Productivity is one of the most challenging things to overcome as a college student. Many mantras for procrastination is Be Productive. This military mantra has been with me all through high school. Only because I was in MCJROTC for four years. And even though I have heard over a million times, I still choose to be an expert procrastinator. I live my life faking productivity until my mindset final decides its time to be productive. The following are seven ways to fake it until you make it.
- Waking up early in the morning
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If you are a procrastinator, you won’t wake up five or even two hours before your class or work. But that’s okay! Instead, wake up an hour and a half before class to give yoursekf enough time to shower, brush your teeth, and get dressed. No time wasted, and you are getting as much sleep you desire!
- Have a healthy snack
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If you are like me, then you are prone not to eat breakfast at all. Correct me if I am wrong…but the time you usually wake up at is around noon. I suggest grabbing random snacks that you like, along with a bottle of water. I am not telling you to stop eating your favorite snacks, but maybe next time you are late to a class. Do not go for the trashé foods like candy or chips, but perhaps something childishly healthy like yogurt or apple sauce. You know, a low maintenance snack–nothing too difficult to manage.
- Take a nap
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Rather than taking little naps throughout the day, take one long one. Your mind focuses better with rest, especially right before class. It might seem like a lazy thing to do, but studies have shown people who sleep longer are more focused and relaxed.
- Go to the gym
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There is honestly no way for me ever to explain how not to procrastinate when it comes to working out. However, what I will say is you need to be motivated to go to the gym. For example, I set up prizes for each goal I achieve. From my personal experience, I would buy something new for myself when I would accomplish something as small as going for a walk or taking the stairs. I say baby steps are the best steps.
- Take an emotional health day
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Taking an emotional health day is very important, especially if you procrastinate as much as I do. If you are a procrastinator, you might consider taking the whole week or month as emotional health time. Taking a single full day out of a week helps you organize your priorities and procrastinate without feeling like you messed up. It also can help you put your tasks and assignments in order so you can to complete your work ahead of time.
- Study
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At best, most people wait until the day before an exam to study. We often hold off on studying because, as we all know, starting to review is the hardest part of studying. Setting down is perhaps the most challenging task we procrastinators face as a people. Some of us are taught that we should review for 30 minutes and take a break for 10 minutes. This method does not work for me because I am more like to take a nap or watch a movie during those little while giving my self five more minutes frequently. The ten minutes are never only ten minutes for me. So I suggest sitting down for an extended period and knocking out all the information you need to study.
- Keeping your room clean and organized
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Keeping your room clean will help put your mind in a direction that suggests that you are productive. For some of us, a clean room indicates that we do not have anything else to do but study. For instance, keeping your laundry folded and in an organized manner makes picking out clothes easy. Organized clothes might not seem like much, but in the long run, this might save you time in the morning.
Another example might be, leaving your bed fixed 24/7 by pre-tucking, and placing all your shoes on a rack. These are simple ways to declutter your mind and look as if you were productive and organized. This method is provided by an author William H. McRaven who says that fixing your bed is something that should always be done just to feel like you accomplished something when you didn’t.
By the way, I was utterly procrastinating while writing this! Clearly, I am winning in life.