College freedom is a beautiful thing. Not having class everyday seems like a dream come true when you’re in high school, and it might have seems that way your freshman year fall quarter when 3 classes in a day left so much time for, well, everything else! This mindset quickly evaporates when you find yourself up at 3 am writing an essay or staring at a quiz you’ve put off studying for. If you’ve ever found yourself wishing you didn’t succumb to procrastination so often and so extremely, or saying “just one more episode” when you think you should say “study time”, you are a procrastinator. It’s okay, there are millions more suffering from the same thing.
Have no fear! Here are 7 tips to start your quarter off strong and productive so you don’t have to see 3:00 am on your bedside clock again. Unless you want to. We won’t judge.
- Keep an agenda or planner. When you get an assignment, immediately put it in your agenda. Syllabi are amazing things that help you forecast assignments and test dates so by writing them down, you’ll be able to refer back to it and better plan study sessions and writing deadlines.
- When you write down an assignment, put the due date 2 days before it’s due. You’ll forget you did this and finish it by, or a day after, your new due date. You’ll always have it done before the due date!
- Plan weekly study and writing sessions for each class – set aside designated times and days for study specific subjects. When you have an assignment due, you’ll already have a routine down for studying and working.
- Update your phone’s calendar. If you have a smartphone, you can set events and remind yourself of them via notifications.
- Put a limit on your netflix. Usually used for kids, you can use this awesome tactic to give yourself that perfect balance of relaxation and tough love by limiting the amount of tv and movies you watch and forcing you to study.
- Go into office hours regularly even if you don’t have questions- not only does it keep your class and assignments on your mind, you’ll be able to marinate on content covered in class by further discussing it with your teacher.
- Breathe. It sounds silly, but by taking 5-10 minutes everyday to clear your mind and breathe, you’ll have everything a little more organized in your mind and therefore not so stressful. It’s so easy to become overwhelmed with reading assignments, upcoming tests, and homework but by breathing, you’ll be able to pinpoint your stress and relieve it.
There are always going to be a million reasons not to start studying early or finishing an assignment the day it’s assigned, but by following these helpful hints, you may find yourself not needing any excuse – it’ll already be finished!