“I can do it tomorrow,” I tell myself as I toss my backpack aside and settle in for a long night of watching YouTube videos. However, before I know it, I am knee deep in emails, papers, biology homework, and books that have to be read. For years I was a terrible procrastinator. My procrastinating was so bad that when given time in class to do my work, I would convince myself that it could be done at a later date. This method might have worked during my high school years, but in college it was a definite no go. The one goal I gave myself for the new year was to try to be more productive and cut the procrastination out completely. I am still working on leaving the procrastinating days in the past, but I have found some tips and tricks that help me stay motivated and get my things done on time. Without further ado, here is the lazy person's guide to being productive.

1. Get a planner.

I firmly believe that having a planner is a necessity for everyone and I honestly don’t know how I survived without mine for so long. I write down every little thing that I have to do for that day, and the sense of accomplishment I feel when I am able to mark something off is indescribable. If you are someone that likes to put things off to the last minute you are bound to forget some things along the way, with a nice little planner you never have to worry about forgetting!

2. Reward yourself.

I am someone who likes to treat myself a lot more than I should. This has come in handy on my road to being more productive. If I know that I need to study, I will force myself to get out of bed and go to the library. On the way to the library I have to pass Starbucks, so I will often reward myself with a nice drink for getting started. I am also an avid "Grey’s Anatomy" fan (aren’t we all?) so I will tell myself that if I can get all of homework finished in a timely manner then I will be able to relax and watch all the Grey’s that my heart can handle (which isn’t much to be honest).

3. Don’t make plans until your work is complete.

I am someone that is terrible about this. For some reason I think that knowing that I have something to do will make me want to work harder and faster to get it done, but this is never the case. In the end I usually always end up staring at the time and getting too frustrated or anxious to continue. Then I will just convince myself that I can get it done later, which isn’t true.

4. Stay focused.

I know this seems like an easy one, but it’s a lot harder than you might think. Twitter, Instagram,Tumblr, texts and YouTube are my worst enemies when it comes to trying to be productive. Too often I have found myself stopping after every five minutes to check these things. In order to cut this out I have started turning my phone on silent and putting it in my backpack. “Out of sight, out of mind.” I will sometimes set a 40 minute timer on my phone, and when it goes off I will allow myself a couple of minutes on my phone as a break before I get back to work.

5. Do things as you get them.

I used to be so bad about pushing all of my assignments off and doing them all in one day, but I found out this was doing nothing to help me. Knowing how much work I was going to finally have to do did nothing but make me procrastinate even more, or worse, not do the work at all. If you get a simple assignment that can be done today then don’t wait to do it. Get it out of the way so you will have more time for the bigger things. This doesn’t just go for homework, this goes for texts and emails too. If they are important respond as soon as you get them, or else you’ll feel completely overwhelmed when you do finally go back to respond to everyone.

6. Think of all the stress you’re saving yourself.

This is probably the biggest thing that helps me strive to be productive. I like to feel carefree and happy. I like being able to go somewhere on a whim because I am not bogged down with a week's worth of homework, calls, or emails. The time and stress you will save yourself is a great feeling that can also leave you feeling energized in the end.