I can’t get started! (Part 2)

The trick with making sleep nonnegotiable is to make “go to bed on time” the stress trigger. If you work better while feeling a bit under the gun, start telling yourself at Noon that bed is only eleven hours away. You’ve only got eleven hours, move move move move. All that stuff you say to keep yourself awake and moving at 1AM? You need to start saying it 1PM. You are the one creating pressure for yourself, not the time of day or night; you can pour it on just as easily at 4PM.

The next thing to make a must is food. Decent food. Well, the ‘best’ food you can manage given the circumstances. All that self talk that keeps you going at 3AM? Apply it to a decent meal. “I am not going to let the clock hit 7PM without having had a decent meal.” End of discussion.

Basically, the path to success is to take those things that you use to motivate yourself at 2AM, and apply them to a time of day that doesn’t snowball into a disaster four weeks into your term. 2AM isn’t helping you do that homework, you are doing that homework! Think about what you like about those late nights and find ways to mimic them, is it the quiet? The dark? The short deadline?  If you like the dark, you can use aluminum foil to block out light. If you like the quiet, consider headphones, ear buds, or even ear plugs (usually quite cheap at any drug store.) Even if you don’t have noise-canceling headphones, wearing them will reduce sound levels.

Whether you prefer the atmosphere of the night or the additional pressure of waiting until the last minute, you can recreate those circumstances on a schedule that doesn’t lead to disaster.