The All-Nighter and the Do-Nothing Job

I pulled an all-nighter to write this blog post.  Not because I had to, but simply because I couldn’t get to sleep and figured I might as well do something more productive than watch an entire season of Futurama on Netflix.  Since thoughts about the work I had to do the next day was the main reason my brain couldn’t keep quiet, work seemed the natural conclusion.

When I was in college, I made it a point never to let school dictate when I would go to bed.  I never once pulled an all-nighter to study for a test or to finish a paper.  Honestly, I just never saw the point.  I would start studying for exams two or three days ahead of time and would work on papers in the morning on weekends well in advance.  Suffice to say, I was not your average, procrastinating college student.

Maybe it was because I didn’t live in the dorms, but even when working part time and taking more than a full load of classes I always felt like I had way too much free time.  I read my textbooks, studied for most tests, and completed all my assignments.  And, with the exception of big research projects that necessitated trips to the library, I did all of this at work.

I was a master of finding jobs that left me a lot of down time during college.  (Actually, to some extent I still am.)  After trying out a couple different gigs I soon discovered that, without a degree or enough time to devote to a skills-oriented job, I could either bust my hump for $9 an hour or do pretty much nothing at a work-study position for minimum wage.  It was a trade I was more than willing to make, and it allowed me to get paid to do about 75% of my homework throughout my college career.  Good deal, right?

The best part was that my regular work schedule forced me to get ahead on assignments simply to avoid the sheer boredom of my job (I handed out towels at the gym).  It was either work ahead and be responsible or sit and twiddle my thumbs.  Procrastination completely lost its appeal.  And since I would generally schedule my work hours and my classes to finish by 3 or 4 PM, I had most evenings completely free.

Sure, I didn’t sleep as late as most of my classmates.  And maybe I didn’t have quite as much fun “procrastinating” like they did.  But I never really had an end of semester crunch — and I never had to pull the infamous all-nighter.  How many college graduates can say that?