Category: Difficulty Paper

Homework D.1

There’s many reasons why people procrastinate. In essay from the book “Later”, shows us different perspectives on the topic. Even though I found some parts difficult to understand, since James Surowiecki uses a writing strategy where he gives you different examples. Surowiecki managed to keep me interested in his writing when he said “Many of us go through life with an array of undone tasks, large and small, nibbling at our conscience.”As i read that quote, i realized that i might be able to connect with it. As well as when the writer included the short story of the economist. Each paragraph talks about something different but they all have one thing in common which is procrastination. Something that caught my attention was the illustration. To me it shows that someone would prefer to contemplate the task until it’s too late. People tend to procrastinate and leave the task aside because they find something else more compelling to them.

The essay quotes “each morning for over eight months i woke up and decided that the next morning would be the day to send the Stiglitz box.” I found this quote relatable because i have found myself in this situation. I feel like we learn to procrastinate as soon as we turn teens. I know I began procrastinating when i started high school since there was a lot of projects and homework to do. Sometimes I would feel that the closer time gets the more work i would have to do. Since i would have more school work from other classes to do. In a way this essay is showing us that we are not alone in the procrastination topic and even economists struggle with it. Another quote that caught my attention was “….defines procrastination as willingly deferring something even though you expect the delay to make you worse off.”  He is referring to procrastination being as someone postponing a task despite the negative consequences.

 

Homework d.1

I can reflect to some parts of the article. For example, in the beginning of the article George didn’t want to mail clothes from India to the United States because it was going to be a big hassle. I can relate to him because there have been times when I refuse to do things at the moment and let it sit till later. I would never procrastinate for a very long time though. I found it crazy to hear that “Each year, Americans waste hundreds of millions
of dollars because they don’t file their taxes on time.” that’s a very huge number that actually surprises me. I feel like procrastination is a very common thing that everyone does. What gets irritating is when its done for a very long time and stuff never gets done. In the text it states “the first step to dealing with procrastination isn’t admitting that you have a problem. It’s admitting that your “you”s have a problem.” which I think is not always necessarily true. For example the author says “When I was writing this piece, for instance, I had to take my car into the shop, I had to take two unanticipated trips, a family member fell ill, and so on.” So basically being a procrastinator doesn’t always mean your lazy or the problem, You can also be very busy with other things like the situation the author was in. In the article it also talks about how procrastination can lead to more bad situations. In the article it says “When he took charge of the Union army, McClellan was considered a military genius, but he soon became famous for his chronic hesitancy. In 1862, despite an excellent opportunity to take Richmond from Robert E. Lee’s men, with another Union army attacking in a pincer move, he dillydallied, convinced that he was blocked by hordes of Confederate soldiers, and missed his chance.” This part of the article shows that McClellan had a lack of confidence.

HW d.2 (Difficulty Paper)

REREAD and ANNOTATE: “Later”

WRITE: Using your plan for re-reading as a guide, re-read (and annotate in a different color than the first time) “Later.” When you’re done, write another 300 words about what you learned from rereading. Again, be specific, quoting from the text! You don’t need to submit this as a post. Instead, follow the instructions below and include in your difficulty paper.

The difficulty paper is 3 parts:

1. 300 words on what you found difficult or confusing (HW d.1)

2. Plan for rereading, which you did today during class, and

3. 300-word reflection after rereading (the prompt above).

Remember the difficulty paper is worth 5% of your grade. You just have to turn all three parts in (by the start of our next meeting) to get those points. Please put all 3 parts together in one document and submit them as a google doc or PDF to the difficulty paper submission folder in the shared Google Drive folder.

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