Yep, you did it again! That 15-page term paper? Due in three days. That scholarship essay? due tomorrow. And that group project that your only job was to make the PowerPoint? Your presenting in an hour and a half. And all you can do is give yourself two minutes to panic before you shift into maximum overdrive. If any of this sounds familiar, then you know the struggles of living the procrastination lifestyle and you probably have done some, if not all, of these things before.
1. Deny your condition
"New semester, new me, my procrastination days are definitely over," you say to yourself as you take one look at the due-date of the term paper on the syllabus and decide that one week before finals is too far away to worry about right now but you'll definitely look into it in like two weeks. So you shove the paper instructions at the back of your binder and continue to ignore the professor's warnings.
2. Make lists
You swear to yourself and everyone that you're the most organized person you know. And you make lists of everything you need to do. You even make lists of your lists and the things that you can't forget. And you spend a lot of time just checking your lists, looking at your lists and rewriting them until you realize that your list writing habit is just another excuse for not doing the things that are actually on the list. So you make a list of how you're going to stop making lists.
3. Start from the bottom
So you got all these assignments to do by the end of the week including that paper that's worth 15 percent of your grade, that scholarship application, your weekly online homework assignments and that journal entry that probably takes 15 minutes. So you decide to start slow and do all your assignments in importance reverse order because "it'll warm you up" to do the hard work.
4. Nap
That test that you need to study for is tomorrow and you've only skimmed the chapter. You know that you need to start a hardcore study session of at least four hours if you want to even dream of passing that test. Its already 6 pm but you somehow convince yourself that a small power nap will give you the strength to study through the night. Then you wake up at 11:30 pm and realize you're screwed.
5. Take "small" breaks
Wow, you just worked so hard on that intro and first paragraph, so you decide to take a little Instagram and snack break because you deserve it. But after a whole meal and stalking everyone of interest on social media, you barely realize that your five-minute break just turned into two hours.
6. Reorganize your whole life before you start
OK, so you finally cleared out your whole schedule today so that you can once and for all finish this term paper. And you are determined! But wait, if you have all day, then that should be more than enough time to finish your paper..... along with reorganizing your whole closet, revaluating your life goals, and doing all the heavy cleaning in your apartment that you've been putting off. And you know what, since you have so much time and are going to be super productive today, why not start with everything else first, because how on earth are you going to concentrate on writing a paper, when everything else is a mess!
8. Panic and put your speed typing skills to use
It 10:00 pm and you just got home from a night out, then it hits you. You need to submit that essay tonight by 11:59 pm. With no time to even change clothes, you whip out your laptop and start typing at a speed of 150 words per minute until your heart is racing, your sweating, your head is throbbing, and you've exhausted all your limits. But you still manage to turn in something semi acceptable by 11:59 pm.
Then at the end of it all you tell yourself that you must stop procrastinating because that was a close one. But secretly, you're kind of amazed of what you can pull off on a laptop at 3 am, and decide that you can probably do it again next time, but better.
