Yeah, so we’ve all heard “Don’t procrastinate” since we were kids. I don’t really consider myself much of a procrastinator, to be honest. But sometimes, things need to get shifted around and that essay’s deadline is just a little too close for comfort. But I’ve found, especially in recent months, that this is perfectly fine – and sometimes even helps me get some of my best work out.
There’s a notion known as “Parkinson’s law” that essentially says that the less time you give yourself to do something, then you will get that project done in that amount of time. Conversely, if you give yourself months to do something, that project will probably take up that amount of time as well. This is where the (sometimes extremely stressful) beauty of crunch time comes in, at least for me – I only have one day to get this assignment done, so I will get it done as rapidly as I possibly can so it’s due on time.
When I’m in this crunch time zone, another thing that has come into handy is using Tomato Timers, a cute little website that uses timers that are based on the Pomodoro Technique. You set a certain amount of time to do something, then take short breaks in between until you eventually reward yourself with a longer break. I personally like to just keep sprinting with short breaks and then have the “long break” be the relief at getting an essay or assignment done, but the beauty of Pomodoro is that you can really do it however you want to, as long as you’re getting stuff done.
Combining these two time-saving/productivity techniques, I’ve been finding that getting stuff done when it’s down to the wire has become so much easier and less stressful than it probably should be. The best part is, these practices also work if you’re getting ahead of schedule too. Or doing anything at any time, really.
Now obviously, if you can avoid doing things last minute, you should. But if you’re slammed this midterms season and something’s gotta give, these techniques can help you work smarter rather than harder while you’re fighting that 11:59pm deadline.