Why I’m pro-procrastination (sort of)

Okay, I’ll be honest—I’ve been so wrapped up in term papers this week that I didn’t get around to planning a post for this week. The worst part is that I’m at that point in the semester where writing the papers becomes incredibly tedious due to exhaustion, distraction, and maybe a teeny bit of boredom with my own self-chosen paper topics. This means that I’ve been taking breaks every five minutes (seconds?) to check e-mail, Facebook, and perhaps some Saturday Night Live “Best of” videos on YouTube. Yeah, it’s that time of the semester.

But you know what? I think that procrastination can be a good thing in small doses. Whenever I find myself repeatedly taking “little breaks” to obsessively check e-mail or whatever, I know that I need a real break. I believe that the urge to procrastinate is really a concealed need for a break from studying (within reason, that is). Students have a tendency to be hard on themselves and push to work through the end of the paper, chapter, or whatever no matter. I’m guilty of doing this all the time, telling myself that I can’t have a break until I finish drafting a section of a paper or finish that week’s assigned reading. Then sometimes I get to a point where I’m reading and re-reading the same sentence over and over, reminding myself that I don’t “deserve” the break yet even as the minutes continue to tick by.

It took all of college and this first year of graduate to realize that when I reach this point, it’s time to call a spade a spade and stop torturing myself! Setting bite-size goals is definitely a great way to get things done, but giving into distraction can sometimes be the best way to go. Rather than interrupt my attempts at paper-writing every few minutes with another comedy clip or glance at Google news alerts, I find that pausing for an episode of Law & Order or talking with a friend for a while recharges me far more than a dozen mini-breaks.

This is why I think that procrastination is not all bad—sometimes procrastinating is just needing a serious break, but in disguise. It’s taken me this long to figure that out, though, which is how I know that it takes a seriously long time to figure out individual study styles and needs.

What are your tried-and-true study breaks, BG readers? Can you work for hours at a time or do you need some downtime as well?