For someone who is extremely lazy and addicted to her Netflix account I have been pretty productive lately. Granted, I am basing this off of only two weeks, but to me this is a big deal.

With the spring semester starting and the school year winding down, I am forcing myself to be the one thing I am afraid of most — an adult. No really, being an adult scares the living daylights out of me. The thought of being on my own and having to do things for myself like making appointments and refilling my own prescriptions is to me as a monster under the bed is to a 6-year-old girl. As the days pass I know that I will have to confront this beast that is adulthood and become an active member of society. As much as I don’t want to do that I have been trying to make baby steps to becoming a functioning, independent human being.

Like many teenagers and young adults, I usually won’t do anything unless I absolutely have to, and as my time as a high school student is coming to an end I am finding that this is the opposite of the mindset I need to have. I recently went to my therapist and he told me that I need to limit myself to one hour of Netflix per day. As my heart was breaking and I could see the pearly white gates in front of me I listened to what he was saying. He said that I give myself so much anxiety because I put things off until I can do nothing but worry about it, because of this he suggested that I limit my lounge time to one hour a day until I get myself in a good place mentally and as a student.

That’s where my challenge started. I would go home after that appointment and in two weeks I was to come back and explain my progress to him.

I guess the thought of telling him that I wasn’t making progress because I was lazy scared me so much that I did everything I could to stick to our agreement. I held up my part of the one-sided deal, and to my surprise I have been doing a lot better. I have gotten myself more organized and mentally stable all because I limited my Netflix time.

As much as it pains me to say it I have to admit that I was watching too much Netflix and not doing enough of the stuff that I should have been, like writing my pieces for newspaper.

Being an adult doesn’t start the day you turn 18. It starts the day you get your crap together enough to realize that you can’t lay around and expect the homework fairy to do your stuff for you. It took me almost a  year of being an adult to realize how to start being an adult, but I’m making progress. If you are trying to get your poop in a group and be a functioning member of society, adult or not, I might have some tips for you. So dear reader stick around and bear with me while we venture into the nightmare that is being productive.

First things first, to get your stuff together and get it done you need to remember what exactly it is you need to do. I highly recommend getting a planner to write everything down in. It doesn’t need to be fancy, as long as you have one you’re on to a good start. Write down everything you need to do — your homework, scholarships you need to apply for, people’s birthdays, even when you need to pick up your sister from her karate lesson. That’s what a planner is for. Side note, it is helpful to designate days of the week to specific tasks. For example, I have Saturday as the day I clean my room and Sunday as the day I apply for scholarships.

Second, if you need little reminders to do things set an alarm on your phone. You know that little clock-shaped thing on your iPhone? That application is not just good for waking up in the morning. I use mine to remind me to do things like eat and call my grandma once a week and even to remind me that it’s time to stop watching Netflix and get some real work done. Use the tools you have at your disposal to get your life on track and keep you sane.

Finally, now that we have our work done and remembered to eat and call Nana there is one more important step to getting your life together. Take a break. Take some time to yourself and clear your mind. Don’t overwork yourself because that leads to a mental breakdown, trust me, I know. Set your phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’ and take a nap, watch some Youtube videos, listen to some music. Just take a breath and relax.

This is how I forced myself to get my stuff done, and it has worked nicely. When you’re ready to start being productive these are some helpful tips that I recommend to ease your way out of procrastination. So hey, when you make your way into adulthood you can thank me, Christina Brennan, for helping you out. I’ll be the one with dark circles under my eyes and messy hair because I will still be trying to figure my life out. Good luck, kids.