The following poem and tip were written by Annette Breaux and featured in her book with Eye On Education: 101 Poems for Teachers.

I'll Do it Tomororw
I didn’t feel like doing it, so I put it off for a day
And the next day came and I put off more — too much was coming my way.
I used up tons of paper with my list of "things to do"
And every day my "list of things" just grew and grew and grew.
It overtook my kitchen, then it overtook my house.
It overtook my children and it overtook my spouse.
If only I had done the things that needed to be done,
It would have been much easier to do things one by one.
But now I’m overwhelmed with all the things I did not do.
How will I survive this? I do not have a clue!
And sitting atop these things to do are feelings of guilt and sorrow,
So I’m turning over a new leaf. Yep, I’ll do it tomorrow!

Do Not Procrastinate. It happens to new teachers (and veterans) all the time — they enter into the "I’ll do it tomorrow" cave. I call it a cave because it is a dark and scary place to live! Do NOT — I repeat — Do NOT go in there! It is alluring, I know. We all experience a sense of overwhelm from time to time, and it’s easy to put one thing off. Then two things. Then three. And soon enough, you’re swallowed by all you have to do, and there is no end in sight. It’s that old familiar feeling of cramming for an exam the night before when we could have taken the smart route by studying over time, a little at a time. At least we could have passed the exam that way without a mental breakdown.

I simply cannot stress enough how important it is that you, as a new teacher, do not allow yourself to procrastinate. Stay on top of your workload. It’s much better to be on top of your workload than to have your workload on top of you! Don’t put it off one more minute. Take a step right now. Begin it.