Tackling the Day With a List by Che

Tackling the Day With a List by Che - February 2026 Scholarship Essay

Most people think procrastination means putting things off until later. For me, it meant watching entire weekends disappear while my chores weren't touched. The definition of procrastination is delaying or postponing something. I have always had a hard time dealing with procrastinating. My case was a little different though. I would wake up in the morning on weekends or school breaks with 0 desire to get moving and accomplish the tasks that needed to be done. That included emailing out tape to college soccer coaches, chores and homework, there was no way I could lounge around for hours and then tackle it all last minute. Telling myself I would do it later wasted whole weekends. I didn’t get all of the things done, and most importantly, I didn’t feel good about myself.

One Sunday morning I was moping about having a huge amount of work to do. It felt like a mountain of chores and work growing higher and higher. The reason? I had dwindled all of the day before “enjoying my weekend.” Realizing I needed to have a better plan to keep my tasks manageable and spread out, I learned a straight-forward trick that helps procrastinators like me. My mom suggested that I wake up around 8-9 and jot down a list for the day. A list has many benefits to a procrastinator like myself. One, you plan out a map for your weekend. Two, you can visually see success when you cross off individual tasks. Your motivation is boosted with every small win. Three, it helps you track which tasks are must do’s and which ones really can be put off to another time.

Ever since developing my habit of writing lists, I have felt a dramatic difference in my personal success. I have gone from a teenager who wakes up late, watches TV, doom scrolls, and “will get it done later” to a confident young adult who captures the day with a list and accomplishes his goals. Using the early bird gets the worm saying combined with a list gets any procrastinator the best of both worlds--a complete list and time to lounge after.