Lesson 2: Procrastinating is Bad

An Introduction.
Yes, we've all been there. You have a paper due at 11 AM on a Thursday, so guess where you are at 2 AM on Thursday. Staring red-eyed at your laptop, writing the assignment. Naturally.

Or even worse - you have a lesson on your major instrument concentration at 9 AM on a Friday morning, so you're at the music building until midnight Thursday night, attempting to do the fourteen hours of practicing you should've done over the week in one night, and it's just not working.

As I've said, we've all been there. And if you haven't, shoot me a line, I would love to hear about your life.

The Definition.
According to the lovely human beings at dictionary.com, procrastination is defined as "the act or habit of putting off or delaying, especially something that requires immediate attention."

Now, dear reader, I want you to take a moment. Peel away all of your previous experiences with procrastinating; all the late nights, laughing with your friends about putting off assignments, etc. Pretend you are a scientist, looking purely and objectively with all logic and no bias based previous experiences.

Now that I assume you're in the proper mindset, I'm going to ask you this question:

If you want to truly put your best into something...if you want to yield the best result you possibly can on an assignment...is waiting until panic-mode really the best way to do it?

"But, blog-author, I do my best work under pressure!"

That's an excuse. We'll discuss that later.

Let's try it this way. You're a mother/father/brother/sister/friend, and your son/daughter/brother/sister/friend has come to you asking for help with an assignment."How do I even going about doing this?!" they ask you.

Are you going to tell that person who looks to you for guidance, "Pshhht, don't worry about it now! It's not due for another month! Wait until like the night before. Worry about it then!"

Well. I would certainly hope not.

What's my point? Rudimentary, common sense tells us that in order to accomplish a task which requires a great deal of work, we should start the task as soon as possible in order to at least know what needs to be done in order to accomplish it.

So what stands in our way?

I'll tell you the secret. It's fear.

The Fear.
Whether you are willing to admit it or not, fear is one of the biggest factors which drives even those who seem the most courageous.

"But, blog-author, why would I be afraid to finish an assignment?"

That's not quite what I'm suggesting. It's a little deeper than that.

Despite what anyone may tell you, you are capable of doing anything you decide to set your mind to. The only person setting limitations on you is yourself.

The Limitations.
It may sound cheesy, but think of it this way. If you are currently living on the East Coast right now,  but you decide you want to go to Los Angeles, CA spontaneously, you could absolutely do it. You have all of the power to do so. It just depends on how badly you want to do it.

However, you place limitations on yourself.
I don't have money for gas for my car. - > Then take a bus.
I don't have money for a bus. - > Then hitch-hike.
Hitch-hiking is dangerous. - > Then walk.
Walking without sidewalks is dangerous. - > Take a map. Take a friend.
No friends would come with me. I can't go alone. - > Arm yourself with something to keep you safe.
But it's mid-semester and I'd fail out of my classes. - > Then you don't want to go badly enough.

That's the answer all excuses eventually come to. If you want something badly enough, you can do it. You can find a way. But, as was demonstrated in the previous example, sometimes other things take precedence, and that's how we decide what's important to us.

But the limitations we place on ourselves aren't always logical.

This is where it all ties together. When we procrastinate, we place unnecessary limits on ourselves with the one resource we cannot create; time. We place a time restraint on ourselves and do the best we can within that given time. "Phew, got that paper done. Proofreading? Meh. I've been working on this for 5 hours straight. I'm so done with this. *submits*" It's dramatic. It's a challenge.

Why do we place this unnecessary restriction on ourselves?

Because we're afraid...afraid of truly performing at our best. Because golly gee, what if our best isn't good enough? Then we have to go through the feeling of rejection, of not being good enough.

If we procrastinate, we can make an excuse. "Yeah, it wasn't my best, but I also started it the night before, so..."

The Challenge.
I challenge you to stop making those excuses. Quit the habit. Stop procrastinating.
Be the best you can be. Do the best you can do.

I don't want your excuses. I don't want your "good enough."

I want your best. Your unadulterated, as-unhindered-as-possible best.

Put your all into it. Give your 100%, not just 50%.

You may be afraid of failing.

To this person I give the words of Ted Mosby from the television series How I Met Your Mother; "If you’re not scared, then you’re not taking a chance. And if you’re not taking a chance, then what the hell are you doing?”

You may be afraid of being ridiculed by your friends for trying.

And here's my advice for you - rethink your friend choices. Find new ones. Find friends who will embrace you for who you truly are and what you strive to do, ones who will embrace you even when you fail. These people will become more visible the more you strive for excellence.

Is it scary? Absolutely.
Is it difficult? Absolutely.
Is it worth it? Absolutely.

Transcend your fears. Be the best you can be.

About this Blog

"Life is short."

Chances are, if you've had contact with a human being in your life, you've heard this quote.

I can certainly see the merits. Carpe diem! Seize the day! Don't waste your life away thinking, "What if?" Do something!

However, I feel as though people take this mantra and take it to excess. Instead of doing "something," as in something meaningful, they do anything.

So I'd like to bring up another point.

While life is short, life is also long.

In fact, living is the longest thing we've ever done successively at this point in time.

So while I love adventure and living in the moment, I also believe in keeping the future in mind and having goals.

So how do we balance between the two? How do we do it right? The obvious answer is trial and error of course. We've been doing it all our lives, since we were babies. The square peg doesn't go in the round hole? Okay, let's try a different peg.

But as we grow older, our puzzles get a bit more difficult. What do I want to do with my life? I love my significant other, but is he or she the person I'm meant to spend the rest of my life with? How can I make my mark on this world?

These puzzles can be solved through trial and error as well. But you have so many options, and certainly not enough time to try out everything to find out what works and what doesn't.

Because of this, humans have developed an immaculate skill of observation. Since we don't have time to make all the mistakes ourselves, we learn from others mistakes to supplement our own.

We can learn from our friends' mistakes. Our parents mistakes. Our brothers' and sisters' mistakes.

We can even learn from strangers' mistakes, who generously tell their tales in the hope of helping someone else. We of the virtual call these people life hackers.

Life hackers may not have all of life figured out, but they have certain aspects down to a science. An example of such expertise can be found in Marc and Angel. You can check out their site for yourself
here.

I personally am not even close to having life figured out. I'm still in college...I'm constantly learning new things about the world and about myself as well.


So here's where the title of the blog comes into play.

Lessons from a Music Major

As the title implies, I am currently pursuing an undergraduate music degree. As an upperclassman close to finishing this degree, I have gone through the ups and downs of trying to make my way through the music world, and I'm sure I have many, many more roller coaster rides to go.

A lot of things I have learned through the knowledge of some more experienced friends and professors. I also learned a great deal through having a wonderful music program in high school.

But it makes me wonder what students do that aren't so lucky. If I think I have it hard, what about the person with a passion for music and no experience whatsoever in the music world?

There is no set guideline to music professionalism or etiquette. There is no set path to success in music. If you Google such a thing (as I have in moments of desperation), you'll get about 400,000 results that don't give assistance...for less than $19.99 plus shipping and handling, anyway.

So I thought it might be neat to try to hack the musician's life.

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That's the idea of this blog in a nutshell.