Combating Procrastination as a Serial-Procrastinator

The amount of times I’ve experienced putting something off until the last minute, only to realise that the deadline came crashing down on me, much faster than I expected, leaving me feeling extremely overwhelmed. The constant self-gaslighting I remember myself doing, thinking to myself “I’ll be fine, I work better under pressure anyways” as I continued to scroll through Instagram without a care in the world. Procrastination has probably been my biggest struggle since primary school, and only recently have I been able to apply some of these tips to my daily life in terms of studying. I will be discussing methods I used to solve my biggest problem - procrastination.

Creating a to-do list was definitely one of the things which I found helped me the most. Allotting time for each task, and having a clear list of work that I needed to complete in a day ensured that I wouldn’t spend two hours on a task which required 30 minutes. Ultimately, this enabled me to complete more work in a day. The biggest solution for me was to start small by creating smaller tasks on my to-do lists and slowly checking them off as I completed them. By creating an effective schedule and focusing on my work one step at a time, I was able to get rid of that constant sense of being overwhelmed and finally began to feel more motivated as I checked off tasks on my to-do list. 

Now, as hard as this next tip may seem, starting the task as soon as you get it, is the biggest way to eliminate procrastination. Despite how minimal the workload may seem, or the declining levels of motivation, taking the first step to and bringing yourself to start the assignment will inevitably create momentum in the work being done. 

Remember, the sooner you start, the more time you’ll have to increase the quality of the work! 

If you still find yourself struggling to begin your work, try setting a short timer of 5 minutes. Commit to the task for those 5 minutes, with zero distractions, and once the timer is over, you will find that the initial resistance to begin working has disappeared. The momentum that accumulated throughout those 5 minutes is likely to carry you through the task, your brain will naturally be wired to fulfil the task, bringing in engagement and motivation!

At the end of the day, we must discipline ourselves to understand that it is only we who can get rid of this bad habit. Remind ourselves that the workload will only increase, bringing in waves of stress. Before I implemented these methods into my life, there were too many times when I looked back on certain assessments I’ve completed, fully knowing that I could’ve done better if I had just started working on time, and didn’t leave everything until the last minute. This is why I urge you guys to recognise that procrastination will only add to our stress, so why don’t we incorporate whatever tips we can into our routine to make a significant difference in our study life? As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

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