Open Post to Peer Reviewers

For my self-assessment, I will be creating a relaxed, personable Video Essay to reflect on this past semester and my realizations and how they will be applied in my endeavors going forward. This is the script (rough draft) for said project:

"Ring a bell? It’s a monologue we all experience in some form, an agonizing internal conversation that usually gets the best of us. It’s the cyclic form of self-torture that goes by the name of procrastination. And that’s where things start to get interesting: Procrastination is so relatable, so universal, because the human brain, it turns out, is wired for it.

As I sit here frantically and ironically submitting my English 109H course final and completing my Psychological Statistics and Measurements final exam, I ponder: there has to be a reason procrastination is so attractive, so universal to the human mind.

* LIGHT BULB *

It is no coincidence every other college student I pass grimaces at the 10-page paper or cumulative assessment that was assigned much too long ago due tonight. All semester, Sean has stressed involvement and knowledge and moreover passion within our disciplines and majors. So without further ado, here is a neuroscience-oriented reflective self-assessment.

Science explains Charlie Brown’s seesaw sensibility as a fight that is sparked between two parts of the mind when it’s faced with a distasteful activity: a battle of the limbic system (the unconscious zone that includes the pleasure center) and the prefrontal cortex (the internal “planner”).

What is the limbic system?

The limbic system, one of the oldest and most dominant portions of the brain, is on automatic. It tells you to, say, pull your hand away from a flame—and also to flee from unpleasant tasks. In other words, it directs you to opt for “immediate mood repair,”

What is the prefrontal cortex?

The prefrontal cortex is a newer and weaker portion of the brain. It’s what allows you to integrate information and make decisions. “This is the part of the brain that really separates humans from animals, who are just controlled by stimulus,” says Pychyl. The prefrontal cortex, located immediately behind the forehead (where we tap when we’re trying to think, dammit, think), gets the job done. But there’s nothing automatic about its function. You must kick it into gear (“I have to sit down and write this book report!”). And the moment you’re not consciously engaged in a task, your limbic system takes over. You give in to what feels good—you procrastinate.

When the limbic system wins, and that’s pretty often, the result is putting off for tomorrow what could (and should) be done today.

But why do I keep coming back to something that may temporarily feel good but always ends in more demise than pleasure? If you burn your hand on a stove, you don’t touch it again hoping it’s cold. It’s simple, according to several scientists, it’s pleasure. The small hit of dopamine at the “Ahhh, at last” moment when you conquer procrastination is what psychologically brings us back. In collegiate terms, the euphoric drunk the night before always meets the terrifying hangover the morning after, but you will still drink again.

So what does this have to do with me? Well, I am king procrastinator myself. Applying psychology and neuroscience and just science overall to day-to-day life is what ignited my passion in this field in the first place. So, sitting here, analyzing my behavior through a scientific method has done exactly what I wanted to achieve in this course: furthering my passion as an academic writer and a critical thinker. Understanding why it is that you do fascinates me, and that is true for this semester as well.

At the beginning of the semester, Sean made us promise a few things. Here is my vow to terminate my habits of procrastination in our first ever blog post.

It reads…

It was optimistic, it was good-hearted, but it didn’t exactly pan out the way I envisioned. Did I procrastinate? Too, too many times. Did I learn? Yes. That is what is important to me. There were many late nights, many late submissions, many late blog posts, many last-minute triumphs, and everything in between. My work ethic and habits globally improve but locally I was still at the tail-end of every deadline. But that’s ok. Learning the universality of the science and psychology in myself and my peers regarding procrastination did more for me than a lot of the busy work that’s been handed to me in my academic career. So, thank you, Sean, for the platform that gave me this enlightening realization and really furthered my passion regarding knowledge, science, biology, the brain, and really all my academic and career endeavors. In special regard to writing, I, for the first time, witnessed the true importance and vitality of the entirety of the writing process. Although procrastinating my way through at each deadline, I am retrospectively appreciating every rough draft, every local revision, every tidbit of feedback from my peers, and truly the entire process. In years past of my academic career, submitting at 11:58 PM was sort of the name of the game for me. Not saying that won’t happen again, but what I will say is the writing process will be incorporated entirely before the 11:58 submission because I understand the first draft will never be the best draft. I’ve learned the beauty of assimilation of your peers and yourself into your work, the importance of what is around you and the knowledge your environment can instill in you and your work. I have learned a lot about myself as an academic writer and a student, my endeavors, my work, my discipline, and much more that I thank this course for and that I will apply as I progress as a writer, a student, and moreover a person. Thank you."

Audience Question: The production phase was much more constrained because of the strenuous finals period but nonetheless, I managed to find a way to complete everything in a timely manner and now as I am finishing up the final touches for my final assessment, a.k.a. post-production, it is going just as a I thought it would: stressful. Considering my traits as a perfectionist and dire need for an A-grade in this course (so borderline, so stressful), I am second-guessing myself like never before but I hope the genuine nature of quality of my piece will resonate well with my peers and Sean. Here's to a great semester, thank you.