Ahh deadlines are looming and all I hear people saying is that they've left it all to the very last minute... Again! I'm not one for being finished weeks before my deadlines, but really I'm a prep girl! I like to prepare my work, do some research plan my essay and structure it so that it doesn't look like I wrote it up an hour before it's due in. In fact, I'm usually finished by midnight the day before, not to sound smug or anything! ;)
However, for my fellow students (and business folk) I am gonna give you the low down of how I stay on top of my rather large and rather crap workload! It's all in the organisation, so if you're not prepared to do the work before the (actual) work then look away now!
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| If it's not on the calendar, then it's not going to happen! |
Sassy Tips for Meeting Deadlines
Seriously, buy one big enough to write on each day: write your deadlines down and highlight them, add on Doctors appointments, meetings. That way every time you forget something, it'll be right there on your calendar that you're going to hang up somewhere you can see it easily.
If you get to choose what you're writing about then pick wisely. Find something that has more than one information source. If your topic has been chosen for you, the chances are you'll be able to find out many many things on t'internet, or in libraries etc, as it will have been chosen for this purpose.
- Research until you're Beat!
Oh I know, I know: Researching is BORING. Who wants to trawl through pages of stuff someone else has written about your topic when you can just copy and paste? One word: Plagiarism. Yep, you will get busted for it, so read it and reword it to answer your topic question. Nine times out of ten, that topic will come up a few months down the line and you'll be able to wow people with your extensive knowledge of the subject... This is what I like to tell myself to keep me motivated! :P
Have dates (on that nice big calendar I know you've just gone and bought) for each stage of the project. Whether it's to pick a title, to have completed your research, planned the structure or actually finished the damn thing! Set a series of dates
before the actual deadline so that each stage is done and out of the way before D-Day (see what I did there?! :P) is even rolling around!
I'm such an old woman: plan your project structure. Plan how you want it laid out, how you want it to flow and what each section will contain. This means that you don't have to spend hours thinking about it the night before it's got to be finished, thus causing tantamount of panic and stress that frankly, nobody will pity you for, because you've brought it all on yourself!
And finally...
Now I am starting to sound like my GCSE and A-Level English teacher. But it is important. If it's graded or going to win you a massive brownie point at the end of it, then put some effort in. You haven't made a plan, done research and made deadlines for deadlines without reason! Make a rough draft once or twice before the deadline and then get someone else to proofread it. Any mistakes you've made can then be corrected well with the time constraints of your now not-so dreaded deadline.
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| Usually though, only when I've been organised and handed it in with time to spare! |
So there you have 'em, my tippity-top tips for meeting your deadlines without having to lose sleep, hair or the will to live. You are welcome amigos... Now I'm off to stock up on coffee as I have 2 deadlines tomorrow and 1000 words of Spanish to write up! :P
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