You Do have Free Time

You do so have free time! Unless you were that kid who signed up for 17 different clubs and became the president of each, you truly do have free time. I have a full and rigorous academic load, have a part time job, am a member of two clubs, and volunteer with other causes. I still have plenty of free time. I know others who are involved in way more activities than I am and still find the time for other things they find important.

"But I’m different! I really don’t have the time!" If that’s your response to this, sit down and take a good look at the time you're wasting. How much time did you spend hanging out with friends and roommates last week, with no discernible result either in terms of achievement or enjoyment? How about Facebook? I swear that that's the undoing of most of the people who'll end up dropping out. I can tell you the names right now, and it's only November.

When you sit down to do your work, probably in the evening, there's a barrier between you and actually getting to what needs to be done. Your brain has to jump out of relaxing mode, and into achievement mode. You look for things that'll give you just a few seconds more of pleasant drift. Your friends are nearby. Your roommate is right there. So is your computer, with Facebook just a click of the mouse away.

Know what it's all called? Displacement Activities. (I know about these matters; I've done almost a sixth of Psych 101.)

Guilty? Repent. Tomorrow is a new day, the first one of your new more-efficiently-conducted life. One technique I've used is to take thirty seconds before I leave for 5.30 pm supper to get rid of everything from the computer screen, replacing it with the documents I'll need for my homework: the Prof's instructions, the blank computer document. Then I get rid of all the accumulated crap on my desk, open the textbook at the appropriate place, and set it beside the keyboard. I tell all the people who might distract me that I'm going right to work when I get in, and that I don't want to be disturbed.

And if your analysis truly reveals that you're innocent of time wasting displacement activities, better look to your schedule. If you’re truly stretched so thin, maybe its time to scale back on a few activities. Really, what benefit are you to a club, or is a club to you, if you can only put in the bare minimum? Pick those that are important to you, excel in them, and regain some sanity.

This last is true only for a minority. For most, the problem is Displacement Activities, aka Procrastination. In your heart, you know that's your problem too. Fix it. You can. And you must.