Academic Success, Procrastination, Productivity

Thoughts on the Year of the Water Dragon

Here we are at the start of a new lunar year.  It’s nice, I think, that living in such a multicultural city affords us so many opportunities for fresh starts: if you haven’t managed to stick with the resolutions you made for January 1st, well, here’s a second chance.  Why not turn over a new leaf, or waggle a scaly water dragon tail, at the start of the new lunar year?

My interest in this particular new year is, admittedly, tinged with more than a little self-interest since I was born in the last year of the water dragon.  So,… let’s see: people born under the sign of the water dragon are perceptive, patient, make smart decisions (oh dear, is my scaly chest puffing up like an overstuffed alligator purse???), but, uh-oh, “their actions can go wrong if they…  do not finish one project before starting another.”  Hmmm. Guilty as charged: finishing projects that I’ve started is definitely NOT one of my strengths.  If this is a trend that we’re all going to be subject to between now and the end of this lunar year, help is at hand.  Last week, someone (knowing me, ahem, all too well) sent me the link to this entry in the Lifehacker blog on “How to Prioritize When Everything Is Important.”  It might help some of you other water dragons—as well as the assorted rabbits, rats, pigs, dogs, tigers, snakes, monkeys, roosters, horses, and goats who also have trouble prioritizing and seeing projects through to completion—actually get things done this year.

-NP