As college students, I think we love procrastinating. It might be our favorite hobby and we’re oh so good at it. Especially when the stakes are highest. Procrastination is a horrible habit, yes, but I think it is a necessary part of studying. With another quarter wrapping up and final deadlines crushing my will to live, I’ve been reminded of some of my excellent study habits. Since I love sharing and writing this does help me put off doing my work for school, here are some of the things I love to do when it’s crunch time:

Phone time.

Just scroll through a few things, check Twitter, look through Instagram, Facebook, play a quick couple of games, maybe check Twitter again, and Instagram just one more time, why not? We know the phone is the ultimate distraction so you have to get it out of the way right at the start. Warning: when you’re holding your favorite little time-suck a couple minutes might turn into over and hour, but that’s okay because you’ll start your work right after you check Facebook real quick.

Watch TV.

You’ve spent a lot of time on your phone now, but one episode should be fine. A little break for your brain. Or maybe two episodes. Two episodes can’t hurt. If the show is really good you could always just give in and have a small marathon. When Netflix eventually asks if you’re still watching you should take that as a sign. A sign to just hit yes and worry about that homework later. You’re obviously invested in the plot now, how could you give your homework the attention it needs when you can’t stop thinking about how the show you were watching? At that point, it would nearly be irresponsible to not watch every episode.

Cook.

Everyone needs to eat, right? So, cooking technically is not a waste of time. And the brain needs food to function anyway! So just grab a quick snack out of the pantry. Or you could even whip up a small little something in the kitchen. Or, you know what? You might as well just cook a full course meal so you can really put your best brain forward. That’s just smart.

Clean your room.

You’ve been putting it off for weeks anyway and with this pressing deadline, there is no better time than right now to get it done. While you’re at it you might as well clean the living room and maybe your bathroom too? The dishes could use washing and I know there’s some laundry you could be doing. In the end, just clean your whole place from top to bottom. Doesn’t matter as long as it's time-consuming and directly gets in the way of your homework. Can’t study with all that clutter around anyway.

Exercise.

You’ve cooked, you’ve cleaned, you’re feeling productive, but is it time to work on that 10-page assignment yet? No! You still gotta make sure your physical health is peaking before you try to get that brain to flex its muscles. So, go get that hour of cardio in and work on your fitness because even exercising is better than taking care of responsibilities.

Get your homework out.

Grab that backpack and crack open that laptop. And then promptly stop there. Just look at it. Don’t actually start on it now, you’ve already done enough. Taking it out was half the battle. You deserve a break.

Buy Things.

Since we’re already being wildly irresponsible with our time today, why not buy things and have something to show for our irresponsibility. You’ve already cleaned your whole apartment and exercised today, you deserve to treat yo’ self. When you spend money you can fill the hole in your life that was supposed to be filled up by rewarding schoolwork. So go ahead and spend that money you don’t have and enjoy yourself. Everyone deserves a little retail therapy.

Sleep.

It is now almost 3 am. You have squandered most of the day by doing everything you didn’t have time to do and proven that time management is not your forte. At this point, you are probably exhausted. How could anyone work while so tired? The brain needs rest, ya know? Your best bet is to give up for tonight, wake up early, and look at your work with fresh eyes in the morning (WARNING: This is usually a lie college students tell themselves. When it comes time for you to wake up and do the work, you will choose more sleep over the assignment almost every time. At this point, you just have to accept the zero you’re going to get on that assignment and go back to sleep).