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Student’s Worst Enemy
Large, longterm assignments are the bane of undergraduate life. There is no more tempting invitation to procrastination than to see “start work on major, terrible, huge assignment” on your to-do list. So what happens? This particular task gets skipped. Again. And Again. Until, finally, you enter “oh shit!” mode right before the deadline and begin that terrible last minute scramble.
The ESS Method
In this post I describe a simple system that will help you avoid this fate. I call it the ESS method (short for: Early-Small-Soon). It’s a generalization of the strategies that many of the efficient students I’ve interviewed over the years use to defang large assignments.
It can be presented in three rules — one for each piece of the ESS acronym…
RULE #1: Early
Start work on large assignments as early as possible. For projects due at the end of the semester, this might mean right after midterms. Don’t balk. You don’t need to start burning the midnight oil months early. But you do need to start thinking about what lies ahead. It helps if at the beginning of each semester you put a “project start” reminder on your calendar at an appropriate date for each of the major assignments you face. Once you reach that date it’s time to apply the next rules…
RULE #2: Small
Forget the end result. Focus, instead, on the next manageable chunk of work. Try to identify a chunk of work that will require somewhere between 2-6 hours. That is, more than you can whip through in one sitting, but not so much that you can’t find the time over the span of a week or two. At this point, the large assignment means nothing to you. This small chunk is what your world is about. It is what has to be done next.
RULE #3: Soon
Here’s the anti-procrastinatory glue that holds the method together: once you’ve identified your small chunk, set an arbitrary deadline for its completion. Depending on how busy your schedule and how large the chunk, consider time frames that are somewhere between 1 – 3 weeks. Make the deadline non-negotiable. This is when this chunk has to be finished. If it requires a mini-scramble when the deadline looms, then so be it.
The Method in Action
What’s interesting about the ESS method, and why, I think, I see variations of it pop up again and again among high scoring students, is that the arbitrary deadline trick actually works. Even though you know you made it up, we’re wired to respond to the pressure of deadlines, and this spurs you to accomplish that next manageable chunk.
Once you’ve finished one chunk, you plan the next, and your progress continues in this manner. As the deadline gets closer, the arbitrary deadlines tend to become more ambitious, and more gets done, until, well, you’re done with the whole assignment.
Yes, at the end, you still might have some scrambling. But the overall experience is significantly less stressful. Instead of grappling with one monstrous beast of an assignment, you are lightly sparring, week by week, with mini-assignments. By the time the final deadline looms, you have a base of quality work and not that much left to complete.
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Just read the chapter on preparing for exams/designing a study guide from “Straight-A.” I feel all the more confident about upcoming exams! Many thanks.
it makes sense, I think the same principles would apply directly for work too
Ok, so lets say I get a History paper thats due in 5 months (4 months ago). I’m in high school, so it’s 2000 words. Would my ESS be choosing a topic? Because that seems to be the hardest part of the paper.
I am working full time, I’ve been out of college for over 30 years and have decided to return to college for my BA. I don’t do well on any exam even exams for my profession I barely pass. I have our business to stay on top of, go to college online, and take care of my family. So, what’s the secret to other professionals that decide to return to school and do very well even though they have a lot of distractions. How do I do well in school, so that I am not stressing every time I see what classes I have to take?
I own a business, I have a family and I tend to do very poorly on exams, regardless of what they are. I have chosen to go back to college and I am frantic of my future grads. What can I do to stay on top of it and possessive and most of all, how do I get great results? My past instructors have always said to train the brain to memorize answers and although that works in my line of work it doesn’t work in school because I need to understand concept. So, I already have that challenge.