A good way to manage your time is to plan out everything you have to do that day on a to-do list. Most of the time, you probably don’t finish everything on that list. No need to despair. Getting everything done isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Here are some of the things you can expect if you do manage to finish everything on your to-do list.

A brief sense of accomplishment

The first thing you’d feel is a sense of accomplishment. You finished everything you had set out to finish, after all. It’s probably one of the best things to come from getting everything done. This feeling doesn’t last though. It’ll fade, and you’ll be left trying to figure out what to do next. Part of that comes from the fact that there is always something you could do to “get ahead.” For a moment though, you’ll get to taste the bliss of not having anything left to do.

Relaxation that leads to boredom

Following that sense of accomplishment, you’ll soon be overrun with boredom. There’s no school-related stress to keep your blood pumping. Instead, you have the relaxing feeling of being in a good spot with everything you finished that day. Since we are programmed to be hyperproductive beings, that relaxation will quickly turn to boredom as you look for something else to fill the time.

Feeling guilty because you aren’t being productive

The boredom you feel will also become tinged with a trace of guilt. This guilt comes from the fact that there is always something more you can do if you think hard enough. There is always some looming assignment or test on the horizon that you could be working on. So, even if you finished everything for that day, there’s still stuff that you could get a head start on. Ultimately, any break you try to take after finishing your work for the day will be tainted with guilt.

Making your next to-do list

If you take things one day at a time, then there is one last thing you can do after you finish your work for the day: make your next to-do list. It’s one way to stave off the guilt of not doing anything else after finishing what you had already planned on. By pushing other stuff to other days and promising that you’ll do it tomorrow, you can avoid some guilt. Making a to-do list is also a fun activity to try when you’re bored.

That’s what you can expect if you’re ever able to get through that to-do list. Until that happens, enjoy the brief breaks you give yourself in between procrastinating.