Written by Amy Bridges
With the end of the semester looming so are the bigger assignments. As stress gets higher and the dates get closer a lot of university and college students get hit with the procrastination monster. I have been able to control my procrastination monster for the most part but there are still things that get away from me. I find the best way to control it is to make a plan and do things to keep the monster at bay. I will be going through things that either I have done or are going to attempt to help get rid of or control procrastination for the rest of the semester.
Rip off the Band-Aid
Get the worst ones finished first. I know a lot of people like to do the little assignments and then they just have the big one left or they leave the one they are dreading for the last one. The longer you put it off and the longer you wait the more daunting its going to be. I do this with homework and with other aspects of life like cleaning (I hate dishes, so I do them first because I know if I don’t I will always find something else to do first). Getting the big “I don’t wanna” out of the way first will feel so freeing and will release so much stress you won’t want to do it any other way.
Make goals
As silly as it sounds make yourself a little achievement list like in video games. A lot of achievements make you do little achievements to get to the big one. This helps and makes you feel more accomplished. Break up that essay into research, outline, rough, good and edit and each time you hit a goal its like a little victory. Instead of thinking about all the stuff you still have to finish it you can see all the boxes you have already checked off the list. You can also reward yourself each time. Every checkmark it’s a treat or a break with a show or whatever you want it to be.
Take breaks
The next option is to take breaks. When you take breaks in-between it makes things less daunting and you will be less tempted to take the whole day off because you need some you time because you have been doing it all day. Work for 30 minutes and take a 5–10-minute break to go on Facebook or Tiktok then go back to it. Trust me—thinking about it in terms of time 30 minutes isn’t that much I can do 30 minutes and then I’ll check my Instagram is a lot easier to grasp then I need to finish this entire outline before I do anything else.
Stay Accountable
I do this with working out and with homework. I keep myself accountable with posting my workouts to social media so I can see how long since my last one. I find with homework having a partner in crime helps with this. You can keep each other accountable, maybe both work for the 30 minutes and then you two can both relax together for the 10. That way the both of you or even a group of you are still working towards those projects but it doesn’t feel as big because you are all inadvertently working together.
Remove Distractions
One of my big issues is distractions with active A.D.D. the smallest thing can be a big distraction. I will make sure I am working in my designated homework spots. I have 3 in the house so I can get a change of scenery. In those places if I need them, I have headphones to block out sounds. I remove my phone from my reach and if I can I turn my computer off when I am reading so I am not tempted. I also find if I play certain music it helps to block out noise. I use classical and video game music for this. Classical calms my mind and video game music is meant to keep you going. It’s a musical encouragement to get you through hard parts of the game so I find it keeps me motivated for homework too. I also make sure I have everything I need so I don’t have to keep getting up. I will have everything for at least 2 projects with me in-case I finish one early and I will have snacks, a tea and water with me. I find this has helped a lot so I don’t have to get up every 5 minutes for something I can just settle in and do what I need to.
I hope this helps you to be more productive throughout the last of the semester and for the next ones to come. If you have any tips or ways that I missed feel free to comment them down below.
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