It’s officially past the quarter of the semester, which means the feeling of burnout and exhaustion may be slowly creeping into the lives of college students everywhere. If you are a freshman, you at this point have probably mostly grown accustomed to the flow of college life, but with midterms taking place, and finals looming close on the horizon, we need all the help we can get to stay motivated and avoid procrastination.Â
According to TED-Ed, “… procrastination is the result of our bodies trying to protect us, specifically by avoiding a task we see as threatening.” I am quite often a pro-procrastinator, and can spend much of my time steering clear of the simple task at hand, despite loathing the feeling of avoidance. When you procrastinate something for fear of facing the task or consequences of not completing it, your whole day can be wasted in the blink of an eye.Â
When we have been productive, activities like going for coffee or watching a favorite show can feel like a treat, something we earned. However, when we spend the day or majority of our time participating in said activities without having finished our work first, we feel guilty which can create a spiral and lead to more bad habits down the road. I am a perfectionist at heart, and so I often find that in some weird way my procrastination is linked with my need for my assignments and work to be perfect.Â
I often don’t want to start the task at hand, because I know once I begin I will be dragged into a rut and I won’t come out until everything fits my standards. It is common when you are particular to get trapped in your head, and resort to negative self-talk if something doesn’t go perfectly your way the first time. This leads to procrastination because I am trying to stave off those feelings and the all time consuming task I know is before me.Â
Perfectionism can be a motivator, especially when you are high achieving or have many goals for yourself. However it becomes negative, when you start to base your self worth on being perfect, and you end up getting caught in the nitty gritty details of every task and assignment forgetting the overall point and what you were working towards in the first place. According to the Stress Less Clinic, “Even if perfection was achieved at a certain point, standards for what is perfect may change over time. For people with harmful perfectionistic tendencies, this thinking can further contribute to a loss of purpose and meaning.”
So how do we beat procrastination and fight burnout? Basically, the key to avoid stress for a perfectionist is to keep moving. Don’t let the tiny details trip you up — in the end, it doesn’t really matter. As long as you are trying your best and working towards your goals, you don’t have to be perfect in every sense.Â
To be honest it is still something that I am working on myself, but what has often worked for me is to get out of my head and just do something more productive with my time, whatever it may be. I like to clean and reorganize my space, go for a walk just to get out in nature for a while, or journal and write out a list of the things I actually need to do so it doesn’t feel so daunting. I also find that starting small, and building your way up can go a long way with motivation. When you start with easier assignments it creates a snowball effect, so that you can feel more motivated to complete the next tasks after having done the simpler ones already.Â