How to Combat Procrastination

You’re scrolling down your social media feed with the realization that you have just a few hours left for your assignment deadline. You are still scrolling with guilt thinking you will deal with it later, and now you have just fifty minutes on the clock for your assignment deadline. Sounds relatable, isn't it? Well, it’s a pretty common attribute that you want to do something yet you don’t feel like doing it, it happens. In fact, it’s a bane of every existing student and instantly regret fills in wishing you had started earlier.

“Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.”

- Napoleon Hill

The continuous act of delaying and slacking tasks is a risky trap that may have serious consequences in the future that may significantly reduce productivity to a greater extent that may be hard to retrieve in the later future. Below are 7 best tips to combat procrastination:

· Get organized

One of the main reasons that one doesn’t get done with work on time is because poor organization leads to a greater level of procrastination. A good tip is to invest in a daily or a weekly planner where you can jot down all your deadlines and tasks.

· Set manageable task

It’s quite overwhelming to do an unattainable task. In this process, you lose out all the motivation that you built up. For this, you should break your ‘intimidating’ tasks into manageable chunks so they are easier to achieve and you feel accomplished and motivated when you complete it.

· Time management

Setting yourself time tracks to complete your tasks focuses you into doing it entirely before the clock ticks. A great tip is to apply the Pomodoro method into your study/work routine. A Pomodoro method breaks your regular tasks into twenty-minute increments.

so you don’t have a complete burnout and your attention span doesn’t dire out.

· Eliminate the distractions

With weak attention span, it’s highly necessary to eliminate all your distractions so you get done and dusted with all your tasks once and for all. A pro tip is to keep your gadgets in a faraway room so it’s not near you compelling you to check another notification. Another tip is to install apps like ‘StayFocused’ that keep your socials blocked for the time you’re working on the specified task.

· Prioritize your tasks

Setting up prioritizes when you make a to-do list allows you to understand the importance of a task that urgently needs to be done. A better way to set your priorities is to write all the tasks that you need to do by the end of the day and color code them according to the highest level of urgency/ importance to lowest.

· Find a study-buddy

Things are going to be more exciting and serious at the same time when you have a study-buddy who will take the same steps with you. Having a partner to study with will not only motivate you but will also keep things serious as you both will be ticking off the to-do list together, it will bring a desire to do more eventually. Accountability partners were a game changer for me personally. We often are able to let ourselves down before we let others down. Use this to your own advantage.

· Self-appreciation

Don’t throw away those to-do lists that were ticked off all by you. Keep it to remind and appreciate yourself how much you’ve overcome your habit of procrastinating. Keep it as evidence to yourself of your hard work and make sure to look at it when you hit another slacking dose.

“The more time you have to do things, the less you can get done.”

- Joyce Rachell

Enjoy this video on time management!