If you’re a procrastinator (or a recovering one), then you’ve done this plenty of times before. However, that doesn’t lighten the load on your chest, and the closer the deadline gets, the more you think of all things you should’ve, could’ve and would’ve done, including not waiting until the last dern minute. But you did, so let’s focus on where we are right now in order to pull this one off.
1. Minimize your to-do list
For the stuff that gotta be done, see if someone else can do it for you. Choose meals that are quick, easy and light because the itis is the last thing you want right now. If it can wait, let it. And if you aren’t already using to-do lists, then right now is a must. Here are three easy lists that will spare you a hell of a lot of anxiety, especially when trying to survive a deadline.
2. Increase your writing gauge
Beforehand, a nine meant that I would just write four sentences, but because my deadline is round the corner, a nine now equals two paragraphs. Be careful not to get too carried away, however. Start off slow by adding about a paragraph to each number. If that was kind of easy to accomplish, then add more to your next writing session.
3. Break up your writing session
Instead of spitting out so many words or pages in one sitting, break it up. Your to-do list might look like writing four pages at 10 in the morning, another four at noon, a page at two, and a final four at seven. That’s just an example to give you the gist. Determine how many words or pages you need to knock out for the day, then break it up accordingly.
4. Monitor your self-talk
Picture trying to finish a school project that’s due the next morning. Your mom is standing over your shoulder repeatedly asking you why you hadn’t started this earlier and letting you know that you won’t do well because you waited until the last dern minute. She might even go so far as to say that you’re lazy and unfocused just like so and so, and that instead of being on the phone, you should’ve been working on that project. Instead of going to the mall, you could’ve been working on the project. And blah blah blah…
You really wanna tell her to shut up so you can focus! Negative self-talk works the same way. This takes time though, and the best way to work through it is to change the thought when you notice it. And this might sound crazy given the time, but unless you slow down, then you won’t even acknowledge that you’re doing it.
5. Slow down
I had a group project due by 11:59 p.m. I’d just gotten back in town, one of my team members wasn’t responding and another was in Israel in an entirely different timezone. It was me and one another exhausted student trying to get it done. Nothing was making sense and we were talking in circles, so at ten o’clock, I pissed her off and said that I was about to do a 20-minute yoga session. Came back in much better shape.
Negative thinking, body tension, and cracking your neck and knuckles are signs of needing to slow down. DO NOT try to work through the tension and the headache and the misery. Ease up and come back. Here’s one of my favorite practices when trying to survive a deadline:
Have any more tips on how to survive a deadline? Comment below. Want more tips like this delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to my newsletter. Would it help you to talk it out and have someone else write it for you? Check out my Call-to-Copy℠ service!