Putting the 'pro' in procrastinate

There are certain things you find yourself doing at certain times of the year like shopping before Christmas or carving pumpkins before Halloween. As the end of November creeps up a lot of us now find ourselves procrastinating in the lead up to some all important exams. Feeling guilty about not doing anything when you know you should be doing something is a feeling many of us are oh-so-familiar with. You know the procrastination disease is eating away at your productivity when you find yourself doing the following…

Excessive Cleaning

Sweeping, hoovering, polishing and taking out the bins when you should be sitting in the library working on a 3,000 word essay is a sure sign you know you’ve got it bad. You’re willing to do anything, including tackling the oven or fridge with a j cloth and a bottle of Mr. Muscle, to avoid what you really should be doing. Don’t lie. We’ve all done it. We’ve all been there.

Daytime TV

Now this was ok to do in first year; acceptable even. However hours spent watching quality entertainment courtesy of Jeremy Kyle or Jerry Springer is not acceptable in fourth year when you have a presentation to worry about or you need to submit the first draft of your FYP. If you’re waking up in the morning excited about seeing the lie detector and DNA results Jeremy promised on yesterday’s show then you know you’re in too deep. Way too deep.

Tea Breaks

I’m all for tea breaks and taking ten minutes out but, every now and again, a cup of tea and biscuit turns into a Friends marathon and, before you know it you’ve watched seasons 1-10 and you’ve written yourself into the script as a seventh ‘friend’. You don’t need college anymore you’re just going to hang out and drink coffee in Central Perk where thoughts of assignments, essays and presentations don’t exist.

Library Breaks

Congratulations on making it to the library first of all which means you weren’t procrastinating. But now that you’ve got here you’re not sure what to do with yourself so, after ten minutes of intense Facebook creeping, you decide you need a ‘short break’. Library breaks are almost as dangerous as the aforementioned tea breaks. A so-called ‘short break’ at the library suddenly turns into a wasted hour gossiping with friends and, before you know it, you forgot what brought you there in the first place.

The Daily Mail

As procrastination goes, for many people (mine included!), it’s a guilty pleasure to scroll through the Daily Mail, catching up on all the latest celeb news and gossip. Dragging yourself away and physically x’ing out of the Daily Mail tab can be an ongoing struggle.

Now, if you'll excuse me I have a cup of tea to make and an episode of Friends to watch...