Benjamin Franklin once said: ‘Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today.’ I am, however, sure that procrastinators would agree with me that a better saying might be ‘why do today what can be put off till tomorrow.'
The irony of writing an article on how to beat procrastination, when I have spent the entire week procrastinating writing this article, is not lost on me. I may be the least qualified person on the planet to give people advice. Yet, I will endeavour to share my top tips for how to get some work done.
1. Set screen time limits
This is one thing that helps me a lot when I’m attempting to get stuff done as yes, I can and have on several occasions overridden these limits to mindlessly scroll for a bit longer but with these limits on I actually have to take a moment to think about whether this is a good idea. Of course, there are infinite distractions and I remember one particularly bad bout of procrastinating where I just stared into space for half an hour instead of working but by removing a major distraction such as your phone it can really help you to focus on the task at hand.
Credit: Louise Millar.
2. Study with a friend
Now hear me out because I know it sounds like a recipe for disaster. Pick your most focused friend, the one who actually uses their time productively and study with them. I always find that I feel more motivated to do work when I see someone else doing it. Unfortunately, however, this can often result in you corrupting said friend and they will also end up making approximately 1 billion trips to fill up their water bottle with you.
3. Master the art of productive procrastinating
If you’re going to procrastinate you might as well do something useful with your time. This can include doing your shopping, making dinner, doing your washing and tidying your room. I am particularly guilty of the last one and you can always tell when I have deadlines because all of a sudden, my space is looking a lot tidier.
This one has the added bonus of actually setting you up for productive study because as they say, ‘tidy desk, tidy mind’. This can also work for assignments. Don’t feel like doing one module that day then procrastinate by working on another module.
4. Treat yo’self
After you have done a bit of work you deserve a reward whether that be a sweet treat, an episode of your favourite show (can you tell that I have been watching Parks and Rec?), or a chat with some friends. Whatever it is make sure that you reward yourself often so that you always have something to look forward to which should hopefully help you to feel motivated to achieve your goals.
Credit: Louise Millar.
5. Set yourself low expectations
I get it. I hate when people tell me I just need to get organised, set some goals and plan and when I inevitably fail to achieve these goals it just makes me feel worse and as a result I procrastinate more.
However, I have found that setting simple, almost ridiculously easy goals for yourself can really help you to just start. For example, today I told myself that all I needed to do was write the introduction and then I ended up writing the entire article because I got into the flow of writing and was feeling good about it because I had actually done what I set out to do.
*Bonus tips from celebrity procrastinators*
Victor Hugo used to lock himself in his study, take all of his clothes off and instruct a servant not to give them back till he was done. Herman Melville had himself chained to his desk while he was struggling to write Moby Dick.
I’m not sure if I would recommend these extreme methods but clearly it worked for them.
Credit: Louise Millar.
At the end of the day, don’t worry too much as everything that needs to be done will, eventually, get done. Procrastination can be helpful as it often allows you to distinguish the really important tasks from the ones that, after procrastinating, you realise are not necessary.
Hopefully, this extremely hypocritical article will help any chronic procrastinators out there with the work they need to get done – including myself.
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