Sunday; a close contender to Mondays for the overall least favorite day of the week. Although it's supposed to represent a day of rest and relaxation, Sundays are often spent climbing up an unsurpassable mountain of work left until the last minute, or spent being lazy whilst the weight of work stresses you out so much you fail to actually even attempt it. Sunday is a day of extremes: either filled with great productivity or little to none at all.
1. The "Productivity Burst" Phase
The first stage of a typical Sunday starts with a burst of productivity. You are hopeful, since you woke up at a reasonable hour, that you will actually manage to work on the (literal) mountain of work you have left until the day before, so you set out a plan.
2. The "I'll do it soon" Phase
Despite the productivity burst, there's a period of time in which I have to mentally prepare to be productive by procrastinating for a while. Whether this means taking a leisurely bath or shower, watching Netflix or finding one of many other ways to procrastinate my work. This is usually paired with the "I'll start in a half hour mentality."
3. The "Oops I missed it, better wait another hour" Phase.
Despite saying you would seriously get to work in half an hour, it's been 32 minutes. Oops, you missed it. better wait until the next half hour before you sit down to get your work done.
4. The "Sit down and try to be productive" Phase
After downloading the file regarding the assignment and writing a title for your essay, you realize you are not yet ready to be fully productive. This leads nicely into the next phase:
5. The "I deserve a break" Phase
6. The "I need a nap" Phase
After glancing at the clock and realizing that yes, you have only been up for a few hours and you are still exhausted, you always contemplate taking a Sunday afternoon nap. We've all been there, particularly if you've eaten a big lunch.
7. The "I've been procrastinating all day" Phase
After waking from your nap, or at least the idea of one, you realize the time is slowly withering away and you are yet to do anything productive. You've been busy all day- busy procrastinating.
8. The "Why am I like this" Phase
Why am I like this? Why am I like this? You've put off your work for so long that the stress you have caused yourself is now a contributing factor as to why you can't focus or be productive. It's like even though you have a mountain of homework to scale, you still can't find the motivation.
9. The "Begin to be productive" Phase
The only way to begin to climb the massive workload you have left for yourself so late, is to actually stop playing mind games and begin to be productive. This may involve knocking tasks out rapidly, using the motto "Quantity over quality." (Hint: Some may never reach this phase and are stuck in a constant state of stress).
10. The "Pure Panic" Phase
Despite actually having gotten some things done, you realize how much there is left to go and proceed to hit rock bottom: the panic phase. You can tell yourself to keep calm, but the pile you have left to do suggests otherwise.
11. The "Denial" Phase
You didn't achieve most of the things you said you were going to, but everything is fine. Don't panic. Simply live in an ongoing state of denial and promise to yourself you'll do better next week.
12. The "You're kidding yourself" Phase
You can wish all you like, but this is the never ending cycle of Sundays. Next week will be the same; you will leave everything to the last minute and put yourself into the same stressful situation in seven days. Congratulations, you played yourself.
Another Sunday is over, and the worst is far from over; here comes Monday. Brace yourself.
