September 2nd, 2011
Procrastination . Studying
5 Ways to Avoid Procrastination
A frequent problem for students is the often overwhelming desire to simply not do work. This desire is usually complemented by the desire to have fun. This dangerous combination leads to procrastination which means that little work actually gets done. Because of this, grades can suffer as well. However, there are several ways to try to avoid procrastination. Here are just a few:
1. Choose a quiet and solitary place to study. Try to remove all things that might distract you. This can include anything that creates noise, anything that will make you think more about it than your work, and anything that you have an extreme personal interest for. You want to make yourself only focus on your work and not on external factors. This also means studying alone. When you study with someone, there is often room for talking about things that are irrelevant to the material you are studying. Try to avoid studying in groups if you can.
2. Set deadlines. Many people find that they cannot work without a deadline. If you have a project due next week, set a personal deadline to do it three or four days before the official due date. This will make you strive even harder to get the work done early. If it helps, promise yourself that if you get the work done by your personal deadline, you will reward yourself by going out to eat or getting something nice at the store. Be serious about these personal deadlines, and it will become easier to avoid procrastination.
3. Study in chunks. Instead of cramming a lot of studying at the last minute, try studying just a little bit every day. If you do that, you will need those last three days of extremely difficult studying and forcing material into your mind. Spread out the course content, and it will become a lot more understandable.
4. Become more organized. When you organize what you have to do in a list or schedule, your priorities become a lot clearer. Try to keep up with assignments and tests, so that you know how often to study and how much to work on the material.
5. Don’t forget to reward yourself! One of the problems with procrastination is that people see too much discomfort in doing work. If you reward yourself after your work is completed, you will learn not to hate doing the work so much, because you will look forward to the following reward, whether it is spending a night out with friends or just sleeping in the next day.
These are some useful tips that can decrease procrastination. Try to utilize some of them, and you might find that getting that essay done earlier is not so hard after all.