The year 11 Future Me cohort took part in a small session on "how not to procrastinate!" Hopefully the students will find this session useful when revising at home. See our top 10 how not to procrastinate below.
1. Break Your Work into Little Steps
Part of the reason why we procrastinate is because subconsciously, we find the work too overwhelming for us. Break it down into little parts, then focus on one part at the time. If you still procrastinate on the task after breaking it down, then break it down even further. Soon, your task will be so simple that you will be thinking “Wow this is so simple that I might as well just do it now!”
2. Change Your Environment
Different environments have different impact on our productivity. Look at your kitchen, living room and your room. Do they make you want to work or do they make you want to snuggle and sleep? If it’s the latter, you should look into changing your workspace.
3. Create a Detailed Timeline with Specific Deadlines
Having just 1 deadline for your work is like an invitation to procrastinate. That’s because we get the impression that we have time and keep pushing everything back, until it’s too late.Break down your revision, then create an overall timeline with specific deadlines for each small task. This way, you know you have to finish each task by a certain date.
4. Eliminate Your Procrastination Pit-Stops
If you are procrastinating a little too much, maybe that’s because you make it easy to procrastinate.Turn off your phone, TV, music etc. Get rid of the distractions around you.
5. Hang out with People Who Inspire You to Take Action
I’m pretty sure if you spend just 10 minutes talking to Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, you’ll be more inspired to act than if you spent the 10 minutes doing nothing. The people we are with influence our behaviours. Of course spending time with Steve Jobs or Bill Gates every day is probably not a feasible method, but the principle applies. Identify your teachers or school friends who trigger you – most likely the go-getters and hard workers – and hang out with them more often. Soon you will inculcate their drive and spirit too.
6. Get a Study Buddy
Having a companion makes the whole process much more fun. Ideally, your buddy should be someone who has his/her own set of goals. Both of you will hold each other accountable to your goals and plans. While it’s not necessary for both of you to have the same goals, it’ll be even better if that’s the case, so you can learn from each other.
7. Tell Others About Your Goals
Tell all your friends, teachers and family about your goals i.e. revision, homework, CLIMB attendance, attendance and punctuality, wanting to improve in a certain lesson. Now whenever you see them, they are bound to ask you about your status on those goals.
8. Stop Over-Complicating Things
Are you waiting for a perfect time to do this? That maybe now is not the best time because of X, Y, Z reasons? Ditch that thought because there’s never a perfect time. If you keep waiting for one, you are never going to accomplish anything. Perfectionism is one of the biggest reasons for procrastination.
9. Get a Grip and Just Do It
At the end, it boils down to taking action. You can do all the strategizing, planning and hypothesizing, but if you don’t take action, nothing’s going to happen. There are people who keep complaining about their situations but they still refuse to take action at the end of the day.
10. PMA- Positive mental attitude!
Use Positive Language, do you ever notice how much of what you say is negative? You can also Contribute to that lesson In A Meaningful Way. One of the best ways to feel more positive is to contribute to the lesson in some way...ask questions, answer questions, show off your work!