Path to Success Analysis Paper

No matter how prepared someone may think they are, everyone encounters setbacks at some point in their lives. The difficult thing about it is that regardless of similar setbacks, everyone’s solutions are different in some way. You can spend hours on the internet trying to find out how people solved their problems, but those things simply just may not work for you. Two barrier possibilities I have identified for my education are my tendencies to procrastinate and to occasionally be overzealous. Although I have always completed my work on time, I believe my habit of procrastinating on assignments came from the fact that I took so many pre-AP and AP classes in previous schooling. I would always do my work in the order that it was due, but because I had so much work, it was always one thing after the next. I hardly ever had a break with schoolwork so it would often be completed shortly before it was due, even if I tried to complete it early.

This habit never came back to bite me, which is a good thing because I really did not have a choice. Because of this, completing work several days before the due date feels quite odd and as if there is something more urgent that I should be doing, even if there is not. On one hand, I find it to my advantage that I am comfortable completing work closer to the due date, but at the same time it is a habit that should end because of that ever-present possibility that it will in fact catch up to me one day. In order to stop the feeling that there is something I am missing that needs to be done soon, I should make a list of all assignments and responsibilities, no matter how small, so that I can have everything in one place to reassure myself. This will also allow me to check off each item as I complete it. To sharpen my abilities of getting work done ahead of time, I can set, as mentioned in the lesson, “mini goals” or early due dates, so that I will not have to worry about the regular due dates. This will give me a more urgent sense of responsibility, and even if I know the assignments are not due yet, I will still want to get them done sooner.

My tendency to overload myself with work also comes from my experience in high school. With everything that I constantly had to do, I find it more normal to have a large amount of work, and I feel that if I do not have that, then I am not being productive enough. Even though it has not caused an issue for me in the past, I am in a different environment now, where it may or may not be easier to overwhelm myself, so I need to take extra caution. One thing I should make sure to do is calculate estimated time for classes and really evaluate what I think I can do. I should use online calculators and even ask people of different learning abilities their experiences with time and college classes. I can also try out a schedule that is a little lenient compared to what I think I can really handle.

If I do not find this to be a problem and truly want to take on more work, I can sign up for the shorter courses that are still a part of the fall semester. If I am actually going to go through with the latter, I need to make sure I spend enough time in the first stage and really look at my time and abilities from all angles. If I correctly prepare myself and take into account the differences from high school, I can overcome these obstacles. Procrastination and overzealousness can be big problems, but they can have easy solutions if you figure out what works for you. If lists and planning ahead are the answers for me, then it is much better that I figure that out ahead of time rather than halfway though. Having a detailed plan and being aware of these barriers form the beginning, no matter what they may be, is extremely beneficial to every student.