Struggling With Procrastination? You Need To Read This
We all procrastinate, no matter how much we tell ourselves that we won’t. 5 minutes of watching TV before getting back to what we were working on just doesn’t happen. 3 hours later and we find ourselves hooked on that Netflix series, and work is just a distant memory. Studying at home is not easy, so how do you prevent yourself from procrastinating and losing time? Here are some of our top tips to help.
Don’t Beat Yourself Up
Even people who appear extremely motivated on the outside still struggle with procrastination. You are certainly not alone! The thing is when you start beating yourself up about how you should stop getting distracted and focus on your studies, it makes things worse. You just get stuck in a vicious cycle of blaming yourself, rather than addressing the reason you are procrastinating in the first place.
Ask Yourself Why
Rather than going round in circles, stop and actually think about why you are procrastinating. Is it that you are putting off a particular task? Are you struggling with a particular topic that you just can’t get your head around? Maybe you just need to request a callback with your tutor to run over part of your course. By confronting the issues you are having, you will soon see a rise in your productivity.
Reduce Distractions
Taking away the temptations from the start is always advisable. Whilst technology can benefit education and is a great resource, you can be lured into a false sense of security. You might find yourself wasting hours on end watching YouTube and scrolling through social media. One great way to optimise your workspace is to try removing your phone. Out of sight, out of mind!
Manage Your Time
There are lots of tools out there to help you with time management, but a good old fashioned notebook and pen will do the job just fine. This is a great way to manage your schedule, projects and daily task lists in order to help you stay on track. By having a regular list of what you want to achieve with your studying time, this will help to motivate you.
Reward Yourself
No one expects you to sit at a desk for hours on end studying, particularly if you are fitting this around your full-time job. So don’t put that sort of pressure on yourself! Just getting through your ‘to-do’ list is a big enough achievement, so reward yourself once you have done that. Rather than distracting yourself halfway through your studies with TV, use this as a reward. Complete your couple of hours studying, and then let yourself chill out and watch a series. That way you won’t be tempted to procrastinate halfway through your learning.
We hope these tips have been useful to help overcome procrastination, we would love to hear your tips and tricks too!