Pro-crastination!

October 18, 2009 at 4:42 am · Filed under Uncategorized

Exams are a time when you have to

• dig up all your lecture notes,
• start attempting tutorial one of all your subjects,
• check people’s Facebook status’,
• play with your dog who you ignored for 3 months, 
• take up cooking at home,
• begin to get addicted to Glee,
• go to uni on a Sunday to update your blog, etc.

The main thing to do is avoid the procrastination in the first place, I guess! But if you’re anything like me [and any other normal student] here are some tips I’ve learned over the years; 

Procrastination < Pro-crastination < Sleep < Food =< Study

Now ‘Productive procrastination’ (pro-crastination) definitely helps with the psyche – especially to minimise pain. Make sure you acknowledge that you are wasting time too! That way, you can at least relax in the wasted time instead of stressing unnecessarily about something which you know you’re not doing. Say you’ve deviated terribly, I’ve found that you can jump back on the horse with less negativity if you kind of have something to show for wasted time too and you keep wasting time to a limit of 3 hours. Here are my list of things to pro-crastinate with – if you so choose!

1) Resumes [~3hours]: Write your damn resumes, edit your damn resumes and submit your damn resume right now.

PRO: Now is the best time to start applying for jobs if you want one ASAP for the holidays. Many people will be studying for their exams and if you are deligent enough, perhaps you can be an early bird for the holiday jobs. Resumes are also fun to fix up and messing with layout always takes ages (if you’ve got presentation skillz) and is guaranteed to waste time! At the end of it, at least you have done something that’s useful. You can print it out and hug it as a tangible product of your time.

CON: Time is better spent completing study for an exam that will be the next day or in the next two days.

2) Cooking! [~2 hours] : Healthy food helps you learn.. better.

PRO: If you choose to make food at home, make sure that all the ingredients required are already there otherwise don’t bother unless the convenient store is down the road. Make a two course meal so that you can really see the fruits of your labour. Make it healthy and make something you know you will like.

CON: Don’t go for the three course meal though – that just increases your clean up time unecessarily. If you’re not an avid cooker, don’t try anything too hard either. You don’t want to procrastinate and feel like a FAIL at the same time, or afterwards!

3) Watch a documentary or two – in a row. [~2.5 hours] At least you’re educating yourself somehow and watching two in a row will force you to study afterwards because despite what you learn, you’re going to feel a little guilty.

PRO: Watching a documentary stimulates your reception to learning and remembering. At least watching something interesting and educational will oil the brainworks and you’ll leave the TV/Computer a happy chap. Then when you get to study, you don’t feel as shit because at least you’re prepared for some random trivia question you might get in the future. And hopefully you’re feeling renewed and refreshed learning about something you knew nothing about. Gives you hope for your exams!

CON: Make sure the topic you’re watching about interests you and is not depressing. Up-beat nature documentaries fly well, as do historical documentaries. A movie representation of ancient Egyptian culture (The Mummy) is not acceptable because while you’re watching it, you can’t fool yourself that you’re actually learning something.

4) Start a blog [~ 3 hours]: Though this has its setbacks, try and stick to writing about what you’re doing/want to do/trying to do/random crap.

PRO: Eventually you will get sick of yourself.

CON: Maybe you won’t.

5) Build a backyard vegie patch! [~3 hours]: Very satisfying!

PRO: Go out the back and start digging your way.  You get rejuvinated from the double action of exercise and tangible progress! Tis the season for:

Apples
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts
Cabbage
Chinese Cabbage
Cauliflower
Celery Root
Chicory
Cranberries
Cucumbers
Dates
Fennel
Grapes
Greens
Head or Iceberg Lettuce
Leaf Lettuce
Mushrooms
Nuts
Okra
Mandarin Oranges
Pears
Chile Peppers
Sweet Peppers
Persimmons
Pomegranates
Quince
Shallots
Spinach
Winter Squash
Star Fruit
Sweet Potatoes

CON: It might make you frustrated anyway because you won’t be able to see the plants grow before your eyes at that instant! Perhaps put more effort into loosening the soil gently, decorating the border (2×1 metre patch is doable in 3 hours) with wood or pebbles, etc. Make yourself a salad afterwards.

6) Make the dreaded list! [~3 hours] Just don’t get caught up in feeling like you’re doing work.

PRO: Make a list of everything you need to get done. At least it will all be out on paper. If there are things troubling you and you can’t keep up, write it all out. That way you can see that there are only a finite amount of problems attacking you. Organise the list into things you can fix asap and those you can’t. Thoughts of ex’s should be strictly limited to 10 minutes maximum.

CON: Don’t expect yourself to follow a time-to-time version of your list. Be realistic. Know you are  just writing the list to get everything out. Not to schedule your every minute. If you try to do that, it feels like work. And in the end, you end up more frustrated with yourself than before you wrote the list, because you’re not following the plan! Remember, writing the list can motivate you to do your work because you will see everything you need to do and how little time you have.. But if you plan yourself to the minute – rarely will this pro-crastination work. Plan things to get done by the day and be realistic. Possibly underestimate yourself.

7) Read about fraud and other intelligent crimes: [~2 hours]

PRO: Interesting facts and stories open your mind up to seeing some real possibilities against all odds! Hopefully you learn how to protect yourself from some scams but for those epic ones, they will shock you and entertain you at the same time.

CON.

8) Download all your lecture notes, tutorials, solutions in one sitting [~3 hours]

PRO: Everything you need in one place! Win! Plus it’s a feel good pro-crastination

CON: Eh.. You might not have the time to go through everything with all the procrastinating you’ve been doing! Sometimes googling/youtubing what you need to learn is quicker and more effective.

9) Make social networking and instant messaging your friend [~3 hours scattered]

PRO: Making studying social by keeping MSN signed in but forcing yourself to learn something before you reply to each person that clicks on you. Don’t check and see who is signed on. Leave people to click on you to initiate conversation! Refresh your Facebook only once every hour and use it to facilitate study rather than useless crap like what you ate just then. Talk about what you’re studying to people in your course!

CON: Don’t check the online list! If you’re crush/ex/good friend/old friend is on, then you’re a gonner! Immense self control required.

10) Draw comics related to your courses [~1 hour] – kind of nerdy, kind of lame, kind of a good remembering technique. Post them up too so everyone can appreciate your nerdy, lame technique.

PRO: Put thought into it after you’ve learned something.

CON: It’s not always about just being funny so don’t think too hard. Lame is a-ok in my books!

And there you have it. All of the above is about trying to put yourself in a better place (mentally) to study. There is no point beating yourself up, crying, or stressing.. Just do what you can and do it with a clear mind. Try not to pro-crastinate even but if you can’t help it, make sure it’s productive in some way. It helps!

PS: Does anyone remember what mark I got in the Fluids Mid semester test because I know it was shit, I just can’t remember how shit.

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