I’ve been a little stressed lately and put off some homework for a little while. I’ve come back to my senses though and I’m no longer screwing around. How do you guys prevent yourselves from wasting time that could be used to work on hw or studying?
I am a big fan of making sure to set some personal time for yourself. If you were working a job instead of going to college, you would have working hours, but the time you didn’t spend working would mostly be free time. I am of the firm belief that running yourself into the ground studying is not a good idea. Instead of studying late into the night and getting burnt out and procrastinating, schedule yourself so that you work 9 to 6 or 8 to 5 or whatever makes a nice 45 to 50 hour work week for you, and then don’t do work after dinner unless you need to get something done. If you’re between the hours that you’ve set for yourself to work, don’t do recreational things during that time.
I made a habit of staying on the academic side of campus after my classes and away from my room. Study in places where you can’t roam and chat and only study with serious students.
My schedule: Breakfast then classes until noon or 12:30pm. I had lunch over in the student center with a friend and we then did homework in the library. Back to the dorm to hang out and eat dinner. After dinner, back to our dorm room where I mostly did reading-type homework - whatever is easiest too you. I kept the same schedule all four years, moving to study in the quieter, prettier Law Library when my best friend graduated early. We had active social lives and had a great time at college.
We laughed that people who got up later would think that we didn’t go to class or study. BTW - we both have MBAs. Plan and pace yourself. It works.
Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.