study help: I need to stop procrastinating! - Help.com

How To
Stop Procrastinating

*
Recognize that procrastination stems from habit. New habits will be needed, and these take time and commitment to develop.
*
Harold Taylor defines procrastination as the intentional and habitual postponement of an important task that should be done now.
*
Understand the cause for procrastination, then develop strategies to fix it.
*
Recognize the difference between an appropriate decision to delay, and an irrational postponement without justification.
*
Fix procrastination by working on a) tasks and b) your environment:

TASK STRATEGIES

Unpleasant tasks

*
Unpleasant tasks rarely turn out to be as bad as you think.
* Complete these tasks first. Schedule them for early in the day. Give yourself a reward for doing them.

Complex Projects

*
Something looms ahead of you: starting a small business, getting a job, preparing the annual budget. The job is too big or will take too long to do now, so you put it off.
*
Break large jobs into smaller, more manageable tasks. Plan and complete a start-up task, no matter how small.

Indecision

*
People delay because they can’t make up their minds.
*
Determine a time for making a decision and the criteria for making it. Share your deadline with someone else.

Fear of failure (lack of self confidence)

*
People don’t want to face the consequences of failure, so they delay. (Some people suffer from fear of success too!)
* Develop a clear mental picture of the completed task and how you will feel at that time. Maintain a focus on the end result, not just the process. Remind yourself how good you’ll feel when you’re finished.

Lack of interest

*
You are tired or lazy. You’re just not very interested in the task.
* Reward yourself for accomplishments. Go out for special lunches when major projects are completed. If you don’t earn the reward, don’t take it.
*
Schedule the task for when you will be at your peak.

Perfectionism

*
People delay because they want to get the project perfect.
*
Set deadlines for yourself. Tell other people your deadlines and encourage them to check up on you.
*
Maintain your high standards, but recognize that sometimes 80% for you may well be 100% for someone else. Don’t spend hours conducting a detailed cost breakdown when a rough estimate would suffice.

Hostility towards a boss

* People delay because they don’t like the person who assigned the task.
* Review with your boss what exactly is needed. Clarify the expectations.
* Make a game out of unpleasant tasks. Give yourself points, or do a running commentary on yourself as you do the task.

Distraction, lack of focus

*
Sometimes losing concentration causes delays.
*
Create a to-do list with priorities.
*
Block your time for projects.
* As you get distracted from a work project, make a rule that you are not allowed to move out of your chair, make a call, surf the net, pick up a book etc. until you return to your task.
* Complete something. Make a very small task for yourself and finish it. Very small. Then, make another one.

ENVIRONMENT STRATEGIES

* Tailor your environment for work. Close your door, clean up the clutter on your desk.
*
Remove distractions such as water coolers, snacks, in-boxes, coffee machines and magazine racks.
*
If you work at home, treat your office as an office. Don’t go out to lunch before lunchtime or watch television before the end of the day.
*
Tell your family that you are not to be disturbed in your home office.

Thanks for the points!

I think its really just that initial push to start the work. I just feel too lazy or uninterested to actually get on with it, once I’ve started I can usually get a good amount done. I don’t know maybe I just need more motivation to start.

think of the end result of all of your efforts of your studies. Picture the diploma you’re going to get once you finish school. Make that your motivation!

I understand what you mean but every time I picture myself with the degree I’m working towards, I always have this feeling of uncertainty. I worry about what lies after my studies and doubts about whether I made the right decisions (such as: what if I had done another degree?, or what if I had taken a gap year?, etc etc). To be honest, I like what I’m studying too but I always see others who are doing various other things and think to myself “I have the potential, I could’ve done that; would that have been better for me?”. So, it just comes back to this underlying sense of uncertainty.

Everyone is uncertain at first if what they are doing is the right thing. Everyone is nervous of what is going to happen and what new challenges are coming their way.

You are quite capable of achieving a whole lot of things and learning more than you know. I don’t say that you should do a lot of things but, I think it helps to know that you are smart and can go after anything you want.

People change over time but, the important thing to picking something is that you feel challenged by it. Not, necessarily happy but, challenged. It is in the pursuit of goals that we are our happiest. Once the goal is achieved we begin to look around for something else.

Accomplishments of the goals of life is where we find true joy however fleeting.

Is the stuff that life is made of our joy in our accomplishments.

If I procrastinate over my studies for a test or exam, I do my own quick exams. I prepare two of three questions and put them on my mirror in the morning so I can think of the answers as I go along. Using repetition is a great way for me to stay focused. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the pointers and help! I’m doing a law degree so I think your idea about doing a quick mock exam and using repetition makes a lot of sense, I’ll definitely give it a try!

And I do find Law challenging and I’m sure that I can do well in it. Sometimes, though, I just feel as though it seems really artificial. So, I guess, my uncertainty is based on the subject itself and its suitability for me and that’s what I think is making it even harder for me to get myself to revise early on without procrastinating. The thing is the uncertainty/anxiety is always greatest when I have to get some major written work done or have an exam coming up.

Is this sort of thing normal?

Of course it’s normal. Because the mind creates a lot of endorphins and the adrenal glands also produce in order for thinking to occur at a more rapid pace. Like going for an interview for a job. Everyone is nervous because there are so many factors about an interview that can’t be governed and of course we don’t want to look stupid and we really want the job.

The neat thing about taking Law is that there are so many different types of law that can be practiced. If you don’t like criminal law then you can go after Estate Law or Real Estate Law it must be quite exciting. I know it must be very hard work as well. So I wish you all the best.

Thanks for the wishes! And yeah, your probably right. I know people (other than me) who sometimes question whether they want to do law as they’re preparing for exams, etc and then as soon as they’re done, they seem to really want to continue with the subject.

I wish, though, I could be like those few people who are just so calm and collected the entire time. It’s as if they’re not going to sit an exam; as if nothing can stop them from doing well on it; they have absolute confidence! That would be such a good feeling!

Anyways, by being on this site I’m, in fact, procrastinating; so, it’s time to start some hard work.

Thanks for the help!

The people who are calm, cool and collected are good are posturing themselves.

What I mean by that is they are able to see themselves already passing the exam. They use visualization and there are several techniques. Visualization can help you to see that you have already obtained what you desire. It allows you to visit the future and see yourself already as a lawyer. Perhaps a practice of your own or in a prestigious lawfirm that you desire. It’s fun and very relaxing when it comes time to test because you have envisioned the unknown part of your quest.

In any school effort we struggle, worried, cram for exams and then we get the graduation certificate and that makes us graduates.

We were already graduates months before the certificate was given to us, right? But, what makes it solid is the paper. So the day you entered into these studies you are already practicing law. So you needn’t fret about the exams, they are only there to prove to the teachers that they are good. They wouldn’t have allowed you to take this particular study if they didn’t think you capable, right?

So study as hard as you can, don’t proscrastinate, but also take heart that you are quite capable of becoming a lawyer or anything else you want to be.

Again, good luck.

Thanks again, the stuff you’ve written down does make a lot of sense. I never actually rationalized it that way! Your perspective is much more positive than mine, I like it! :)

Best of luck to you too.