Do You Eat Chocolate Cake All In One Go?

Take a minute to think about the question. What we meant to say was, ‘Do you eat the whole chocolate cake all in one go?’ That is without sharing it, taking a break, throwing some of it away or even saving some until later?

Well we imagine if you did that, you might feel quite ill! It’s not natural is it? Normally if we have chocolate cake it is to celebrate an occasion, like a birthday or an achievement. Spending time with friends, chatting about the week, sharing the cake with everyone and even feeling like we could eat another piece of cake.

Before we know it, the cake is gone. We didn’t even get the second piece! Well, think of it this way, it’s better for our health.

So, imagine the same scenario, only this time are taking about homework assignments, university assignments or even work projects.

If we leave everything until the last minute, we are in a rush, we have deadlines to meet and perhaps we don’t even have time to think about what we are writing we just have to get it written. Very quickly, we do our homework, write the assignment; or finish our project all in one go!

‘We’ve done it! How does it make us feel?’ If we are honest, initially fantastic, from the relief of finishing a piece of homework, an assignment; or a project. Then, a bit ill from the nerves of having rushed the assignment to get it finished on time. Just like eating the chocolate cake all in one go.

How can we stop feeling like this?

The answer is to plan what we need to do ahead of time
There is always a part of the project we don’t like because we don’t understand it so we leave it or put it off. If we do this first, and take time to understand it, (get advice or support if needed); and get it finished. We will feel better
If we leave the homework, assignments or projects we don’t like until last, we will feel ill – just like eating chocolate cake all in one go!
Work out how much time you think you will need to complete your work and add another two days (14 hours – to allow for unforeseen circumstances i.e. if you are given other work ahead of the original deadline that needs our attention, you become ill, or have family commitments which mean we can’t spend the time on our assignment that we were planning to).
That is alright because we have planned in some extra time, so we can still meet the deadline and even have time to spare
Break the homework, assignment down into manageable pieces. Set tasks to achieve each day
Work backwards from a deadline (more about this next week – 06/11/2020)
Plan rest breaks throughout the day, our learning/productivity is much more effective when we take time to reflect on what we have learnt (particularly reading (more about this on 13/11/2020)
Spread all the tasks we have to do over a week and do at least 3 a day. This way our workload will be more manageable and we might even start to enjoy what we are doing, and get more done
If you finish a piece of homework, an assignment or a project ahead of time, re-arrange the schedule and start the next task or project ahead of time

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