“Harry Potter” and the Seven Stages of Procrastination – Part 1
It’s that time again when all our deadlines and exams are making us lose our minds with stress. So instead of sitting down and writing my essay, I did exactly what I shouldn’t do and embarked on a Harry Potter marathon! I wouldn’t recommend completely ignoring your deadlines and sit wailing, “Why can’t I go to Hogwarts? Voldemort would have done something stupid by now, and exams would have been canceled” instead of doing your work.
Anyway, as I was sat watching the films for the millionth time, I decided (like any Potter fan) to try out the trio’s ways of dealing with stress. While doing this, I suddenly realized that this was a perfect opportunity to take some inspiration from the events of the films. So this is my Harry Potter-inspired stages of writing an essay, compiled just for you.
Step 1 inspired by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Come up with a crazy plan and investigate!
Much like Harry Potter and the gang in Sorcerer’s Stone, who spent their school year trying to reveal (incorrectly) that Professor Snape was trying to steal the Stone, I wasted a day of essay writing on a crazy plan. I did think about trying to design an invisibility cloak, but let’s be honest here; I suck at science! I’m very much a humanities student, so creating the invisibility cloak to rival all cloaks just wasn’t going to happen. Instead, I began dreaming my day away. That was until I was disrupted by another escape attempt by Crookshanks (my fluffy ginger hamster). As I charged through the apartment to rescue him, before Rex (my cat) woke up, I convinced myself that Crookshanks was not as he appeared to be. It’s been a bit of a joke between my friends and I that he is far too smart to be just a hamster. What I needed was a plan to force him to reveal his powers! Long story short – after trying to set my laptop up to record his every movement (which failed miserably), I have to admit that Crookshanks is just a cute, super fluffy, and clever hamster. I did have an enjoyable day with the “fluffies” even though I got zero work done.
Step 2 inspired by Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Brew something naughty!
One of the downfalls of having a May birthday is that it is always the month of deadlines. Unfortunately, this means that I always have a lot of essays/reports/presentations to do around my birthday. I felt slightly smug after meeting one of my deadlines, and I charged off into town to relax. Three hours later, I was still sat in the same coffee shop, shaking slightly from all the caffeine I had been downing. It was at this point I thought it would be a fantastic idea to try and make cocktails! A quick Google search was all I needed to find my favorite alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktail shopping list, and I dashed to the store to find the ingredients for my brew. I stood in my kitchen with the ingredients at the ready, and I followed the brewing instructions exactly. I poured it into the poshest glass I owned and took a sip. It was vile. No, that’s an understatement. It was near vomit inducing! It turns out Potions would not be my forte either. Still, it was another day gone without work. I was starting to wonder how the trio (okay maybe just Ron and Harry) would have passed the Hogwarts end-of-year exams if it weren’t for Voldemort causing trouble.
Step 3 inspired by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Find secret passages and explore.
Some of our regular readers may know that I am British. It is widely appreciated that the weather in Britain is all over the place (often cold and wet). Because of this, when we do finally have good weather, we lose the plot a bit! It just so happens that in the middle of my deadlines we had warm, sunny weather, and I wanted to make the most of it! I was watching Prisoner of Azkaban and had a sudden urge to make the most of the weather and explore my city – in the style of the trio visiting Hogsmeade. I don’t have the map-making skills that the Marauders have, but I “wasted” a whole day exploring. I went on a trip to the ancient Roman baths, discovered a cool new coffee shop, and found some amazing sculptures embedded in a wall in a secret bit of the city! Overall, it was a pretty successful day, except that I still hadn’t finished my essay.
Writing an assignment can be super stressful. Make sure you take breaks, and give it your best shot!
