Maniacal March

If you are in university, you will understand this completely. If not, maybe this will help you when things get insane. This is a stressful time for university goers. We are running head on into the last month of the entire school year. For me, this means I have all five essays for all five classes due in March. Two are due next week. Which means procrastination is efficient, sleep amounts are low, and caffeine levels are high. It happens. At a time like this, we need to increase our productivity, so I decided to write a list of the things I think would help with this universal issue. Don’t get down on yourself, procrastination is inevitable.

Here we go:

1.       MAKE YOUR BED

No, seriously. At the end of the day, the only thing I want to do is crawl into bed. When my bed is unmade, I get way too comfortable and I usually end up napping. I have less desire to crawl into bed when I see that it is nicely done up. It forces me to sit up and it makes me almost want to get a move on things. Almost.

2.       PICK OUT YOUR OUTFIT THE NIGHT BEFORE

I know this sounds dumb, but think about it: how long do you spend picking out an outfit in the morning? Now think about this: if you take that time out of your morning routine, it means you have that extra time to sleep in!

3.       KEEP YOUR WORK AREA CLEAN

For me, this means keeping my room clean. I am NOT by any means a neat person. It takes more effort than it should for me to keep things clean. But I know from past times when my room was actually clean that a clean room means a clean mind. I believe that you are influenced by your surroundings. It’s why people go to peaceful places to write. It is also why I have moved my work to my dad’s office.

4.       DON’T KID YOURSELF WHEN IT COMES TO BREAKS

“I’ll just watch this one YouTube video . . . it’s only a couple minutes away from 9:45, so I’ll just watch another one until then . . . they put a link to another video in the description box and I may not remember to watch it late so I’ll watch it now . . . I may as well catch up on the videos I didn’t watch last week . . . oh no, how did it get to 11:00!?!?!”

Sound familiar? This happens to me literally every single time I need to get something done. It is very important to take breaks when you’re working, but keep it reasonable people. Don’t get caught up in something you love. I like to read on breaks. It’s easy to say I’ll read two chapters because chapters actually have an end so it’s not like I’m stopping in the middle of something. Try some sit ups, or listening to a few songs, or eating some kind of candy that dissolves. Find what works for you.

5.       TURN YOUR PHONE ON SILENT

Once, I was working in my sister’s room and she shook her head at me every time I picked up my vibrating phone. It really irked me, but I realized she had a good thing going on by turning her phone on silent. I am a curious creature, so I always want to know who is texting me. So I started turning my phone on silent and texting people back at a time that worked better for my productivity. It also helps to turn your phone over so you don’t see it light up.

6.       MAKE A PLAN

I organize myself by forming a series of lines and dots and squiggles that represent certain elements of my to-do list. It’s like a checklist, but cooler. It makes sense to no one but me. It’s basically a secret code. I find that it really helps me focus. It’s more fun and less overwhelming than a list. Once again, find what works for you.

7.       NEVER CLICK ON ARTICLES IF YOU FIND YOURSELF ON FACEBOOK

This is a BIG problem for me. Browsing Facebook gets boring after a while, but if I click on articles, I end up wasting an hour and a half in a loop of endless Disney cartoons and Jennifer Lawrence GIFs. Easiest solution is to avoid the situation in the first place.

This is all I can think of for now. I admit, I am doing 0/6 of these items right now. On the bright side, I have come up with a temporary purpose for this blog. Procrastination tool.

Happy writing!

-Daniella