by Rachel Navis

Hello future Titans! My name is Rachel, and today I’m here to talk about my worst academic nightmare: procrastination. This is something I’ve struggled with since high school, and it has followed me to college as well. Luckily, I’ve picked up some tricks along the way that have helped tremendously. Wanna know my secret? Stay tuned to find out.

My first problem that I have with procrastination is struggling to find the motivation to actually do all of my assignments, especially if there are a lot of them. Getting myself to start them is half of the battle. If I see my long list of things I need to do, it’s very overwhelming and I usually feel very stressed. Now you might be thinking “Rachel, just start! You won’t get done with it any faster if you just sit there”. And you are so right, but sometimes that isn’t enough, and I just let the assignments pile up until I’m even more stressed. My solution to this problem is to set up a study schedule. I look at my planner for the week, and check to see all of the assignments that I have to get done and when they’re due, as well as other commitments such as work or club meetings. I then assign different things to each day of the week so I can take it day by day. This way, I don’t have the whole list to deal with at once, I can break it up so it’s easier to manage.

Now I look at each day specifically. I know myself, I can’t sit down for 3+ hours and just get it done, I need a brain break every now and then. So I set aside chunks of time for studying and then have little breaks thrown in there. Taking breaks is actually better for you, because you can let yourself retain what you learned during your break without trying to cram more information in before it’s had a chance to really settle. This strategy has helped me so much, especially with classes being moved online due to COVID-19. Being at home all day makes it even harder for me to stay on top of my work load. So, keeping up with my schedule is extra important.

Another problem that I encounter is thinking that “I have time later to do something, so I’ll just leave it till then”. While this might be manageable sometimes when I don’t have a lot of assignments, it can really come back to bite me at the end of the week if I’ve let too many things go. My best solution to this problem is this: “If I have time to do it now, I’m gonna do it”. If I have the time, there’s no point in waiting. It’s way better to get stuff done early and then have more freetime at the end of the week with nothing on your mind, rather than giving yourself a break in the beginning of the week and then have the weekend come around with a pile of things to do that you put off. This has been a struggle for me to implement, but I promise that it will help a ton! I feel less stressed and overwhelmed when I complete things little by little.