The semester is nearing the end and it’s right about now that students begin panicking. Between upcoming finals and semester projects, it is inevitable that some — or all — of my fellow students begin truly struggling to overcome the tempting allure of procrastination. I know that I personally have wasted the last handful of days in favor of an alternating cycle of reading and sleeping. Not exactly conducive towards ending my semester with a respectable performance but hey, I really like books and sleep, but not in that order. With all of that said, crunch time is no longer in sight, or even right around the corner. It’s here, and so my precious books will have no choice but to wait in favor of the atrocious culpability of responsible adulting.

So how should we be managing our time for finals week? It’s inevitable that spare time has gone straight down the drain, so let’s work on reclaiming it by first settling all of the most pressing priorities. Make use of the library and its wonderful wealth of resources for research and studying-purposes. You can also make use of the lovely study rooms if you really need the world to just shut up and let you think for a second. I’d recommend avoiding the trap of trying to get loads of work done in the comfort of your room. As a master procrastinator, I can tell you for certain that it never works out the way you want it to. In fact, I personally find myself doing the exact opposite of making progress when a perfectly usable bed is within sight. Do yourself a favor: hunker down in the library and don’t let yourself leave until you’ve met a quota of sorts, for the day. You may hate yourself at first, but you’ll quickly change your tune when you start actually getting things done; you may finally be able to sleep without the immeasurable guilt of incomplete work hanging over your head.

Don’t wait til the last minute either. It may be a tempting thought to put off your assignments or studying even further. It’s especially appealing when there’s just too-dang-much to do, and seemingly not enough time. This is a trap set by your brain. Even at this time in th semester, you have more than enough time to make a huge difference. You just have to hunker down and do it. I know that I get discouraged when I see the seemingly-infinite list of assignments I have to get done. It’s easy to let it pile up, but it has to all get done eventually. Better now than never.

For those of you trying to study for exams, don’t bother trying to cram it all in eight hours before the day of your test. You’ll have wasted your time, at best. Heck, you might actually give yourself a screaming headache that’ll just impair your performance even further. At worst, you’ll end up crashing and completely missing your final (that’s actually happened to me and I don’t recommend it).

Take your time, respect your limits, and keep telling yourself “One More Day.” It’s a good way to keep a productive mindset.