Remember that time when you had to start writing a 2,500-word essay, but instead decided to binge-watch an entire season of a Netflix show? At some point, something like that happens to any student. As you delay or avoid doing something, you procrastinate. And as a result, your performance as well as mental wellbeing might suffer.
Whenever you feel that the task you have to do is difficult, frustrating or boring, you’re triggered to procrastinate. So it comes as no surprise that students are particularly prone to procrastination. They have to deal with a heavy workload, challenging assignments as well as stress and anxiety.
In this article, you’ll find some useful ways to avoid procrastination and thus, boost your efficiency and reduce stress.
Eat the Frog
“Eat the Frog” is a famous productivity method. It can help any student who is struggling with procrastination, prioritizing tasks and getting things done. Sounds like you? Then you should definitely try it out.
To eat the frog means to do the most important, difficult or tedious task first thing in the morning. The main point here is to be done with this task as soon as possible, so that it doesn’t overwhelm you during the day. So right after you finish eating the frog, you’ll feel relieved and more enthusiastic about other things on your to-do list.
Being a student, sometimes you have to eat a couple of frogs in one day, for example, write an essay and finish another writing assignment. In this case, you can always share with the paper writing service EssayPro at least one of the frogs. You really don’t have to eat your frogs all alone in tough situations.
Put Your Phone Away
It’s no secret that a smartphone is the best companion of any student when it comes to procrastination. You can scroll your Twitter, Instagram or FB feed for hours. And the same goes for watching videos on TikTok. Also, when you’re performing a difficult or boring task, you can easily get distracted by any notification that appears on your lock screen.
To control how much time you spend procrastinating with your smartphone, you can install an app designed to help reduce phone usage. Such an app can not only help you procrastinate less, but also overcome your phone addiction, in case you feel like you have one.
It might not be easy, but it’s definitely worth it. Reducing your screen time can certainly make you more productive. Also, it can improve your mood, as you won’t be wasting your time watching someone else’s perfect online life.
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Set Small Achievable Goals
Some assignments feel so overwhelming that students can’t even get started. Writing a thesis would be a good example of such a herculean task. In this case, the best strategy to avoid procrastination is to break your task into smaller steps or goals. This way, it will be easier for you to achieve them and see the progress that will help you finish the whole task.
For example, if you need to write a long essay, you might approach this goal by specifying sub-goals and setting deadlines. The process of writing an essay might be divided into three stages: preparation, writing and revision. Each of these stages can be your sub-goal that you have to achieve within a specified period of time.
As you achieve these small goals one by one, you’ll feel motivated to keep going. This way, you’ll finish the whole task without losing your energy on stressing out about its complexity.
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Strive for Done Over Perfect
Perfectionism is a close friend of procrastination. When you aim for perfection, you put yourself under so much pressure that you naturally start avoiding the task. Thus, you risk getting nothing done.
If you visualize a perfect essay or a project, there might arise some fears and doubts that you won’t be able to achieve this overly ambitious goal. These fears and doubts will prevent you from finishing the assignment. That’s why it’s important that you don’t complicate your life and aim for done over perfect.
Reward Yourself
As you move toward your big goal by accomplishing the small ones, you should reward yourself. Don’t think that you’ll perform better if you promise yourself a reward when the whole task is completed or the final goal. This way, you won’t feel enthusiastic enough throughout the process.
Instead, reward yourself after achieving each sub-goal. This will help you stay motivated and deal with the periods of boredom or tiredness more easily. The main point here is to make yourself feel better about the whole process, instead of merely focusing on the end result.
Wrapping Up
Though it’s necessary to give yourself a break from time to time, if you avoid a task or assignment for a long time, it means you’re procrastinating. This might negatively affect your performance as well as put your mental health in jeopardy.
To avoid procrastination, you should get done with your most important and difficult tasks as early as you can, keep your phone away, set small goals, aim for done over perfect and reward yourself regularly.
These simple and useful tips will help you save lots of hours and make the most out of your student life.
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