I’m not going to lie, procrastinating is an activity that I participate in a lot. Too much. If there was an award for biggest procrastinator, I’d at least be in the running for it. I’m no expert in how to be a great student, but I have had to force myself out of procrastination slumps many times. I’m still not a professional at being organized, but I have found that some things force me to actually start doing whatever I’ve been procrastinating on doing.
First off, and this is the worst possible way of going about this but, deadlines force me to face whatever I’ve been procrastinating doing. If a three-page paper is due at midnight and it’s 10:30 p.m. I might decide that I actually should start writing the paper (or maybe wait 15 more minutes and then start). This isn’t the healthiest habit to be in, but it sure gets me motivated to do my assignments.
Now on to some healthier methods. Something that helps me pull myself out of a slump is by starting small. Sometimes, this is very small, maybe just taking out the trash or sending an email. Usually, not all of the time but most of the time, this will start to make me feel a little more motivated. Once I do something as small as sending an email, I’ll think “huh, that wasn’t so bad” and start moving on to bigger tasks like small homework assignments or a quiz, and eventually I’ll move on to bigger assignments. I’ve also found that when I’m procrastinating on doing my homework, cleaning my room makes me feel much more inclined to actually do the assignments for some reason. It’s almost like a butterfly effect.
Something I’m trying to take advantage of to help with my procrastination problem is planners. I have a daily planner and a monthly/weekly planner. I’m not the greatest at using these yet, but when I’m not actively procrastinating on doing whatever activity I’m avoiding, I’ve found planners help me keep my head clear and organized. Keeping track of just how close deadlines are and what tasks I want to do ASAP helps me with staying out of a procrastination rut. I’m still getting used to using these, but when I actually do use them they help quite a bit.
Even if using some sort of “motivating” method doesn’t help to stop procrastinating, sometimes it’s best to just sit down and think “I have to do this, and it won’t be that bad.” Sometimes it will just come down to me sitting down, putting some headphones in, making myself a cup of coffee, and forcing out some homework until I get into a rhythm. A lot of the time for me this moment still happens an hour before deadlines, but I’m trying to break the procrastination cycle I’ve created for myself.
I hope that if you’re a procrastinator, you’ll take something useful out of this article. Basically, it just comes down to forcing out the work that you’ve been avoiding. Even if the assignment you’re forcing yourself to do is only going to end up being a C, that’s better than getting a zero.
Thanks for reading!
HCXO