As the end of a weekend approaches, we are suddenly reminded by our inner demons of everything we did not accomplish with the time we had. As a student, maybe you forgot or procrastinated on your project. If you are employed, perhaps you neglected to catch up on those papers you got behind on. There are an infinite number of possibilities for the activities we needed to complete, but instead, we chose to do the activities we wanted.

I was always told that time flies when you are having fun. Indeed, there never seems to be quite enough time to fit in every indulgence. However, I have found that there never seems to be any time to fit in any necessities — that is, when you fail to prioritize correctly.

The solution may be apparent to many people. I have practiced this for quite some time now, but I still witness too many of my friends and colleagues suffer from misuse of precious time. To make the time last longer is ridiculously simple: begin earlier. Yes, you have to start your work at the time when you most feel opposition to do so. The weekend seems to last as long as the rest of your school or work week when you actually make it a productive 48 hours.

A long weekend of work sounds awful. Believe me, I know. However, it sounds a lot better than a reprimand at work or a grade below what you desired on an assignment or report card. This phenomenon of Sunday afternoon regret can all-too-easily evolve into regret that spans over much longer periods of time. The small instances piece together into a chain that can drag you down. Honestly, just the 24 hours in a single day is a lot more time than you may think it is, at least when you actually complete the necessary work. And there is even time for leisure. Plenty of it and many occasions.

The calendar says that Sunday is the beginning of the week; personally, I beg to differ. For goodness sake, it is called the week-end, and Sunday is the end of that. I think we can all agree that Sunday is the de facto end of a week.

Another thought many of us agree on is that regret is a real bummer. Regret is potentially the worst feeling a person can have, especially because it occurs for countless reasons: For doing something, for not doing something, for thinking a thought, for allowing something to happen —you get the point. The two possibilities for your feelings on your actions as you look back on them later are either regret or relief. Your actions that you take when you get up right now determine which feeling will occur later. When the Sunday at the end of your week, month, year, and life comes around, do yourself a favor and avoid the stomach-churning and breath-shortening Sunday afternoon regret.