So picture this. It’s a Tuesday evening, you’re horizontal on your bed in a hot dorm room, surrounded with binders and lined paper and textbooks. You have a syllabus or two strewn next to your left foot that outlines in painfully specific detail each assignment that must be completed and reviewed before class tomorrow. It’s no secret that the responsible thing to do would be to actually use the pencil you’ve been fiddling with for the last 20 minutes to start working on your French homework, but no matter how many times you sit up and bring the worksheet to your lap, you can’t muster the energy to think of any kind of conjugation. What the hell IS a conjugation? So what do you do? You start sliding down a slippery slope of rationalization – there are so many important tasks you really should attend to before diving into homework...

1. Call up your parents.

They’ve been texting you for the past week wondering how classes are going, how cross country is turning out, whether you found a job on campus yet, etc. and the one word text responses have sufficed...until now. Now would be an IDEAL time to give them a ring. Feel free to spend an hour or two completely debriefing your mother on your life at school, or go into a full in depth analysis of the last run you went on or “Orange is the New Black” with your dad. This is important stuff – don’t let your homework interrupt this valuable time.

2. Redecorate your room.

You know that picture that just won’t stay hung no matter how many times you’ve re-taped it? Maybe its lack of stickiness is a sign. There is something that just isn’t working in your room, and now is your time to fix it. Why just take down that one picture when you could take down all your pictures and posters and re-position each one? This task is just as time sensitive as homework, so better to just get it done now.

3. Distract your roommate.

Let’s be real – she’s going through the same struggles you are. You glance over at her desk to find her bent over her computer doing bio homework, but you know she’s begging for some reprieve. No better time to walk across the room and command her attention. Go ahead and close her laptop and sit on the desk. While you’re there, have a deep discussion about your goals for the next year, or explain to her exactly what you had for your three meals today. Either way, don’t spare a single detail – she needs to know this stuff.

4. Go get a snack.

Sure, you just ate dinner. But you’re young, and with the volume of homework that’s about to get done after this one little “break” you need some kind of sustenance! So mosey on over to the dining hall and treat yourself to a salad, or a sandwich, or some ice cream. Well thinking it through, you really should just get them all to be safe. The longer you spend there eating, the more energy you’ll have to put into homework later.

5. Figure out your outfit for tomorrow.

Sure, you could wait until morning, but at this rate, you might have some homework to finish up before class. Feel free to take your time perusing your closet -- try a few different shirt-jean combos, maybe think about sporting a dress, plan out your shoes...while you’re at it, think about your outfit for the day after tomorrow as well. You really can never be too prepared.

Well, there you have it folks! Follow these simple five tricks on how to better manage your time and you’ll definitely find yourself calm, organized, and in bed at a very reasonable hour!