Self-esteem: Don't be a self-defecator

You hear it everywhere. "I'm tired." "This is hard." "I'm confused." "I want my Mommy."
It's the third week of school, and that can-do attitude is starting to fade. At the second-week mark, we still saw smiles, organizers and highlighters. Here we see nodding heads, glazed eyes and lots of Red Bull.

The schedule adjustment period is over and professors are really starting to crack that whip. Check on Blackboard. You have about 30 pages of assigned reading that is sideways scanned and partially illegible. Then there's the reading response, the 45-question problem set and if you're in ENES 100: Introduction to Engineering Design, you have to build a hovercraft. And unless you have the study methodology of a Gemstoner, you might be feeling the pressure.

While you try to stay on your grind, your inner procrastinator might be trying to break free. There are two likely ways your mind will try to dismiss work.

The first way is to be self-defeating. Being self-defeating doesn't even allow you the possibility of success. You fail before you even get the chance to start.

Scholastic situations include, but are not limited to: telling yourself you'll never be able to understand your professor's accent, deciding it's better to Facebook than listen in lecture and choosing to read cracked.com instead of your never-been-opened textbook  on the night before the exam.

Some everyday situations are: believing you won't eat that ice cream, resigning to be "just friends" and not applying to that super-sweet job or internship.

But self-deprecation might be a little worse. Instead of coming up with lame excuses that prevent you from starting your work, you choose to insult your work and defer blame.

While you might try to understand your professor's accent, you tell yourself, "If I were more cultured, I would understand." Or you'll choose not to listen in lecture because you don't expect to understand anything anyway. And even though you studied well for that exam, you psyche yourself out by believing failure is inevitable.

You'll believe you're weak-willed for eating ice cream, and it's making you fat. Being "just friends" happens because you're boring and ugly. Or you throw away that job or internship application because you think you're under-qualified and wouldn't be good at it.

Once you slip into the habit of being either self-defeating or self-deprecating, it's hard to stop the cycle. Try to recognize the signs and stop it before it starts. If you are in the habit, you might be able to count on your friends to stop your nonsense. No one wants to hear you complain or put yourself down.

It might help to be better organized and accept compliments on what you do well. I'm not saying to be cocky, but you should be proud that you can write in iambic pentameter. Definitely think positive. Yes, you can get that saucy minx, Testudo, to take a photo with you. Just let your swag out and roll with it.

No matter what, it's very important not to be both self-defeating and self-deprecating because you're just self-defecating.  No one, and I mean no one, likes a self-defecator. But, if you have good friends, maybe they can help you clean up a little bit afterwards.

Shruti Rastogi is a senior journalism major. She can be reached at rastogi at gmail dot com.