BONJOUR, JE M’APPELLE, Anne! “Every minute counts,” so they say. This is best to be felt and defined during the crucial time of your academic responsibilities or any submission that you have for the day. Therefore, let’s talk about ‘crunch time.’ How important is it? And how abused is it?
A student will always have requirements to accomplish because it will always be a part of their responsibility. However, let’s be honest here, there are days wherein you do it on the day itself or worse—hours before the deadline. Crunch time, as defined by Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, is the “extremely important moment or period of time.” Well, we all know when this is, that’s when the work is piling up and you’re somehow, living deadline after deadline. Accomplishing one task after the other.
“…work is piling up and you’re somehow, living deadline after deadline.”
Truth be told. There are moments, especially in college, that crunch time is like a do-or-die game in any sport. It is because you’re racing against the clock and every minute counts. It does not apply to this time but rather, every second is essential to make it to the assigned due date. You’re like a laser focused individual especially when you only have at least 30 minutes left. The only thing in your head is that “I have to make it.” Making it in time is like a buzzer-beater shot in basketball when you click that submit button on a submission for that day and you see the confetti popping out. That’s the only moment you can breathe normally again or even be able to know what breathing is once again.
Sometimes we can’t just ignore the fact that juggling everything that life brings us requires us to adjust to the changes it gives. And that’s something that is out of our hands already. Thus, the importance of the art of crunch time. Channeling out all those creative juices, ideas, and stuck deep within critical thinking skills. Why? Because that’s what crunch time really is, it’s all hands-on deck kind of momentousness.
However, there are those who abuse this moment, this certain crunch time that we’re talking about. Abuse of this is doing it as a routine. Just because you were successful in applying this to other tasks does not necessarily mean that this should be your routine. May it be a routine for academic work, org work, or any work that you do. Crunch time should be your last resort, not your first option. I’m guilty for this because I had to do this due to my poor time management skills these days and my lack of drive to do things, like writing, which I really love to do, may it be for academics, for leisure, or for this column. Yet, God is somehow kind of nice to me because a certain professor extends a hand to make me realize that it is a matter of priority and that I’m almost at the end of the finish line.
With the art of crunch time being used and abused like a luxury item, may you all see that this should only happen occasionally, not every single time. Nonetheless, I still hope that you’ll only see, do, and apply crunch time. I just hope that it won’t level up to something worse, which is to reach your own breaking point. Because that will be another conversation to talk about. Anyways, Mon Ami, let’s talk next time. Au revoir!
Email me at thebedan_managingeditor@sanbeda.edu.ph