Procrastinators Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from chronic procrastination.

The trouble I have got myself into..

About a month ago I experienced my first manic attack in years. It can make things hard, especially when it makes me prone to errors or worse. Even despite my efforts to do well in a class this led to a horrible performance on a test, which cost me a passing grade, as a result I had to drop the class. This really hurt my confidence and ability to perform.

However it wasn't just myself that failed this class, about half the class did poorly as well. Even those who spent far more time and work than I did. The teacher was horrible. She would expect the students to know a great deal of things in a little amount of time. I remember one day there was a plumbing problem in my apartment building. Basically I had a choice of either going to school or coming home that evening to a flooded apartment. I would have sent an email, however my computer was being repaired. So instead I called my secretary at work and had her email the teacher. When it came to explaining to her what happened, she simply would not listen and even left the classroom before I could finish. Now that I look back at things, it really would not have mattered no matter how much time I put into this class, it is very likely that the same result would have happened even if I put three times the effort into it.

As of now my mind has settled. It took alot of time and effort to get over the condition. I was so exhausted that I nearly slept through the entire weekend last week. However, there is another class that I am taking which I have no reason to blame on anything else if I fail. The teacher is far fairer than the one above and I know exactly what I must do to get caught up with things. It is my responsibility to get these things done and I know I can get them done if I work hard.

My master list:

•Complete "generate topic ideas" & "Consider audience & purpose" Wadsworth p. 40

• Write summary to "The American Indian Wilderness" - Submit draft to Smarthinking.com or the Writing Center before completing for extra credit


• Summary: "Talk of the Town: September 11, 2001" - Submit draft to Smarthinking.com or the Writing Center before completing for extra credit


• Summary: "The Rewards of Living a Solitary Life" - Submit draft to Smarthinking.com or the Writing Center before completing for extra credit

• Complete "Research Proposal" (APA) - Revision with Smarthinking.com for extra credit

• Read Wadsworth Ch. 9, "Draft a thesis statement" assignment p. 180

• Complete "Develop Counter Arguments and Construct an argument" Wadsworth p. 190-192

• Complete annotated bibliography (Five sources minimum)

• "Draft an effective introduction" and "Develop Closure" Wadsworth p. 214 and 215

• Complete Mid Term essay

All of the above must be done before next Thursday. I know it sounds stupid, but it has to be done.

Got most of the stuff done

Got most of the stuff done and even got an extension for the mid term.  Wow, its awsome to have a decent teacher to work with.

Still have a lot to do though.

(Slowbrow)

I could not believe a teacher could be that bad until I had one in Grad School. I thought the people who needed the class and took the course at a different location were stupid, but turns out they were the smart ones. I withdrew when I knew I would get a D Ilike most people) and ended up having to lose my money for the course as well as my confidence- the ones that took the course ar differnet locations got A's and B's.

You learned a hard lesson- check out the teacher before you take the course, punishing yourself in the other classes will not do anything.  No need for "analysis paralysis."

The great philosopher Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." This is very true. But the unlived life is not worth examining!

"analysis paralysis" Thats

"analysis paralysis" Thats a good way to describe the state I was in.  

Its hard to choose which classes to take, especially with what is available and how fast classes fill up.  Regardless I will defently put more effort and more research into the classes and teachers for the future.    It is certainly worth it.  Thanks for the advice.

Worked for me

I hear you on needing to register for classes early. I used to register for one or two extra classes, and if I got a weird vibe from the professor I'd drop in the first week. Sounds like you have a great plan to finish the rest of your assignments!