Are you a slave to procrastination??? (Tharidi)

Hey guys!

After talking with my fellow first year peers (…and occasionally eavesdropping on conversations…) it seems like most of us have sold our souls to the influential force that is: PROCRASTINATION!!!

So is this post going to give you helpful tips to study effectively? Will it outline alternative ways of studying that will keep you focused?

Answer: no.

I’m actually procrastinating right now by writing this post! Maybe someday I’ll write a guide to fighting procrastination, but until then, here are some observations, from my own and others’ experiences, on what it means to be a first year, labouring away during SWOTVAC:

• Overload your desk with sweet snacks. Tell yourself you need to keep up your energy levels for effective studying, but really you’re doing it because at this point eating chocolate is the only thing that adds meaning to your life.
• You have an assignment on the environment. You tell yourself this is the perfect opportunity to watch a documentary brought to you by yours truly, David Attenborough. You swear it will be educational. It’s not an attempt to stave off looking for more “academic” sources. Really, it’s not!
• Similarly, you’ll find a way to incorporate watching films, documentaries and interviews into studying for all your subjects. Will they be relevant? No. Will you be wasting your time considering literary journals are the only “real” resources for your essay? Yes. Will you do it anyway? Absolutely.
• You’ve been browsing the internet for four hours now. You should stop. Your assignment’s due in eight hours and all you’ve written is a laughably bland intro and one passable body paragraph. You don’t stop. Instead, you tell yourself that eight hours if a preposterously long time to spend on an essay. You don’t need that much time for 1500 words! Now it’s four hours till the assignment’s due. You’re going to write that essay, aren’t you? But you’re weak to the will of procrastination. It’s almost a talent. What’s one more refreshing of your dash, right?

And finally, the one that takes the cake:

• You’ve been working for a solid half hour. You’ve written a grand total of 200 words. You deserve a break.

Well I’m off to go study now! Or rather, I’m off to go TRY and study now!

– Tharidi 🙂