This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at DePauw chapter.
If you’re anything like me, you wait until the last minute to do just about everything. Sometimes you’re genuinely short on time, other times you justify your procrastination with some unreasonable rationale. But even though I procrastinate a lot, I still manage to get my work done on time, and the material is not half bad… most of the time. So here are some tips to help you stop spacing out at your computer screen:
- Dress comfortably– Feeling physically relaxed allows your stream of consciousness to flow in all directions. The less you have to worry about looking hot, the more room you have left to focus on what really matters– your work! It’s all about eliminating distractions.
- Put your phone away– If you already know you’re behind in work or pressed for time, it would be self-destructive to voluntarily decide to distract yourself and drag out this process. Give your phone to a friend or hide it across the room. Every half hour you can check it before getting right back to work!
- Do not study with your best friends– We lie to ourselves and say that seeing other people being productive motivates us to do our own work. That’s not always true. Sometimes your friends start talking and you fight the urge to take out your headphones from your ears and join the conversation, but don’t do this. It’s a trap! Your friends will accidentally distract you, so eliminate these factors. I’m sure they’ll understand after finals are over.
- Pick your poison-For some people its coffee, for others it’s a smoke break. Allow yourself a guilty pleasure in between brain farts. This is not a reward for doing things you’re supposed to do, its just a way to keep you coming back. A moment of clear thinking and fresh air can refresh your mind and jumpstart it back into thinking mode, and you can say goodbye to your distracting daydreams- for now.
- Have one back up assignment– Another trick for your dead moments of silence would be to have another assignment on hand when your current one begins to stress you out. You get irritated looking at it and want to walk away even though you just came from your smoke break. Don’t walk away! Have an alternative assignment on deck to keep you productive and distracted in a positive way.
- Quotes, quotes, quotes– If you’re starting a ten-page essay the night before its due and you don’t know where to start, deconstruct your thesis into one simple idea. Then pick a ton of quotes that are related to that idea. Once the quotes are down, all the ways for it them to connect to your idea starts to happen. Your brain will automatically try to find correlations between them, and you’ll have pages in no time.
- Breathe– Remember how close you are to finishing and how every move you make is one step closer to graduation. Keep you’re ultimate end goal in mind at all times. The thought of it all being over makes you work faster. Remember to work smarter, not harder! Good luck!