I am curently on a postgrad course and there is a clear division amongst the 16 of us on the course in working style. We have our first assignment due in in less than 2 weeks and the majority have been working steadily, pacing themselves and worrying about the assignment. There are then a few of us who have barely thought about it and will no doubt be panicking at the last minute, probably staying up late and knocking it out at the last minute!
No matter how good my intentions are to get organised and to start things early and pace myself, I always seem to find myself in the same position. It's as if I can't motivate myself to get started or to focus until the pressure is on and I have no choice! I am the same with housework - my house is usually a tip but when I know I have visitors coming I blitz. I seem to need some stress and pressure to get going!?
I think I have inherited these tendencies off my mother. She has apparently always been the same, staying up all night to finish assignments at teacher training college. In fact when I rang her last night she was still trying to write the script for her class nativity!!!? My Dad on the other hand is completely the opposite and has to plan everything down to the tiniest detail. He is always early for things, tidy and organised, whilst my Mum and I tend to be rushing around, late, not having factored in any time for things to go wrong. It drives him up the wall!
Talking to a friend of mine though, she said she had been on a time-management course and they had more or less told her that whilst you can try your best to put plans in place and to organise your time better, most people have a natural style of working and you will find it hard if not impossible to change your ways significantly!
So how do you tend to work, what's your natural style and do you think it's possible to change?
