To get into a good school you need good grades, to get good grades you need to study. Being able to sit for hours and look at the same content over and over again while also fighting the urge to sleep, its not a skill I have. After 4 years of highschool, 3 years of middle school and 5 years of elementary school, I’ve gone through countless study methods, and finally, I’ve landed on one that works. Sitting in front of my psychology work, letting the nagging thoughts of all the work that I need to do stop me from actually getting started. I begin to give in, picking up my phone, but instead of letting muscle memory take over, I swipe to the page that has the one thing that will jump start my motors. It’s not the brain-numbing, finger-scrolling apps that get my mind as far away from my work as possible, its the one that will turn my ever-growing pile of assignments into a competition; the clock. The app opens instantly, with the same speed I swipe the spin dial of time to 15 minutes, knowing that it is nearly impossible to complete this assignment within that time, but smashing my finger on start, I have just entered my very own race to the finish line. With speed and precision, I place the phone in front of me, keeping the screen lit so I can see my competitor, the time ticks away slowly as I work through each question. So focused on the face I don’t even notice that the time is ticking faster than I expected, but it just means I will work faster. Ding, dong, ding, dong, the timer is done, the short and seemingly impossible 15 minutes has passed, leaving me with the rest of the paper to finish while my competitor does their victory lap. But wait, don’t get too ahead of yourself now, I finished my psychology paper, my new assignment, the math homework that I was planning on saving for tomorrow, thats the one I will be finishing up, so I don’t think it will be much of a victory lap. Sometimes a small jump start is all I need, but other times, with longer assignments, the ones that keep me sitting for hours, the time seems too big to take on without smaller races first. Taking an hour long session, or race, and splitting it up into three 20 minute sections, with a 5 minute break between. The added 10 minutes for the breaks won’t seem like much though, because they are not just spent on my phone, not really helping my brain rest or my body move, those 10 minutes will be spent dancing out all the jitters I have to my favorite hype songs. Arms being thrown around, legs kicking aimlessly, and heads bobbing like I’m at a 90’s rock concert, may not be the sight my teachers envisioned when they said to study the material, but it’s what has worked in making the material stick. And after those 5 minutes of dancing, or whatever you would call it, I am ready to sit back down in my spinning big cream car, with my English track sitting in front of me, and my competitor waiting for the green light. Just a little jump start, and it doesn’t seem as impossible anymore.