At the end of any semester, the cut off for late work and extra credit can make any procrastinating student feel stress. I should know, as I’m procrastinating finishing late work to write this article. All this work may feel heavy and impossible to finish, but while that could be true, you’ll never know until you try. Thusly, to give some advice I will share my tips for getting work turned in.

The main problem of doing work is starting work. From a mountain to a page, the hardest part is sitting down and working on it. This is one of the biggest obstacles, which requires massive amounts of self-will. Try making a plan with big projects or when you have a list of assignments; break your work up into smaller pieces that aren’t as intimidating. Lists also help with figuring out where to even start.

The next part is actually sitting down and doing the work. At first glance this seems obvious, but when you’re sitting in front of an open Google Doc doing nothing, it’s not as easy as it sounds. A method to help ease the oppressive blank page syndrome is to make little goals for yourself to complete everyday or so. These goals don’t necessarily have to be incredibly huge, for example, writing a page everyday. Match-up your goals based on both the deadlines and what you feel capable of doing. This could range from a paragraph or a sentence a day; I wouldn’t recommend the latter if your deadline is two days from now. Regardless, just by forcing yourself to meet your goal everyday you will get way farther than you would have before, and you might even get on a roll by writing past your goal!

Beyond getting started, staying on track can be a real obstacle; especially in the distracting world we live in. Certain apps or extensions can actually block certain sites from use during the time period you set for yourself to avoid social media. Many people find going to a public place like a library or a coffee shop helps them work, as it feels like people are watching them to make sure they’re being productive. More organized people might prefer making a schedule with strict 20 minute work periods separated by enforced five minute breaks. Silence might even be an issue and I recommend listening to music, or in some cases, podcasts. Of course, not every song or audio book is good for every activity. When working on an assignment that requires a lot of focus, I recommend creating a song only playlist. I suggest sticking to songs that don’t have lyrics, or if they do, the lyrics fall into the background of the music so your anti-distraction tricks don’t end up distracting you. However, in my experience, I like to listen to podcasts while working on my math or art because neither activity takes much active thought.

On the topic of motivation, one should always reward oneself for a job well done. Finished that essay before the due date? Have a doughnut. Focused in study hall and got all your homework done? Watch a movie. Studied for your big test tomorrow? Have a cookie. Or just whatever you feel like you deserve for getting your work done. Good job!