While I’m not proud to say this, I do not think that it would be an overstatement to call myself the Queen of Procrastination. I have acquired tons of knowledge since I’ve been at Emory. Want a brief summary about President Johnson’s Great Society programs? I’m your girl. But one thing that I haven’t mastered is the ability to quickly and efficiently complete homework assignments.
So, rather than write a how-to article, I’m here to list all of the ways not to do your work. This way you can learn from my failures and, hopefully, translate them into your own successes.
Avoid websites with lots of links: In a perfect world, you wouldn’t even be on the Internet at all while doing your work. But, unless you have the world’s greatest self-control, chances are you are going to find yourself unable to resist the urge to check your Facebook or Twitter every so often. But the websites that you absolutely need to avoid are the ones that keep linking you to new content.
The worst offenders, I’ve found, are YouTube, Buzzfeed, and Wikipedia. One time, and I’m not exaggerating, I started reading about the criminal code and after about 20 clicks and two hours found myself on the Wikipedia page explaining the history of rugby. This, of course, all happened while I was supposed to be studying for a midterm. Talk about a time-waster.
Don’t commit to an all-nighter too early: It’s 8:00 pm and the essay that you haven’t started yet is due in your 10:40 class the next morning. Like any panicked student you think that you will have to stay up all night to complete your assignment. But do you really have to?
Rather than decide to stay up all night before you even start your work, try to set an earlier goal for yourself. Truthfully, and you probably do know this in the back of your mind, the paper probably won’t take you 14 hours to write. If you already think you have to stay up all night you’ll end up rationalizing wasting time. Cause why shouldn’t you watch a video highlighting all of Chuck and Blair’s best moments (yes, this has happened) when you have to be up all night anyway? Instead, focus on your work so you can actually get some sleep.
Remember that sleep is important: One problem that I’ve had since high school is the habit of convincing myself that I don’t have to sleep. Not in a weird, vampire-y way. More like an I’m a champion at all-nighters kind of way.
Even though I know that I can stay up all night and still get through the next day without suddenly falling asleep while I wait in the Cox sandwich line doesn’t mean that sleep isn’t important. Plus, staying up all night for a problem set due tomorrow will only mess up your schedule for working on your assignments for the next day.
Keep your priorities in order: When I put off work until the last minute it usually means that I’m dreading it because I think it’s too difficult or boring. Sometimes I’ll find myself doing other work to procrastinate from the assignment that I’ve been avoiding. But, when the assignment that I can’t want to complete is due the next day, I need to prioritize and just get it done. Yes, it is important that I look for a job, but I shouldn’t be looking for one at 3:00 am when I have to write five more pages about Enlightenment thinkers’ influence on the Constitution (yes, another true story. Ugh, I’m really the worst).
Hopefully these tips will help you develop the skills to do homework that I’ve never been able to master. If not, you can usually find me in the Reading Room in the middle of night and we can try to motivate each other and fight off sleepiness together.