How to fight procrastination and sleeping in?

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Hey all,

I start an ADN program in January that has 6:30 am clinicals that can be up to about 1.5 hours away from me (I know this is pretty par for the course) and, as some current students have told me, and ENORMOUS amount of work.

Heres my issue-I've always been a night owl, so getting up at 5 am or earlier REALLY sounds like a disaster waiting to happen for me. Honestly, I used to struggle getting to a 9 am course, though I've gotten better with this. Right now, I'm on a consistent sleep schedule of either 12am-8am or 11pm-7am, depending on the day. Ideally, I'd like to be at 10pm-6am before the semester starts on January 14th. I know most people don't get a full 8 hours of sleep, but I just know I will sleep straight through my alarm if I don't. So does anyone have any advice on how to adjust your sleep schedule when you're not used to getting up early at all? I've been taking 10mgs of melatonin to fall asleep at 11pm, so I really don't know how I'll take to 10pm or even earlier once clinicals start.

My second question is: what strategies do you guys use to fight procrastination? I know there are a million articles online about this, but I want to know what has worked in practice for all of my hardcore procrastinators out there. And by hardcore, I mean that I once wrote a 10 page essay in 6 hours before it was due. And got an A on it--score!

Thanks all for any advice!

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I have issues with this too. What I do is if I sleep really late, like 3pm, I'll stay up all night and the day the next day so that I'm exhausted and can go bed early and on that schedule.

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For sleeping, I'm also a night owl and the only thing that works for me is to get up at the set time no matter what. No sleeping in - period. And to make sure i practice good sleep hygiene and go to bed at the same time if I can. But sleeping in once will mess me all up, so that' my biggest piece of advice.

For procrastination you really just have to make good, new habits. In my experience, there isn't much room for procrastinating in nursing school. Setting a timer helps me to get started. I'll tell myself I have to work on X for 20 minutes, then can go to something else after if I still need to. Once I get in that groove, I am usually find continuing working on the thing I'm avoiding. If not, I'll take a break then do another timed session.

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Specializes in Gyn Onc, ICU, School Nursing, Health Education.

I am in the same situation as you. I start in January, have 3 days of 8am classes and one day of a 6:30am clinical. It may seem silly to others, but I recently read a study that there are biological differences between night owls and early birds.

I think you are on the right track. My plan is to start gradually. Currently, I am usually awake at 5:30 ish because I have kids and my middle schooler leaves at 6:30, so that helps.

Good luck to you! We can do this!!

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Jen-

Wow. I don't know how you do it... 5:30 just seems so early. But I guess I'd better get used to it lol! Good luck! We're gonna do great this semester!

PS it's women like you that amaze me. I don't know how anyone handles school and kids, but honestly it's amazing!! I aspire to be that dedicated and driven.

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I could have written your post. I am working full time and have been needing to be at clincials from 630-7 for the last 3 semesters on Saturdays. That means waking up starting around 5 on one of my 2 days off. I honestly set a LOT of alarms. I think for Saturdays I have 4 set on my phone with different alarms and 2 on my watch. Then I remember that if I'm late, I'm screwed. Not getting kicked out of the program helps. I also know I won't be able to shower Saturday mornings, so I shower Friday night. That helps me get more prepared for bed and helps me out in the morning. Set all of your stuff out the night before and go. Use a lot of lights. That early in January is dark and dreary and will make you want to get back in bed. Maybe you can even have someone in your cohort call you on clinical days and make sure you are actually out of bed. Feet on the floor, away from the bed.

As for the procrastination, I can't help you. I am still doing my care plans the night before they are due. I'm sure you will figure it all out to work best for you.

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Specializes in Emergency / Disaster.

This is my biggest concern as well. I have a 1.5 hr commute plus traffic time plus parking and taking the shuttle to campus plus getting to class... This means some days I will be LEAVING my home at 4:30 (I can't even think about waking up at 4am).... I would rather go to bed at 4 am. I can do pretty early to bed schedule most of the week, but I will be keeping my server job on the weekend. Most likely I'll work Friday nights and all day Saturday, but be off Sunday. My fella is a fisherman - so no consistency for him either. The two of us are just a hot nightmare!!!

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
This is my biggest concern as well. I have a 1.5 hr commute plus traffic time plus parking and taking the shuttle to campus plus getting to class... This means some days I will be LEAVING my home at 4:30 (I can't even think about waking up at 4am).... I would rather go to bed at 4 am. I can do pretty early to bed schedule most of the week, but I will be keeping my server job on the weekend. Most likely I'll work Friday nights and all day Saturday, but be off Sunday. My fella is a fisherman - so no consistency for him either. The two of us are just a hot nightmare!!!

Wow, that sounds rough! I couldn't imagine that kind of commute just to get to school. But you got this!! I hope that working on the weekends doesn't throw off your sleep schedule. I'm practically quitting my job at Walmart when I start school.

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Specializes in Mental Health.

You have a month, so just start going to bed earlier. There's no magic pill, but it's certainly possible and it's something a lot of people had to adjust to when they got their first 0600 clinical. I try to go to bed around 9pm every day regardless of what time I have to wake up, so when I do have to wake up earlier it's pretty easy to adjust. I've been using Headspace lately to fall asleep and it really helps - I know a lot of nursing students who have a paid subscription, myself included.

PS - your first non-passing grade on something will probably help motivate you, if you really want to be a nurse :)

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