Procrastination | How To Stop
Hey guys, as you may have seen I recently made a post asking for advice or tips on how to stop procrastinating because I haven’t been doing much work recently and have been falling behind in my classes and didn’t have the motivation to catch up. Well, I received a lot of helpful advice that I’m really thankful for, and I’ve received a couple of messages asking me to share the advice that I received so I’m going to summarise the things that were said to me below.
I want to give a big shout out to @octoberswimmer, @littlebigmouse, @ex-nihilo-persona, @icystudying, @notprincesscharming, @chokopan, @study-the-thing, @sweetscientist, and all of the anon messages that I received for all of their advice!
Tips and Advice to Stop Procrastinating:
Create a studyblr dedicated to what you’re studying so that you’re motivated more to study in order to create new content for the blog.
Follow more studyblrs so that as you scroll through your dashboard you can see how productive everyone else is being and become inspired to be the same.
Listening to music can help you focus. Spotify has a bunch of already made playlists to help you focus and study, or you could easily create your own playlists on Youtuber, Soundcloud, Spotify, etc.
Dedicate an area at your home specifically for studying or being productive so that when you’re in this area your brain and your body know that you have to be productive while there. Your bed is one of the worst places to study because your brain usually relates your bed to sleeping, so you might become really tired while studying in bed. If you get distracted easily at your own home then try to go to a library or a cafe. Somewhere that you can’t get easily distracted!
Turning off or putting away your phone or anything else that may distract you is a good idea. There’s a lot of extensions for your browser that you can install that can block certain websites for a period of time so that you can’t go on them to procrastinate!
Try to prepare some snacks and something to drink before you start studying so that you don’t wander off halfway through and then not return!
Split a major task that you have to complete into say three or four smaller tasks so that it doesn’t seem as daunting to you and starting it may seem easier.
Do the 50/10 or 30/30 rule. Do work for 50 minutes and then have a 10 minute break, or work for 30 minutes and have a 30 minute break. Find an interval that works best for you and try to keep at it until you’re motivated enough to work for longer periods of time. This helps to break up a seemingly large or scary workload.
Just do ONE thing. Start with answering one question, one sentence of an essay, or doing one page of required reading. If you feel motivated enough to keep going, then keep trying, but if you don’t you can stop there knowing you’ve at least started and that it might not be as hard the next time you start.
Doing it first thing in the morning might make you feel better. The more you put it off throughout the day, the worse and more guilty you may feel.
Be honest with yourself and try to do the important tasks first, especially if there is a deadline coming.
Just do it! Starting is the hardest part and once you’ve actually begun doing what you’ve been putting off, you’ll find that it’s not as difficult or as scary as you were making it out to be.
How to Start Studying at Home In Eight Steps:
Step One: Make your bed and clean your room.
Step Two: Brush your teeth, wash your face, brush your hair, and get changed into something clean and comfortable.
Step Three: Clean and organise your study space.
Step Four: Put the materials that you will need on your study space (your pens + notebooks, textbooks, laptop, headphones, etc.)
Step Five: Prepare some snacks and something to drink.
Step Six: Put on some relaxing music or something that will help you focus.
Step Seven: Open your notebooks, textbooks, and laptop to the documents or pages that you need.
I really liked something that @icystudying said, “Motivation isn’t a bus that will stop for you, it’s a car you need to drive.”
