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My New Year's Resolution
In the past year, I got a baby sister and have many more responsibilities than I did have for my sophomore year and it is having a serious impact on my sleeping schedule. I want to change my tendency to procrastinate for my New Year's resolution. Every day when I come home, I get a snack, usually cereal, and I watch a couple episodes of Netflix. On a good day, I can stop myself after one episode, but on a bad day, I'm watching Netflix for hours and end up being too tired to do any of my homework.
My plan to change my procrastination tendencies starts with only allowing myself to watch Netflix when I have most of my homework done. I want to allow myself at least one break every night from homework to eat dinner, and hopefully, I will only watch one episode of Netflix during that time. I am willing to cut out Netflix almost indefinitely because I know it is taking a toll on both my grades and family life.
My next step to minimizing my procrastination is to take advantage of the time I have before my mom and little sister get home. On an average day, if I have not started my homework by then, I might as well not even make the effort in the first place. I tend to get distracted by her and my mom once they get home so it would really help me if I got as much homework done as possible before they got home.
My next step to achieve my resolution is to prioritize certain homework assignments based on due dates and how long it will take me to finish each one. I tend to do APUSH homework last because I hate that class, but I'm going to start to do that homework first because it tends to be the most time-consuming. I would like to then gradually get my homework done by 10 p.m. I know it will take a while because I tend to finish my homework by midnight most nights. My goal is to accomplish step 4 at least by the beginning of May so that I can be most effective when preparing for my upcoming AP Exams.
Lastly, I will have my goal bedtime to be starting at midnight, and once I manage to do that for about 2 weeks, I'll alter my goal to 11 or 11:30 until I get my average bedtime to be at 10:30 p.m. My life would really be improved if I can accomplish this resolution because I will have more energy and thus motivation to improve my health overall. I will also get better grades and have more time for my family. In addition to those benefits, I will also be able to get my permit and eventually license because I would have more time to devote to studying for those tests. My resolution for the new year is to have a better sleeping schedule and not to procrastinate.
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I enjoyed reading your New Year’s Resolution narrative. A lot of what you said about procrastination was familiar to me. I think you made a clear case in terms of procrastinating although I wasn’t able to connect with how procrastination makes you feel. In other words, what reasons actually motivated you to write a New Year’s resolution.
I realize you mentioned that it took a toll on your sleep, family life and grades but perhaps you could describe exactly how it took a toll. For instance, did lack of sleep make you become irritable (lashing out at people) or have trouble concentrating (staring into space), or were you always an A student before your baby sister was born? One of the first rules of writing that is difficult to remember is to show your audience how it made you feel rather than telling them.
I would also suggest that you try to remove participles (ing) whenever possible because it can make your writing more concise. For instance, the sentence “On a good day, I can stop myself after one episode, but on a bad day, I'm watching Netflix for hours and end up being too tired to do any of my homework,” can be revised to the following. On a good day, I can stop myself after one episode. However, on a bad day, I watch Netflix for hours and end up being too tired to do any of my homework.
The first sentence in your conclusion paragraph is three sentences long. You also might want to organize your thoughts in an outline because you mention several different ideas in the conclusion such as (having more energy, motivation, improving health, getting better grades, having more time with family, getting your license and maintaining a better sleeping schedule). These ideas could be addressed earlier in the body of the narrative in separate short paragraphs. A conclusion usually wraps up the narrative rather than adding new ideas.
Finally, my last suggestion is about grabbing the reader’s attention. You may want to describe things such as your living space and use all five senses including what you see, smell, taste, touch, and hear.
Overall, I think you provided some useful advice and set some good goals for the New Year.