Every school year, you tell yourself that you will stop waiting until the last minute to do assignments, that you will go out less and study more and, most of all, that you will stop going on Netflix when you should be doing homework. Each term, you have that one friend who manages to conquer yet another battle with finals, and you roll your eyes as they do their usual victory dance. All of your friends wonder how they balance making money, being a social butterfly and collecting all those A’s. Well, their secret is blown. Follow these few steps below, and you too can master the art of procrastination.
Know your limits
First and foremost, based on the assignment, know when you are pushing it. You do not want to underestimate too much and get stuck having to halfway complete an assignment or not be able to complete it at all.
For example, when it comes to writing an essay, make sure you are honest about your own writing skills. If writing is your specialty, and you know for sure your paper will be gold, go ahead and wait until the night before. If writing is your weakness, and it takes you several hours to complete your introductory paragraph, or you have no idea what an introductory paragraph is, you should definitely do it at least two weeks prior so that you give yourself enough time to do a first draft, revise and make sure your final product is your best effort.
When it comes to projects and experiments, those should never be done less than a week prior to the due date unless you want to really strain yourself. Projects are often underestimated. You think you can fake your way through, and your professor will not know the difference between last minute work and dedicated hours of hard work; sorry to break it to you, but they will. Considering that experiments or projects usually weigh heavily on your overall grade and may even be the only one you’ll get all semester, I wouldn’t slack when it comes to effort on projects.
Most importantly, know your professor. Make sure you understand exactly what it is you have to do to complete the assignment, what your professor is expecting and how he or she grades. Plainly stated, do not procrastinate the first big assignment for a professor with whom you are unfamiliar. After you’ve completed a few assignments and have an idea of what his or her grading techniques are, you can work in some procrastination. You never want to procrastinate with a professor whose class you have just enrolled in for the first time because only the experience of previous course work will tell you how much procrastination you can actually get away with.
The biggest rule of procrastination is to know the difference between assignments that are worth being procrastinated and ones that you should just do and get it over with. Easy assignments that do not take much time should always be done when you have the time. Do not save them for the last minute because they can pile up and ruin your Friday night. Save your newly-found procrastination skills for more tedious work.
Work smarter, not harder
Yes, you read that right; to be successful in not doing your work, you still have to do your work. An effective procrastinator is someone who is smart enough to wait until the last minute and still correctly complete their assignment. In your classes, be attentive, ask questions, and, most importantly, take notes. The more information you obtain and record, the less information you will have to cover to do your homework later. It’s like waiting to study for your midterm or final. Everyone does it, but would you rather just review your detailed notes the night before the test or have to read every single chapter because you cannot remember one word your professor said this semester? On behalf of the entire student body, Alex, I’ll take the first option for 500 please.
Snack city
Never, ever, attempt a last minute assignment without snacks. Be it something healthy or completely greasy, you have to simultaneously eat and work. You cannot fall asleep if you are chewing and, most importantly, if last minute work gives you anxiety, eating is a good way to counteract it. Eating the right snack can keep you awake, serve as a reward for your assignment completion and will take your mind off how much time it will actually take to complete the assignment. Tell yourself “I’ll eat half now, and when I finish, I will treat myself to the rest.”
The week you plan to finish an assignment that you knew about since syllabus week, make sure you take a trip to the store and get all your favorite snacks. That way, when you get stuck or suddenly feel hungry, you will not be tempted to stop and take a long break ― you’ve waited long enough. In that moment, you’ll grab a snack and head right back to your laptop.
Play time
Procrastination would not be complete without a little distraction. Make that a lot of distraction. After you’ve done your in-class duties and stocked up on your snacks, it’s time to reward yourself. Go out with your friends or maybe stay in for a good movie night. Enjoy yourself because if you did your prep work right, then you have all the time in the world to complete that assignment that you dread starting. Okay, maybe not all the time in the world, but enough time to get it complete, nonetheless. Bask in one last night that you don’t have to get less than five hours of sleep.
