As natural-born procrastinators, there seems to be a never ending list of the things that we are willing to put off until the absolute last minute. As much as excruciating deadline crunches have hindered my academic and/or life experiences, they have also greatly improved them! Some of our best ideas come from the brain being under pressure and put to the test. That being said, there is also a way to be efficient and lazy.
THE GOLDEN RULES:
First, if it can be done within 2 minutes, do it now. I guarantee the first day you do this, you will be amazed at all the little improvements you can make to your school work, dorm room, relationship, etc. It’s nearly applicable to everything.
Second, if it can be done in less than 20 minutes, do it today. Make your bed, put away your makeup, and finish those practice problems you were too tired to do last night. As a procrastinator, these things can be a difficult routine/mind set to wrap your head around but once you start this wonderful habit, you will become twice as productive as you once were.
Studying is almost as fun as cutting your toe nails. No one actually enjoys it. So when you study, actually study. We’ve all sat down in the library with our roomies thinking that taking a Buzzfeed break every 10 minutes counts as studying. Sadly, it does not. Everyone has different methods that take trial and error to figure out. You can never go wrong with some flash cards or just pure knowledge application (AKA practice problems).
Hand written calendars can go a long way. Since you, yourself are writing down the information, you are more than likely to remember it off hand. Keep track of assignments and due dates so that you don’t end up doing them the day of instead of the night before. And always remember, there is no September 31st!
Since you are a procrastinator and you will inevitably watch the Law&Order SVU marathon instead of doing your homework, watch one (okay, two) episodes, and then substitute the third episode for something productive, like the gym. You are still achieving your goal of not doing your homework, yet you are doing something efficient for yourself and your health. A little change in exercise can go a long way.
This is a big one. Taking steps towards your next step. You are in college and this is the time of our lives where things get serious. You can’t hide behind mom and that job at the pizza place forever. Start with a resume and a job that makes you feel as qualified as you are. As a student in college pursuing a higher education, you should feel like your job is fitting for the amount of effort you are putting into your life right now! Okay, I’m a hypocrite and I babysit. Since I am a math major and my future employer will not give a crap whether or not kids like me, I have also already started applying to tons and tons of internship opportunities for this upcoming summer. Baby steps are okay! As long as some kind of step is being taken.
Now, I know some of these do not seem like procrastinator-friendly tips, but I can assure you once you add a variation of these to your life, you’ll notice how a minor improvement can really go a long way and how easy it is to quickly make them a habit. Good luck!