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How to Procrastinate Productively

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Olivia Clifton Student Contributor, University of North Carolina - Wilmington
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UNCW Contributor Student Contributor, University of North Carolina - Wilmington
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UNCW chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Everybody procrastinates sometimes. It helps some people—those of us who are motivated by a time crunch—but can hurt others. Regardless of its effects, it happens. Here are a few things you can do to procrastinate productively. 

Do your laundry

This guarantees you a study break if you are already working. On your first break, separate your laundry and throw it in the wash. Set your timer for as long as a wash cycle takes, work for that amount of time and then take another break to go transfer the load into the dryer. 

Watch a TED Talk 

Keep these short, in the 10-15 minute category. You can watch a talk about anything from nuclear advances to sign language to discovering true happiness. I have found that watching something as far from the subject I’m supposed to be working on is the most helpful (so if I am working on calculus, I am watching that talk about finding happiness…because calc is depressing). Expand your mind while you procrastinate! 

Pro-mask-inate

Put a face mask on and let yourself do absolutely nothing for the time that the package suggests leaving the mask on. This usually happens to me when I use a sheet mask anyway since my face is shaped weird and sheet masks always slide off of it unless I stay still. 

Clean off your desk

You can’t work on a dirty desk, right? Remove everything from your desktop, wipe it down, and put everything back neatly. I would not recommend going into organizing your drawers on a study break—those can be seriously time-consuming. This is probably exactly what you want, but not what you need! 

Scream into your pillow 

Not entirely productive, but sometimes good for your health. No judgment. 

[All photos, including thumbnail, courtesy of Pexels.com]

Olivia is a senior at UNCW, majoring in Creative Writing. She enjoys color coding all things possible and hanging string lights year-round.