Sept. 6 was Fight Procrastination Day, or so the Internet tells me. It’s a holiday which sounds as made up as every third Monday being National Best Friend Day.
Apart from the irony that I procrastinated on the story I was writing for this beloved holiday, procrastination is no laughing matter.
The third week of the semester is coming to a close, and let’s be honest. You’ve been procrastinating since week one when you kept putting off reading the syllabus for our university experience class.
By the way, for those of you taking University Experience on Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 10:20 a.m. with Marsha Hopper, you can find your syllabus here. Please read it already.
Procrastination is the bread and butter of life, but no one knows how to butter that bread more than college students.
College students will procrastinate almost anything for almost any reason. It doesn’t even have to be related to school work or necessarily stressful for us to put it off. There have been times when I’ve procrastinated eating dinner because I was too busy binge-watching “Stranger Things,” which, by the way, was a solid decision on my part.
Clearly, falling into the seductive arms of procrastination is incredibly easy. And it’s never been easier than when putting off homework.
For example, you might make excuses that X assignment needs to be done before Y assignment because days are linear. Even though time is a social construct, your professors won’t wave those deadlines that easily.
In memory of Fight Procrastination Day, I’ve assembled a few tips and tricks to help you fight off procrastination.
1. If you find yourself turning to social media to put off your work, give Cold Turkey some consideration. Cold Turkey is a program that allows you to block those distracting sites for set periods of time.
2. Fight your procrastination by actually fighting someone. I don’t recommend going out onto the streets and punching someone, but maybe give a new sport like boxing a chance. I have no idea if that’ll help, but letting out energy by playing sports or exercising can help clear your mind.
3. Find a bomb station or playlist on Spotify to get you into the groove of working. There’s a Spotify playlist for almost anything, so don’t just settle for“Brain Food.” Give “Fresh Finds: Basement” a chance.
4. Look at yourself in the mirror. Longingly look at your reflection as your reflection looks back at you. Let that feeling of existentialism overcome you to the point of discomfort as you slowly look away and contemplate your life. Start on that paper, start on it now.
5. Give yourself a short break in-between work, but do this with caution, as it can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, you’ve been working hard and deserve a short break, but if you’re not careful, that short break might turn into two hours of you on the Wikipedia page for John J. Doles, who served in the Louisiana Senate from 1952 to 1956.
6. Start using a planner? I’ve never used a planner, but people tell me it really helps them be more efficient and productive. For the past three years, I’ve bought a planner at the beginning of the year and then never used it. If you aren’t sure where to start with planners, check out our round-up here.
We’re all fighting procrastination together, even at this very moment. You’re probably reading this knowing full well you have something else to do. As the semester continues, let us continue to maybe, perhaps, fight our tendencies to put things off for as long as humanly possible.