Is It Worth It?

This is a question I often ask myself while working on homework and studying for my classes - is it worth it? This question does not directly apply to all situations; what I mean is, if I am up late practicing for a voice lesson for the next day, I ask myself, 'is the sleep I am losing worth it?', and usually it is not because if I am tired in my lesson it will not be very successful.

I believe a lot of students sacrifice effort into their school work for other matters that will directly affect their mood or behavior. This usually happens to me when I am up late finishing homeowork. If I know the material well, I will often complete the homework in a poor fasion and make up the points lost on a test or quiz - instead of working hard on the homework, I do the bare minimum and then relax with a little comedic television or listen to music and take deep breaths while laying down. During the first semester I would stay up until midnight, or one o'clock in the morning, trying to finish all of my assignments on time (or early), while also commiting almost 100% of my attention to the details of the assignment - I wore myself out and eventually became extremely tense and high-strung. I would get snappy with my music colleagues and would emotionally beat myself up because I couldn't balance the full workload of my classes - I thought that if I could not handle all the work I was given, it would be a sign of weakness. Over winter break, I realized that it is almost impossible to pay full attention to every homework assignment, so I decided to better manage my time work on assignments little my little, or not giving every assignment 100%, depending on how much homework I have per night.

This is extremely prevalent in my WRA class - I am sorry to say that my written assignments for this class suffer because I am more focused on my music studies than I am on my papers. I find it an unfortunate circumstance that is unavoidable, however I am able to accept the consequences of turning in subpar work, or work that is not on time. What I have learned from this spring semester is that I need to do a better job of preparing myself ahead of time or assignments in non-music related classes, so that I turn in work that is of a higher quality.

So, the next time you are pulling all-nighters everyday of the week, ask yourself, "is it worth it?". Is the emotional and physical strain you are putting on your body worth the grade - after all, you are the one who will have to suffer the effects later in life.

Marcus

Marcus

Blog for WRA 150 Section 8

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