Stop! If you have not watched both seasons of The Good Place, you need to catch up. This article may contain spoilers! Go on Netflix, binge your heart out (only 25 episodes), then return here. After reading this article, you may begin watching Season 3, which premiered Thursday, September 27th on NBC.
So long as you are all caught up, let’s continue. Are you having a stressful week, and you don’t have time to rewatch all the episodes of The Greatest Sitcom since 2004?*
Welcome… to The Good Place:
Monday
Problem: So you didn’t have time to complete your homework this weekend. Maybe you were busy, maybe you procrastinated. Now, you don’t want to face all the work that you have, because that’s too stressful. But you also don’t want to procrastinate even more, because that’s also stressful. Welcome to the stress paradox. It’ll make you want to melt.
Solution: You can’t avoid your work forever. Time to face the facts and get back on top of that mountain of papers due. Plus, no one ever said you can’t have fun while working! Better to remain optimistic.
Tuesday
Problem: It’s not Wednesday. It’s not even halfway through the week. You probably didn’t sleep last night and probably won’t tonight either, because of the five clubs and the job and essays that need to be done. You can’t approximate the integral of x2, so you do your next best:
Solution: If it feels like Monday again, treat it like Monday again. Just stay on top of that mountain. The more it feels like Monday, the happier you’ll be when Wednesday hits and you’re already halfway there. Live in the moment and do your best. Like Eleanor, just be good.
Wednesday
Problem: It’s officially Wednesday. It’s like your Monday classes all over again and hence, it really still feels like Monday. But now, you’re in the middle of the week and for some reason everyone decided to schedule everything today. If you’re anything like Michael – or me – you probably don’t even want to get off the floor.
Solution: Look, it’s Wednesday! You’re halfway there. You’re surviving, you’re thriving. You have great friends and you go to a great school. You’ve got this. And… the weekend is on the horizon! Pick yourself up off the floor, rip your sleeves off, and celebrate.
Thursday
Problem: You are so close to the weekend, yet so far. You still have that mountain of work due today and tomorrow, but you don’t want to concentrate on anything. You have some fun clubs, plus The Good Place is on tonight! You don’t want to do any more work. This week has been hard enough. Don’t you deserve a break already? But whoops, if you’re not careful, your day can slip away and now you will have to stay up late studying again.
Solution: Hey, it’s Thursday. Watch The Good Place, but make sure you get some homework done before/during. You deserve sleep and more than that, you need it. Once you do sleep, you’ll wake up Friday feeling as refreshed and excited for the weekend as Eleanor.
Friday
Problem: There aren’t actually a lot of problems here, other than the fact that you probably won’t be able to concentrate on anything in class. You don’t want to do your homework ahead of time for the weekend and you definitely don’t want to listen to your professors. It’s almost the weekend, so get excited!
Solution: Get some of your homework done. Once your done with class, just get a few of your small assignments done for Monday. Then you can celebrate the weekend. Look back and see how you survived the week, and how you can do better for next week.
*This is not an advertisement. I genuinely love this show.