The best ways to procrastinate

How do we get through this month, with the never-ending references and textbooks, without losing complete sanity? Just a little bit of procrastination won’t hurt.

Everyone needs to procrastinate – I mean it’s only healthy. Imagine working for days and days without a break. It just wouldn’t be right. Procrastination makes you a better person by encouraging you to be more creative with your time, and you are giving yourself the time you quite obviously need to recharge. Get back to work later with a more fresh and wiser mind. That’s what I tell myself anyways…

But what are the best ways to procrastinate? Don’t say napping.

Book a holiday

Knowing what you are up to in the long summer months cannot only be the light at the end of your tedious revision tunnel but getting with friends and planning these events can help you escape the study blues for a while. Whether it be a holiday, a festival, or even just visiting friends, sorting out these trips needs to be done at some point, so you might as well use your procrastination slot productively.

Can I go on holiday now, please?

Redecorate the house

Fed up of climbing over chairs to get to the microwave or need a closer plug socket to your bed? Now is the time to experiment new Feng Shui. Pushing beds and chairs to and fro is active and physical so is a great way to procrastinate, very much contrasting to the usual hourly Facebook scroll. Plus a new interior is sometimes the best way to help new facts and figures sink in, so this kind of procrastination will definitely be helping you in the long term.

Just make sure it’s alright with your house mates first

Become 50 years old mentally

Older people have it easy, take a leaf out of their books for some relaxation time. Gardening, baking, knitting, colouring, and puzzles: these hobbies are so calming and therapeutic you might even forget you’re a university student with five exams after all. Stressing over work gets no one anywhere, so have an hour sat in the sun with a crossword book.

Who doesn’t love a good crossword

Find a new TV series

Sometimes the best procrastination can be doing nothing, so take it away from the computer screen and go slump on the sofa with a tub of Ben and Jerries. Find a new TV series especially for exam season and escape into a world of somebody else’s problems. Just make sure it doesn’t turn into a binge marathon until the early hours.

Netflix no chill

Me time

Bath, nails, face mask, tan- you might as well make yourself look good. There is nothing worse than catching your reflection in the library and gasping in horror at what you see. Instead of staring down at those hideously bitten nails, or teasing fingers through greasy hair or unkempt beard, use the time you are staring at your screen blankly to have a little makeover sesh.

Take up a hobby

Doing something completely out of the ordinary feels like the last thing you should be doing when preparing for that fateful June exam, but getting away from it all for an hour or so can really help your work ethic. Activities like running and singing immediately take you away from the school room environment, thankfully a complete break from everything you’re meant to be doing. Procrastination helps you find a new love for new things.

Anything is better than revising

Do those chores

*Sigh* They need to be done at some point, and you’d much rather do a food shop than carry on with that disgusting literature review anyway. Sometimes tackling the pet slug or eliminating those impossible-to-remove stains from the weeks’ worth of washing up can be super satisfying, and your house mates will absolutely adore you. Keeping the bedroom tidy during revision is a must, so you might as well get on with it so it doesn’t become your excuse for having a ‘bad work day’.

Still beats revision

Procrastinate with friends

Why procrastinate alone? Make sure you and your friends plan a specific time you are going to ditch the books and hang out. Whether that be a night out or a swanky lunch, everyone needs a time out. Being with friends feels a lot more like a successful use of time, compared to the usual flipping through books pretending to know what Marx is on about this time. Sometimes this is the best kind of procrastination- knowing that other people are putting off studies just as much as you can be the perfect motivation to hit the books as soon as you are back home.

As long as we’re both not doing work it’s ok

So as well as the usual ‘I’ll just check Facebook quick’ procrastination that easily stretches across one hour or three, take part in one or all of the above to ensure you are procrastinating in the best way possible. Because let’s face it- who doesn’t procrastinate?

By reading this you’re procrastinating right now. Get back to work.