After a long day of endless classes, the last thing you want to do is to go home and spend time working on an essay due next week when all your friends are going out. After all, it’s not due for a week! You have plenty of time! Right?
Wrong. All of a sudden, it’s the night before the due date, and you’re frantically trying to slap together some semblance of intelligent writing before your class the next morning. You end up drinking yourself into a Red Bull coma, and show up the next day with a messily-written essay and major bags under your eyes.
Does this sound familiar? Procrastination affects your grades, your health and your life. To most university students, it’s just a part of the experience. But what’s important to note is that it shouldn’t be.
USE A CALENDAR
Sometimes, procrastination is simply a case of, “that’s due tomorrow?!” Other times, it creeps up on you because you keep trying to ignore it. Buying a large wall calendar (the Carleton bookstore has a great red and white one for only $12!) and writing down your assignment deadlines is essential. If every day you have to see a reminder of when your assignment is due, you’re more likely to get started early. Either way, the major guilt trip will be sure to kickstart your studying!
GET MOBILE REMINDERS
Did you know you can set your phone or computer to send a reminder when a deadline is coming up? For those of you who don’t like to have calendars cluttering the walls, getting a wake-up call—literally—for when that essay is due is handy. Most students check their phone religiously, so you have no choice but to be reminded!
WORK IN SMALL STEPS
One of the biggest problems students face is that when they go to work on an assignment, all they can see is a huge mountain of work, get intimidated, and put it off. By dividing what you need to accomplish into small steps, the daunting workload is lessened. For an essay, start off by checking out research books at the library the day the prof assigns it. You get first pick of all the choice books, plus you can slowly work your way through the books to get an idea of what you want to focus on. Then, do a mind map, list or diagram of what you want to say, write a rough draft, edit, then finish your final draft. Easy!
SET GOALS
It’s interesting how psychology can work in the real world of university life. For example, try setting goals and giving yourself rewards. If you want to finish highlighting your readings when studying for an exam by a certain date, stick to that resolutely. Then, when you achieve that goal (and only if you actually do!), reward yourself. Some students reward themselves with watching a favourite TV show, giving yourself a manicure, or chowing down on some candy. Whatever your reward of choice is, use it to your advantage!
DON’T LET OTHERS DISTRACT YOU
This is probably the hardest to accomplish in university. If you live on residence, there are always things to do and people to talk to. If you live off-campus, your roommates or some hot new band playing downtown can lure you away from your studies. But if you’re working on a tight deadline, don’t get distracted! Tell your friends you need to work. Most people will accept this and let you go about your business.
Remember: having fun is important, but only if you can balance schoolwork and a social life!
Photo source:
http://www.girlypc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/corkboard-calendar.jpg
http://www.therenegadewriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/procrastinat…
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