Procrastination: four ways to break that habit NOW

Let me guess, you’re procrastinating from study right now by reading this.
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We’ve all been there! At least you’re doing something more effective than texting your mates...

But we know procrastination is everyone’s # 1 worst study habit and it’s going to take some fresh advice to cut it out.

There’s still a long way to go before the HSC which means a fair amount of work and study that we want to get done as quickly and as effectively as possible.

So let’s get straight to it: the four steps to breaking your procrastination habit ASAP.

1. Recognise ALL the different types of procrastination

You know how the first step to recovery is usually recognising and admitting you have a problem?

Yeah, well that’s exactly the case here.

A lot of procrastination is pretty obvious: watching Netflix, eating a third breakfast, doing Buzzfeed quizzes on what kind of toast you are (I got peanut butter, banana and honey toast… wtf).

But here’s the sneaky bit: a lot of the time you’re procrastinating, you probably don’t even realise it.

See, ineffective or “feel-good” study is just another way of wasting time and putting off the good stuff. Rereading a textbook chapter, taking notes that are just word-for-word from the book or studying a topic you already 100% know is just another way of procrastinating so it's time to stop kidding yourself.

2. Set tiny milestones for yourself

One of the massive reasons we get a little distracted from our work is that it doesn’t really seem that engaging. I mean, you’re pretty lucky if you find every single topic in every single subject super fun (or you’re delirious from all the study, get help!).

So, when you know you’re zoning out or just can’t seem to get that essay done, you need to rework your goals. Instead of saying “oh, I’ll finish this essay by tonight”, break down whatever you need to get done into really small, basic steps.

You’re still going to be doing the same amount of work but now, you’ll actually be able to feel like you’re making progress.

So, take that essay and break it down as small as you need to. You might not be able to write a whole essay right now because your brain has tapped out but surely you could just write the topic sentence for your first body paragraph. And take a mini break, then see if you can do another quick sprint and finish that paragraph.

Small goals are a lot more manageable and keep you moving through your work instead of giving up!

This pretty much works for any subject. Instead of ignoring 20 maths problems, just try and do two at a time, then take a mini break. You might think that sounds a bit slow but it’s so much better than online shopping or online gaming!

3. Change things up

If your brain will just not start working and you know you’ve been staring at the same thing for about 15 minutes, it’s probably time to switch things up.

And by things, we mean anything.

You could change the subject, the type of study, your study space, literally anything. It’s going to be a bit of trial and error on your part but if you find yourself zoning out at the desk in your bedroom, try sitting at the kitchen table and see if you reset your attention span.

If you’ve been attempting to write notes for two hours, maybe it’s time to answer some practice questions instead. If trig equations are making your brain hurt, then switch to studying another subject and come back to them after you’ve had a break and your mind is fresh and ready to go!

4. Hide yo' distractions

So, you may have pulled off the first three steps perfectly but we are talking about procrastination here so yeah, you can still get distracted. That means you’ve got to hide all of your distractions.

No you don’t have to put your phone in a lockbox or install a blocking program onto your laptop. It’s just little things. If you have your phone on your desk, set it to do not disturb and put it face down. Then you can still check it easily in between your little sprints but a text or Insta notification isn’t going to pull you out of your work.

Same with having Facebook open in a tab, you can hear any notifications so just click out of it for a sec and then go back once you’ve hit that goal.

Like everything else, they’re not giant changes but that probably means you’ll actually try them out and stick with them.

We’re being realistic here, guys!

Remember

Procrastination is seriously just a waste of time. You want to get in, get that study done and then have some time to actually enjoy this year! Obviously that sounds great but we know it’s not easy so remember to: recognise ALL types of procrastination, set yourself mini goals, switch things up and push those distractions aside. They’re all baby steps but hopefully you’ll actually be able to keep them up and cash in on some super efficient, effective study!