A guide to guilt-free procrastination

We’re now romping our way through the most stressful month on any student’s calendar.

Yet, despite that all-too-familiar mix of adrenaline and dread at the prospect of your next time at your current second home – the ExCel Centre – it somehow isn’t always enough for you to get off Facebook and get back to the books.

Just the prospect of getting the DLR is enough to make anyone despair.

Well, fear not because it is actually possible to dodge work while kidding yourself that you’re being productive! Here’s how:

If Netflix is your poison, then switch to watching things vaguely related to your subject: if you’re a language student, then watching anything in that language is legit revision. History students are also lucky since they can watch any period drama and count it as studying – I don’t care if your exam is on Renaissance Italy, Downton Abbey will do. A medic, you say? Whack on Casualty. As for Film students? No comment.

“I did no work today but I baked 3 different things…”

If food is your downfall, rather than reaching for the crisps and wallowing in how much work is left to do, spend some good old-fashioned time in the kitchen and get away from it for a while. It may not be revision but cooking is a life skill – and who can deny you that?

Having to choose between fitness and revision? I present you: The Perfect Compromise.

How could you possibly feel guilty for procrastinating if it’s healthy? Go for a run, a walk, a session at the gym, a yoga class or whatever works for you. Sometimes just getting outside for a bit of fresh air is enough to spur you on for another hour or two.

Hoovering has never been such fun!

Failing that, it is a known fact that household chores are ten times more fun when you should be revising. There’s bound to be other stuff you could do to make yourself useful. That laundry basket IS getting kind of full… What better time than now to pop to Tesco? And when was the last time someone cleaned the bathroom? You get the idea.

And finally, if reading random articles on the internet is your vice (I’m no psychic but I feel it’s a possibility…) then just continue as you are – what could be a better use of your time than that?!