Procrastination is a significant pitfall for students at every level. It’s the tendency to put off until tomorrow what you could (and often should) do today. For 2024 young people who are busier than ever, breaking the cycle is more critical than ever.
The right tools can help you manage your time well, increase productivity, and lower stress. With these seven strategies, you can kick your procrastination habit and maximize your college experience.
1. Understand Your Procrastination
You can’t start to overcome procrastination until you understand what it is and why you do it. Do you procrastinate on a particular task because it is tedious, difficult, overwhelming, or something else? Deciding why you procrastinate is the first step to overcoming it and setting up your strategies.
2. Prioritize Your Tasks
Ensure that the first 30 minutes of your day are spent prioritizing your schedule. What must be done today? How important is it? Sort your tasks in your mind every morning by their urgency and importance.
Maybe you like the idea of a hierarchy – the stuff that’s most important and most urgent gets done first, while you delegate or don’t do at all the things that are less urgent and important.
3. Set Clear Goals and Deadlines
One of the key ways to overcome procrastination is to have clear goals and definite deadlines. Break up your work so that there is a deadline for each part.
If you have to write a paper, set a time to do the research, a time to write the outline, a time to do a draft and a time to do the final polish of the paper. Deadlines are motivating because they create a sense of pressure to complete your work by the deadline.
4. Create a Dedicated Study Space
You should have a space your brain recognizes as the place for study. It should be free from distractions that could lead to procrastination, such as a clear desk, a comfortable chair, and all the necessary supplies in reach. Over time, using this space for study can help your brain turn focus more readily.
5. Use Technology Wisely
Technology can be a curse because we can be distracted by all the little notifications about social media or a new story. Still, technology can also be a significant weapon against procrastination. There are apps to block the sites you are tempted to visit when you are studying, keep track of your productivity, and enable you to measure your working time and the breaks in between.
You can also use professional writing platforms when procrastination is unsurmountable, and the deadlines are looming. Academized.com is a top essay writing service where expert writers complete your assignments following detailed guidelines and strict timelines.
Delegating your tasks to professionals frees up your time to maintain academic performance and tackle procrastination effectively.
6. Reward Yourself
Creating a reward system will increase your motivation to complete the task. If you know a treat is waiting for you after a period of hard work, the task will be more enjoyable. Consider the four rewards below.
- Enjoy an Episode: After a few focused hours of study, let yourself watch one of your favorite TV series episodes.
- Social Time: After you finish that big project or exam, plan something small to do with your friends (like watching a movie or going to a park).
- Favorite Treat: Eat your favorite treat or dessert as a reward for completing an assignment.
- Leisure Activity: Reward yourself with a hobby or activity you choose when you reach a study milestone.
By including these rewards in your plan, completing your academic work will seem more urgent and pleasurable, motivating you to persist, conquering procrastination, and completing your work.
7. Reflect and Adjust
Finally, reflect on your efforts. What worked? What didn’t? How do your patterns of procrastination relate to your successes? Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is essential when trying to make lasting changes. Know that your strategies might need to be changed, and feel free to do so. Procrastination is a tough habit to break. The more flexible you can be, the better.
Empowering Yourself to Act
Breaking the procrastination cycle doesn’t happen overnight. It takes practice, self-awareness, and deliberate effort. But if you adopt an active approach to your habits, you can begin to control your time, reduce your stress, and improve your academic performance.