In the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey popularized the “Eisenhower Decision Matrix”, which is based on this principle. “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.” Then, it’s time to figure out which ones should get the bulk of your attention. Before you start working, take some time to break down your workload into individual parts. That piece of business taken care of, it’s now time to plan your efforts. So pick a place where going to bed would be more effort than finishing the next part of your project. The later it gets, the more you’ll start rationalizing how good a nap might be and the more you’ll start deciding that certain parts of your project don’t matter. That’s why you want to get as far away from your bed as possible. When you’re studying in a time crunch, it’s likely you’ll be doing it late into the night. The most important part of location selection, though, is avoiding the “call of the pillow”. Also, close proximity to caffeine is helpful. I tend to favor coffee shops and libraries – I still go to my university library at times even though I’ve graduated – because I work well when I’m surrounded by other people who are also working.

I think your location is vital when you’re working under pressure, and personally I like to pick my study locations based on their “vibe” – that is, what’s going on around me. Now, we’re going to look at some specific concepts related to planning and willpower in a minute – The Impact Effort Matrix, Ego Depletion – but let’s start with the foundation: location selection. I’m not going to waste time lecturing you about the importance of planning, there are other videos for that – let’s just look at the best plan of attack when you find yourself in a time crunch. If you’ve been there as well – or maybe if you’re there right now – this week’s video is for you. in a valiant effort to stay awake and finish a huge project that’s due in 6 hours.Īs productive as I’d like to think I am… I’ve been there.

When we live by that advice, though, we sometimes find ourselves chugging concentrated coffee at 2 a.m. “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done the day after tomorrow just as well.” The great American writer Mark Twain once said, If you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

I want to finish my homework