Do Something, Anything

S ome days you just don’t feel like doing anything. Maybe it’s too cold outside, or too cozy inside, or you have a headache, or you just don’t have enough energy to do the next thing you’re supposed to do.

In these moments, it’s important to have a list of go-to things you can do when you can’t quite face the task at hand but also don’t want to slip into a funk of doing-nothingness: things you can work on that maybe aren’t what you should be working on but that you can feel good about doing and that will improve your long-term situation.

Don’t think of these things as productive ways to procrastinate because that’s a slippery slope. Think of them as low-brainpower tasks you can accomplish when you’re not feeling up to tackling the hard stuff.

Here are 10 go-to activities that don’t require much thinking, won’t cost you any money, and will make you feel good when you’ve done them:

• Get some exercise
• Take a 20-minute nap
• Scrub the bathroom
• Organize your binder or files or photos
• Wander the library looking for new study spots
• Update your résumé with these tips
• Visit your favorite instructor during office hours
• Write a letter to a faraway friend
• Schedule something fun for immediately after you want to get the big thing done that you aren’t working on right now
• Break up the big task into small chunks and plan when to do each of them using this amazing To-Do List

Now, go do something, anything!