The Dice Method

AUTHOR: LAURA VOLLE

Are you super busy and have approximately a million things to do? Don’t know where to start between, say, staring at your hastily scribbled notes for the umpteenth time, reading your assigned course literature or actually answering those seminar questions you’ll be quizzed on tomorrow?

Boy, do I have the technique for you! It’s coined (very imaginatively) The Dice Method, and it consists of rolling a six-sided die to determine your next course of action.

Sounds simple? That’s because it is! You just identify five things you want to/really should/need to do and assign them numbers. “But a six sided die has six (6) sides! Why only five?”, one might ask. That’s because number six is going to be your lucky spot – a break!

This might be helpful, especially if you’re feeling stuck, because:

It forces you to split up what you want to do into five small categories – a good starting point for figuring out what exactly you have to do and what’s most important to you!

It can make routine procedures like studying feel new and refreshing to you! You never know what you’re going to get in which order and that element of surprise can shake a tired brain out of its stupor (not literally).

It forces you to take breaks in semiregular intervals. At any given point (unless there’s something wrong with your die) you have a 1/6 chance to get that sweet, sweet timeout – this is pretty reasonable, and when you do roll that six, you know you deserve it!

It cuts down on the brainpower you have to spend on deciding what to study beyond identifying five general categories. If you’re already tired from slogging through endless lectures, this is one less mental weight your poor head has to shoulder.

Now, if we’re thinking big here, the applications for this ‘technique’ are limitless. It’s useful for any situation where you can figure out your top 5 priorities and then address them in a random order.

You’ve got an essay due in a week, dishes, that one pesky phone call, your daily workout and sooo much studying to be done and have spent the last two hours aimlessly reading through Medicor articles? No more of that! (Until you roll a six, and then it’s right back to the articles for a bit)

And you can go even further – there are so many decisions we make throughout the day we spend thoughts, spoons, and time on, but that are ultimately meaningless. Picking what tea you’ll have for breakfast! Deciding on an ice cream flavour at that new shop! The hoodie you’ll wear to obscure your bad hair day, general body shape, and other clothing!

All of these are decisions that some people make happily, some people do not care about – and some people may agonize over for twenty minutes before deciding that it’s easier to stay in bed (that’s me).

I am one of those people that really struggle with making small decisions, and sometimes it’s just so much easier not to make them. In the grand scheme of things, no one gives a damn about what teacup I slurp my English Breakfast out of – including me – and yet having to pick one may immobilize me for the rest of the morning.

I’m a nerd and have several full dice sets laying around at home, so where a D6 isn’t enough, I may toss a D12 or a D20 instead (for the unaware: the number after the “D” denotes how many sides a given die has.) For numbers not covered by my beloved dice, I consult random.org – possibly my favourite website in the world.

Of course, this method isn’t for everyone. It’s important to remember that if you already know exactly what you want to do, this is more likely to frustrate you than help. Consequential decisions should be made with careful consideration – would you toss a coin to decide what degree you’ll take? Perhaps, but also maybe don’t do that!

Maybe address the urgent stuff before you do anything else. If something is due in the next half hour, it might be a good idea to prioritize that over changing your bedsheets. But often, there simply is no obviously more important issue/ technique, and then the dice method can come in handy.

And lastly, the dice are not in control – you are. If you haven’t seen a single six for hours, take a break! If you keep doing the same thing again and again, decide where you want to draw the line and pick something else! If there’s something on your list you really can’t bring yourself to do, take it off – or change the method!

However, if you want to mix up your studies, try out a new dish on the menu, or spice up your house cleaning – why not give the ol’ dice a roll?

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