How To Procrastinate More Productively

inals week is almost officially here and that means that procrastinators everywhere are stepping up their game. While we really should be “trying to stay organized”, “keeping ahead”, and “maintaining our grades”, in reality we are already unorganized, behind, and have slipping grades. Trying to sit down and focus on taking notes and reading insanely dense textbooks is just not going happen right now. That sort of thing is reserved for the night before or the day of.

We can all sit there and say “this time I will not procrastinate” but I call bullshit on that. We are going to waste time, we are going to freak out last minute and drink two red bulls in an hour, and we are all going to spend days and days procrastinating all of the work we know we should be doing. What I say, is that if we are going to choose other activities over homework, we might as well make use of it and find some other way to be productive. Try some of these 10 things next time you have exhausted your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

1. Go through your closet

When was the last time you tried on every single piece of clothing you have? Odds are probably a while ago and because of that some of them are not going to fit anymore or you will have bought better versions of the same clothing. Put on some fun music and go through what you have, create a little fashion show for yourself! At the end of the day you will have not only successfully revamped your wardrobe and cleared some space but most importantly you did not spend any time on miserable school work.

2. Re-do all of your calendars

I personally have a monthly whiteboard calendar, a weekly one, a daily planner, and a phone scheduler. Sometimes, especially when life starts getting hectic, these calendars fall to the wayside. Spending a little time reorganizing and color coding responsibilities can completely motivate you to continue procrastinating and make it look from the outside like you have your shit together. After all, the goal is to procrastinate, not completely forget an assignment.

3. Redecorate

Your personal space (apartment, room, kitchen, bathroom) are all yours and should always look the way you want them too. It has been an entire semester, why not change it up a little bit? Don’t try to paint everything or anything like because now you have gone from procrastinating to full fledge work. Moe some furniture though, add some sparkle, get some Christmas lights, start a DIY decoration project- make it yours again! The better your space looks the better you feel and the better for you to procrastinate in!

4. Cook or meal prep

There is something super satisfying about taking the time to make one of your favorite food from scratch. Sometimes it can take a few hours but once you take that first bite later on every moment becomes worth it. Plus, you have to eat anyway so why not take the time and cook something delicious? If, unfortunately, you already ate then some meal prep time could be a great way to prepare for those days when your procrastinating is over and crunch time is on. Get that food ready and set so that you can get a delicious meal in between all-nighters.

5. Go to the gym

Since you have the motivation to not study, put that motivation to good use and take it to the gym. Being healthy is hard work and we all know that the gym is the first thing to get pushed to the side once the stress kicks in. Plus, working out gives you a great way to justify to yourself why you chose to neglect your other responsibilities later on once the guilt sets in. The only downside to this method of procrastination is that working out only lasts for so long. If it is only an hour or two you want to procrastinate through, this is gold, but if it is more like a 6 or 8 hour time frame, I suggest picking something else. If you want to be able to walk the next day anyway!

6. Pick up an extra shift at work

Technically, procrastination is only procrastination if you can make the choice to do work or to not do work. Picking up an extra shift at work falls somewhere in the middle of that because while you chose to take that shift, once you have taken it you are stuck with it! However, money is money and that is amazing so working through those hours of procrastination is only going to benefit you in the future.

7. Do something creative

Being craftsy and creating some work of art or decoration is a great way to waste time because at the end of it you have something great to show for your time. Adult coloring books have taken off recently because not only do they take us back to our childhood but they are super fun and easy to do. Take some time to be creative and even use Pinterest as inspiration if you want to. Let your mind and your hands go free and end up with something spectacular. And something useful even! Better than ending up with a headache and a jumble full of flash cards!

8. Hunt for internships or jobs

The whole new age job search things involves many, many hours of Google searches, clicking web links, copying and pasting endless paragraphs and contact information, and getting extremely annoyed with submitting electronic applications. Unfortunately, it has to be done at some point and that can easily be right now while your books call to you from under the pile of stuff that has grown on them since the last time they were opened. When you get irritated enough with the online application process you can move on to something else knowing you saved yourself that frustration in the future.

9. Call an old friend

Getting back in touch with an old friend not only helps you, but odds are that friend is trying to procrastinate too! No reason to just continue feeling guilty about a lost friendship or lover when the alternative to reconnecting with them is doing homework instead. Your life has changed, their life has changed, together you can waste hours and hours talking about the present, imagining the future, and laughing about the past. Help a friend out and save both of yourselves some mundane study time!

10. Take a nap

Easiest “would you rather” question ever- would you rather study for that final or take a nice, relaxing nap? Getting ahead on sleep and refreshing yourself will not only make you happy but you will perform better when you do get around to those all-nighters. So relax, head off into dreamland and just let your responsibility wait for you. If you are one of those people who can’t nap, sorry because that sucks but just lie down and relax anyway!

Happy procrastinating!