Procrastination station

ABBY GENTRY | OPINION EDITOR

I, along with many other college students, fight a daily battle with procrastination. There are always better things to do than what actually needs to be done. Especially at USD where the beach is six miles away it is often difficult to force yourself to do school work on a beautiful day. There is nothing worse than the frustration of the clock striking midnight on a Sunday, with a stack of work to do, and no one to blame but yourself.

I’ve recently adopted two methods to try to handle my procrastination. First, I remind myself, “You’re going to have to do it eventually so you might as well do it now.” This actually works most of the time. If I force myself to think about that dreaded moment on Sunday night, I can relatively efficiently knock out an assignment when needed.

If that fails, I try multitasking. When this works, it’s great because I get the best of both worlds: I feel accomplished and did something enjoyable in the process. However, I often find myself bringing books to the beach only to use them as a headrest.

Right now I’m trying to find the balance between getting my work done in a timely manner and still enjoy the perks of being a college student. Sometimes I convince myself that I don’t need to stress about school and should just enjoy being where I am. Then I remind myself that technically the only reason I am here is because of my education.

For me, the stress of sitting through class with no idea what is going on is not worth the extra hour at the beach. If I can just get myself to buckle down and do my work, my day the next day is always much better and I am actually able to enjoy the things I am doing.

If I sit around, procrastinate, and do everything other than what I need to do, I spend the whole time thinking about the fact that I have to go back and sit in the library.

Rather than being stuck in this mentality, I should just knock out my school work and enjoy myself afterwards. The next time you are stuck fighting between doing your work and something else, I recommend knocking out your school priorities so you are able to enjoy yourself later.