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Procrastinating: 5 Tips for Students (or Anyone!)
Do's/Don'ts 
Tags: procrastination, accomplish, motivation, study skills, just do it, overcome
From the book "How to Become a Straight-A Student" by Cal Newport (Broadway Books ISBN-13:978-0-7679-2271-5), five tips for beating the urge to procrastinate. First of all, accept that you’ll never defeat the urge to procrastinate. But you can sidestep procrastination with five “battle plans”. Good luck!
| 1. | Keep A Work Progress Journal----- Next to the master calendar you use in the mornings to write today's to-do list from, keep a small notebook. In this notebook at the end of the day note ”accomplished all” or “didn’t do _______” and a quick explanation. The immediate effect of having to record, in ink, on paper, that you procrastinated for no good reason is a powerful blow to your ego. Especially seeing the same excuses and lame rationalizations day after day. The journal acts as your personal drill sergeant. |
| 2. | Feed The Machine----- Low energy breeds procrastination. Drink water constantly. Monitor caffeine in take (no more than one large drink in any one hour period.) Treat food as a source of energy, not satisfaction. Don’t skip meals. |
| 3. | Make An EVENT Out Of The Worst Tasks----- Find a novel location: an out of the way coffee shop, restaurant, bookstore to work in. Change of scene puts your body in work mode. Make it too far to walk to, and far from friends. Tell everyone you’ll be out of touch for a set period of time. (The more people you tell, the harder it will be to blow it off, too.) Bring your work there. |
| 4. | Build A Routine----- There should be at least one hour during some part of the weekday that is consistently free. Once you’ve identified the protected hour/s, use them to do the same work each week. You’re building a routine in which the same reserved time slot is used each week to do the same thing. The goal is to make it a habit. |
| 5. | Choose Your Hard Days----- Monster crush days are inescapable, especially at college, even when you’ve set up a well-managed schedule. Here’s the secret: Plan them in advance! Don’t wait till the deadlines are upon you. And if it requires more than one “hard day”, space them out so there are never two in a row. Do enjoyable or relaxing things before and after. If you can be pro-active scheduling these marathons, you won’t feel used and abused. You expected the challenge, prepared for the challenge, and survived it! |
Lister:
aedwardstutor
Source:
Cal Newport Book
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Great stuff! I'll be able to use this next fall in my first semester of college! Thanks!
Comment by: MagicLvr05 Great stuff! I'll be able to use this next fall in my first semester of college! Thanks!
Comment by: MagicLvr05
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