I don’t know about you, but I procrastinate literally every responsibility I ever have. I spend most of the time I have something to do thinking about all the different things I could do instead. Oh, some online homework and paying my rent? Yeah, but I think I need to stare at this wall for another hour.

I’ll actually do something harder and more productive, like cleaning or making a budget, rather than spend my energy taking a five minute open-book quiz online.

Maybe it’s the rush I get from scrambling to finish something last minute. You know what I’m talking about? You look at the clock and realize there’s only an hour left until the thing on Blackboard closes. So you scramble to grab your laptop and get it submitted; it’s only participation points, but you still freak out.

No matter the reason, I think it’s important for me to get a grip on the whole procrastinating situation. I have compiled a list of a few things I might be able to do regarding my lack of discipline. Hopefully it comes in handy when I get too wrapped up into all my wall-staring and budget-making.

1. First things first, give yourself a prize.

This one is going to take a lot of discipline, because it’s going to be incredibly tempting to just take the prize instead of actually doing the thing you need to do. That being said, hopefully there’s a better person deep down inside of you that will stop you from being awful.

So give yourself a prize, something to look forward to and to encourage you to finish your task. Maybe if it’s something small like paying your rent, you could reward yourself with that candy bar that’s been sitting in your desk drawer. Maybe if it’s something bigger, like finishing a long paper, you could reward yourself with a Netflix episode or some Amazon Prime browsing. Things are more fun to do when you know there’s something to look forward to. (You know, besides a decent future and a proud dad.)

2. Second things second, the opposite of giving yourself a prize.

This is the one that might really work, because if there’s anything I hate more than tasks, it’s adding more tasks to the tasks I have yet to complete.

So this is what you do: set yourself up for a responsibility you have to get done. Here’s how it should go:

“I have to finish this homework. If I don’t finish this homework in one hour, I’ll have to do 25 pushups.”

The sheer terror of having to do any sort of physical activity should cause you to speed right through the homework, thereby saving yourself any sort of physically demanding work and getting to eat a candy bar instead (if that’s the reward you set).

3. Give yourself small goals every day.

This one is for the bigger projects. Let’s say you’re like me. You had a six-page paper to do, and a month to do it. Cut to the morning of the due date and you are literally just now starting it.

You suck.

In order to avoid something like this in the future, it’s important to set tiny goals for yourself every day until the due date. It’s a lot like you would do if you were reading a book. Normally, you don’t read the whole book in one sitting. You space it out, reading a few chapters every once in awhile. That’s what you should do with your paper. On this day, write one paragraph. On this other day, write a few more.

Stop doing the whole thing last minute!

And this is where my fountain of knowledge becomes shallow and sad. I have very little complete understanding of procrastination, so to say I know exactly how to combat it would be a lie. However, hopefully I will look back on this list and be less of a terrible person because of it.