The Evils of Procrastination

by Alex Bolten

Throughout the semester, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and bogged down with homework and studying. You’ve also got to balance your work life, social life, and work on furthering your career—all at the same time!

While it may be simple to just put off the reading for one class or to wait to start studying for the other, I urge you to not do this. You’ll only live to regret it. I know this from first-hand experience, as I did this a few semesters ago and I really wish I hadn’t. Here’s some advice that I have to avoid procrastination:

1.     Just don’t do it

a.     You never know what’s going to happen and come up. You may be tired now, but wait a week when the assignment’s due. All of a sudden you’ll have group meetings and a social that you have to attend and a networking session with professionals in your field. Now you have to worry about getting that assignment done when it could have been finished a long time ago and you’d be worry-free.

2.     Plan ahead

a.     I’ve said before that it’s a great idea to keep a calendar handy in a mortarboard book. You can easily see when all of your assignments are due. If you’ve got a free hour, why not try and work on something to get ahead? Again, something may come up whenever you had planned to do that assignment. If you have it done, you won’t have to worry. This can also be good if you’ve got a big assignment (or think an assignment is easy until you look and see it’s hard). Getting a head start can help you ensure that you’re not up until 2am the day before it’s due, trying to figure out how to do it. Giving yourself more time can also help to get you a better grade!

3.     Make a list and stick with it.

a.     Mark off everything that you have to get done and go through the list. If you can physically see everything that you’ve got to get done, you’ll be more motivated to do it. Add in time slots to help you keep on track and not waste your valuable time. Also make sure to take breaks. This isn’t considered procrastinating—you need short breaks every 25 mins. or so because your brain can only take in information for so long before you stop retaining information.

Follow these tips and you should be off to a good start. Every person is different, so find out what works for you. I will say that this isn’t something that can be done overnight and needs to be practiced. But, like anything, the more you practice it, the more you’ll perfect it.