Writing is often a stressful affair filled with confusion and procrastination. I have assembled a few tips to help you make sure that your writing experience is as easy and stress-free as possible

• Start in advance

Starting as far in advance as possible will make the essay writing experience much easier. For in class essays try to work efficiently and come up with a form that works for you. Use it every time you write. Procrastination is your worst enemy. It is okay to take a second to think and breathe, or even a few hours if time allows, but try not to put the project off.

• Brainstorm.

Coming up with ideas, even in timed situations, is really important. It will help you to create a well written and flushed out essay that is much easier to write. Try making an idea web with the topic you are writing about to get a good idea of what you are writing about and how to execute it.

Chances are that this essay does not decide the rest of your life. It is okay to take a breather and step back from your work for a little while. Pushing relentlessly can lead to mental roadblocks and cloudy thought. I promise essay writing wasn’t assigned to you as a punishment. You know what you are writing about, just be confident and write.

• Create an outline

If you have time to do this, it is definitely helpful. I even suggest that you make time to do it. An outline consists of the first and last sentences of each of your paragraphs, your thesis, closing sentence, and your supporting details written out in the order your paper will be written in. It is so much easier to just fill in your bullet points. Some people don’t like this extra step, but it can certainly be helpful in managing stress while writing because it takes a lot of the thinking out of it.

• Spread your time out.

Unless the essay is in class, you don’t need to write it all in one sitting necessarily. Many people don’t mind writing it all at once, but if you find yourself getting stressed over it take a break. Do it over the entire duration of the period you have to work on it. A little every day. It is okay. Don’t confuse procrastination with planning out your goals. If you are not meeting your daily goals, you are procrastinating and should reevaluate how you are working.

• Set goals

This applies to timed or in class essays as well as ones at home. If your essay is timed, try to have an idea of where you want to be either every 15 or 30 minutes for timed essays, at the end of each day for multi-day assignments, or throughout the time you have allotted for yourself in overnight assignments.

If you try and follow these 6 tips, your essay writing should go a lot more smoothly and be a lot easier to handle. Remember, just breathe and don’t think too hard. It will be all done in a short amount of time.