Midterms are over, Halloween is gone. Now it’s time to finish out the semester and await Christmas. It’s time to work.

Papers, projects, and homework make up a process. Teacher create assignments, the student completes and turns in, just as the next assignment is posted. Imagine the cycle like the conveyor belt from I Love Lucy. The chocolates came out quicker than she could wrap them.

Think of school as a conveyor belt and staying ahead of assignments, quizzes, and tests is our goal. I love getting things done. The feeling of knowing that I have work to do and I’m not doing it makes my blood boil. Here’s a bit of advice from my type-A self to the world.

1. Compartmentalize your task.

Maybe I just had a hankering to use the word “compartmentalize” for this bullet point. Nevertheless, one of the reasons we procrastinate is that the job at hand seems too grand and complicated for us to approach. Take the tasks on your to-do list and break them up into smaller tasks. Looking at the work needed to be done in smaller portions makes it seem “doable”. As soon as you begin checking off each little task, you find that the rush of getting things done propels you to finish faster.

2. Make time.

I like this phrase, make time, because it reminds me of Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast. In case you have no idea who that is, he is the pessimistic clock that was formerly the Prince’s butler. By make time, I mean to set aside time in your day for working on and finishing items on your to-do list. Twenty-four hours seems like plenty of time to get work done, but unless you carve out what you need to do and when you need to do it, before you know it, it’s six o'clock and the list has only grown.

3. Say goodbye to the world.

Texting, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook kills productivity. Your phone is not blowing up, people can wait, nothing will change if you wait an hour or two to respond. I prioritize sleep, as soon as I decide to turn off the lights, I put my phone on do not disturb. It’s the same for getting things done, we tend to procrastinate because we are easily distracted.

4. Write it out.

I like using Google Keep because it allows you to use sticky notes to write out separate to-do lists. I keep it bookmarked on Chrome and there’s an app for iPhones. I stopped using planners when I graduated high school however, they’re still useful for laying out tasks and important dates. Procrastination is only helped by negligence to things that need to be accomplished.