“Dear Arden,

How do I stop procrastinating on important stuff, like College Applications? Or like I am right now by writing this for the advice coloumn [sic]?”

-Late Luigi

Dear Luigi,

Honestly, I am right there with you. Why do you think I started this column? It’s much less overwhelming to write a short, fun advice column than it is to fill out applications that could determine my entire life path. But this isn’t about me; let’s talk about you.

Just by asking how to stop procrastinating, you have taken an important step in reducing your tendency toward procrastination: acknowledging that it is a problem. Procrastinators often succeed in spite of their procrastinating, so they never make any attempt to change their behavior. If waiting until the last minute worked out last time, who says it won’t work out again? And I can’t say that I disagree with that logic; I’ve seen people pull successful all-nighters and have even dabbled in procrastination myself. But, in the end, even when it does work, it’s not exactly healthy, especially for a task as daunting as multiple whole college applications. So I’m very glad you’ve come to me for help.

My primary suggestion would be to split your application work up over multiple days, and take it slowly. Not only are college applications overwhelming workload-wise, but they can be emotionally draining, so it’s best to pace yourself. Maybe today, you just take a look at your Common App and get an idea of what you need to do and how long it will take you to do it. Maybe tomorrow, you start filling out basic information. Maybe the day after that, you start writing one of your essays.

Of course, splitting it up over time is useless if you’re just going to keep procrastinating  and end up doing it all at the last minute anyway. So, if you’re reading this, here’s your sign to stop procrastinating and start doing your work. You don’t have to do it all right now – you just need to get started on it. You can even put off the last chunk of work until the day before it’s due if you want to, just as long as you are confident you can finish it in that time.

In the end, I can give you all the advice in the world as to how to manage your time in order to account for difficult tasks like college applications, but it is up to you to sit down and decide that you are going to start working. And so, my final words to you: it’s going to be okay. You’ve got this. Now go get to work.

Best of luck,

Arden

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