northampton and looking back on it, I couldn’t believe that I’d be so awful in my behaviour.  To compound matters, I had a serious argument with a very close friend which pushed me to breaking point.  I don’t want to share the details, because it’s a personal matter, but it just made things really bad.  When I left Uni on Friday 11 March at around 4pm, I left a broken individual.  I had enough and I thought that was it.  I went home to Milton Keynes to consider what to do next and more importantly, would I return?

     I returned the following Monday in a more calm, friendly and fresh approach.  If I had left, I would have taken the defeatist approach to life.  We all have bad weeks, desperate moments where we don’t quite know where to turn to next.  However, to become a better person, we need to overcome the hard moments and overcome it, because at the end of the day, what would be left if you walked away from what you really wanted to do?  Absolutely nothing!

     Although events in Libya haven’t really interested me, and that’s purely because I don’t see any point in Britain being involved, the earthquake and tsunami to hit Japan on March 11 really shook me up.  It made me think and realise that there is more important moments around the world rather than personal reasons.  To see so much devastation happen in such a well-developed country was heartbreaking.  For those who think the world has ended because ‘Oh dear, my boyfriend has dumped me’ or ‘I have no friends, find some for me;’ I’d say hard cheese!  At the end of the day, think yourself lucky that you have a roof over your head, food in your stomach, clothes to wear etc.  What about those affected by the Japanese tsunami?  Lack of supplies, homes that have simply been washed away, no sign of friends and family.  These are all more important and necessary situations than a simply panicky domestic issue.

FEELING STRESSED: What's the point?

     Now, I am taking the chilled and relaxed approach.  There is no point running around like a headless chicken, I tried that and it didn’t work.  There’s no point stressing out, I’ve tried that and it didn’t work.  Taking a step back, embracing what I have and taking it easy is the way to go.  I’m pleased that March has taught me some hard-earnt and tough lessons, because I now feel in a better place for the experience.

     Of course, my thoughts still go to those who lost everything in Japan in such devastating and tragic circumstances.