As a struggling college student during the time of finals, one of my major struggles is time management. I ALWAYS leave all of my assignments until the last minute and it is such a bad habit that comes back to bite me in the butt every time. In order to change my ways of rushing through assignments so that maybe I could hand in some high quality work for once, I decided to stop procrastinating for a week. Here’s what happened….
Monday
I started off this whole “not procrastinating” thing on a really high note. This weekend I have two assignments due for one of my classes, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. I already know that I won’t be doing any work on Saturday, because who ever does? I also didn’t want to stress myself out trying to bang them both out on Friday night while suffering from major FOMO. I decided that I didn’t need to sleep in until 10 a.m. like I do every other day since my classes each day don’t start until 11 a.m. I got myself up at 9 a.m. and finished one of the assignments before class. Then I went to my classes, grabbed a quick Stag lunch before my shift at work, and edited and submitted it before 3 p.m. After work, instead of spending the usual 3 hours every evening watching One Tree Hill, I decided to do the other assignment. The day was over and I already had both done and one submitted.
Tuesday
I knew I had a final on Friday of this week, so I told myself I would get up early again and finish editing and submitting the other assignment so I could start a study guide for my final. However, my sleep schedule said differently and I only got up with enough time to submit the second assignment, but that still is better than usual for me. Now all my scary weekend assignments were out of the way and it was only Tuesday. I decided to take any free time I had during the day to work on the study guide and I actually ended up getting a lot of it done. I realized that I kinda like working on my assignments in smaller portions because I don’t get bored as quickly or tired out by feeling like I’m working on assignments for hours. I was able to get the study guide done by the end of the night and now instead of frantically finishing it the night before the final and only studying in the morning, I had three days to study.
Wednesday
Just when I finally thought I was on top of all of my assignments, school just had to throw a curveball at me. I had been working on an assignment all semester, and I found out I had done it completely wrong and had to redo it! The good news was that this assignment is not due until May 10th, which would make it my last thing to turn in for the semester leaving me with plenty of time. Instead of waiting to do it until the day before it was due, I started it after I was done with classes for the day. I got through half of it and now I have less to worry about. After, I did some of that, I decided to look over the study guide a few times so that I could get ahead on that too. It was definitely weird to not feel overwhelmed, but it was such a good feeling to be on top of my work.
Thursday
I got to sleep in today because I am ahead on my work for once. Usually I have a lot of work to do for Thursdays, but I actually am ahead so I didn’t have to wake up early to do it. I got all my other work done early in the week because I was so productive, so all I had to do was study and work on the assignment that was part of the final. I was able to study enough to feel extremely prepared for the final already. Usually, I have to wake up and cram for a final, but I don’t think I will have to for this one and I will be able to get a good night’s sleep. I reviewed the study guide I had made, which made it super easy to study. It is so much easier to prepare for things when you’re not stressed out. I did not have to study all night, which also seems to be a trend for me when I have big tests. It was such a refreshing change.
Friday
Fridays are so much more fun when you don’t have any work to stress about! I got a good night’s sleep because I didn’t stay up late or wake up early to cram for my final. I felt prepared for it, so I wasn’t stressed out going into it. I got the assignments that I had to get done over the weekend done so early that I could just spend the day relaxing and getting ready for the weekend. I decided to get a little more done on the assignment that I had due for my final grade because I had free time in between my classes, which I am proud of myself for doing. Now, I have time to watch all the Netflix I missed out earlier in the week!
The decision to not procrastinate was overall a 10 out of 10 and I would definitely recommend doing it. Given it is much easier said than done, it totally relieved my stress and I did not feel rushed while prepping for my final. Will I keep up the trend? Only time will tell. But for the sake of my sanity, I really hope I do.