Story by Michael Lanoie
We have all been there. We push the assignment off until the last minute because you were off at the beach or doing community service. Teachers don’t care about the excuse, they just want the assignment done and done correctly. Well you waited until the last minute and you are worried that your procrastination has ruined your grade. Fret not, because I have been in your shoes and I want to help.
Here are tips on how to procrastinate and get away with it:
- First you need to make sure you push of the work. There are dozens of things you would rather do than your assignment. Throw in a load of laundry or clean out your email inbox. Just don’t do your assignment
- Now that your assignment is put off, it’s time to panic. But make sure that you tell yourself that you have plenty of time. Denial is key.
- Finally begin the assignment. If it’s a paper then go ahead and put your name and all that title business on the top of the page. A blank page is scary so you got to get some words on there. If it’s a project or something then make sure you take out the requirements and glance them over. You are waiting until the last minute, not going in blind.
- If nothing is flowing then get something to eat or drink. It’s really difficult to work on an empty stomach or dry throat. Get something that has sugar or caffeine. You can’t be falling asleep now. As far as food goes, just find something delicious so that it makes you happy.
- Now it’s time to really get cracking. The key to amounting a lot in a little amount of time requires two things. One, you can’t stop. Just keep writing or working even if it doesn’t really work. You need substance for your paper or project. Two, make sure you keep things general. If you waited until the last minute then you probably didn’t do much research on the subject. So keep things general to avoid talking about stuff in which you are clueless on.
- Tell yourself that you are going to finish in time. It’s important to have confidence in yourself. Also remember to tell yourself that you will start earlier next time, even though we both know that you wont.
Bonus: A cool way to give yourself some extra time on an essay you have to email is to make a word document, opening it in notepad, deleting some of the coding, and then save the word file. This will make the word document unreadable, so then your teacher will email you at a later asking for you to fix it. Use that time to finish your essay.
