Dear Devil’s Advocate,

It’s getting to be that time of the semester where the work is piling on. I have so much work to do and I am always really stressed. It’s got to the point where I am so sick of doing work that I put it off until the last minute and that just leaves me with more work to do in a shorter amount of time. I know you will probably just say, “Don’t procrastinate,” but that’s easier said than done. I just don’t know how to make myself do what I need to do. Any advice?

Sincerely,
Stressed Sam ?

Dear Sam,

There is only one real piece of advice that I can give you, but you apparently know it already: Don’t procrastinate. It is not a question of if you can actually get work done. It’s comes down if you have the will power to sit down and do your work. Think of it this way: What other things are as important as your education, which will determine your future and the rest of your life.

Human nature has set a limit on all of those things and, chances are, you have gone over that limit. However, you haven’t gone over your limit of work yet. Far from it. So, get out of bed, turn off the television, and put away the junk food. Your purpose is to accomplish something with your life. In order to accomplish something with your life, you have to work.

There’s plenty of cliché advice I could give you. Get your work done early. Make to-do lists. Get the harder tasks out of the way first. You have heard all of this before. These things don’t work because they don’t fix the problem. The problem is in the way you think about work. You dread work because it takes effort.

In actuality, you should love work because it takes effort. Work makes you a better person. If you just coast through life, then you won’t be happy. Happiness is achieved through hard work. Think of work like you would think of going to the gym. Lifting weights makes you stronger. The same is true with work.

The only way this problem is going to be resolved is for you to get your mindset geared to academics, and to keep your head in the game for the remaining three weeks of the semester. Soon enough you will have all summer to do absolutely nothing, if you so choose.

Sincerely,
Devil’s Advocate ? ? ? ? ?

Dear Devil’s Advocate,

I kind of like this girl, but there’s only a few weeks of the semester left. I was thinking of asking her out to dinner or something, but I don’t know if I should because even if she said yes, we would only have a couple of weeks and then summer would come. Since we live far apart, things could go bad over the summer and everything would fall apart. But, if I wait until after summer, then I might have missed my chance, you know? So, should I ask this girl out now or wait until after summer?

Sincerely,
Crushin’ Chris ?

Dear Chris,

My suggestion is to take what I call the “Nike approach.” Just do it. Take her out to dinner and have some fun for a couple weeks. You are thinking too far ahead into the future. Summer is where things get tricky.

If things go well over the next few weeks, then you two can discuss about the summer. Perhaps you two can just keep talking over the summer and see how things go. By being apart, you have the opportunity to really get to know each other by having a relationship based on talking and getting to know each other. This will help build a strong foundation for your relationship, so by the time fall rolls around, a stable, mutual relationship can begin.

On the other hand, if it doesn’t work out before the year is out, at least you know that you tried, and you will not spend the whole summer wondering, “What if?”

Sincerely,
Devil’s Advocate