The motto at my college is: Sleep Comes After Death. Each day I hear of people pulling all nighters, constantly doing work until the early hours of morning, or the people who say they are solely running on caffeine because they’ve only gotten six hours of sleep in the past three days. Between the hours of nine and ten, the sandwich shop at my dorm becomes insanely busy with hungry college students who are still up doing work. Most people at my school claim they work best under pressure, and thus many people procrastinate and leave their work until the last minute and then in the next 12 hours or so they must stay up and finish their projects, and then complain of lack of sleep.
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I have discovered that I am a rare breed at my college. The latest I stay up is maybe 11:00 PM, simply because I cannot fall asleep at my usual hour of 9:30 PM. I get up early, between 7:30 and 8:00 everyday. Procrastination is not in my vocabulary. The instant work is assigned, I stress over it, and I’ve discovered that I deal with my stress by doing work. I work ahead in my classes because I am so worried about the workload. I do every extra credit assignment for fear of my grade falling below an A. I am constantly doing work at school. Sometimes when I hang out with my friends, I am simply in their room reading a book for a class, or I am editing a paper with a friend.
Today, I was walking with a very good friend of mine and he was informing me that he had skipped class because he had too much work to get done before his second class of the day. This particular friend of mine has admitted to being a procrastinator and he has told me the pressure to get work done before a close deadline spurs him to complete better work. Unfortunately, today, he had procrastinated too much to even venture to class. I was telling my friend that I had much work to get done as well. I had just come from class, and I was debating whether or not I should skip going to the gym so I could do my work. My friend simply told me, that knowing me, I have no work to do, because I work ahead, and thusly I should go to the gym. My friend was correct. I had worked so far ahead in my one class that I was exempt from doing the homework. I was going to work on a paper that isn’t due for another four weeks. I was going to read a play for a class that I don’t have to read for another ten days. I was going to continue writing my short story that isn’t due for another few weeks. So, taking my friends advice, I went to the gym, and am now at the library doing work, and writing this blog post.
I am an odd college student, and I accept it and I know it. My friends know my work ethic, and I have been dubbed a nerd by every single one of my friends. I get at least eight hours of sleep a night, and I find time to eat, hang out with my friends, and even enjoy myself by writing and painting. I attribute my time management to having a job in high school and having to balance school and homework and my job and soccer and friends and family and a boyfriend. Thankfully, my work ethic has carried over to my college career. And, even though my friends make fun of me for being an absolute nerd because I get my work done early and I do not procrastinate, I am the first person my friends call on when they need help with their own work. I am a reliable student, friend, peer, and person as my work ethic illustrates.
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