Beating Procrastination

Lots of people these days suffer from procrastination. I used to also and that hurt my grades and personal projects, but I’ve finally come up with ways to avoid it.

Firstly, I would like to note that none of these are methods created or endorsed by any psychologist or other expert. These are simply my own experiences and there is no guarantee that any of this will work for you.

Set a Pace, Not Goals

I know people tell you all the time that you need to “set goals”, and many people pride themselves on being a “goal-oriented”. All that goals have ever given me, however, is a place to stop and something to put off. Instead, I simply focus on making progress every day. Even if it is one sentence in a paper that is due in a week, or just a simple comment on a piece of code you are writing. All you have to do is take just one more step towards finishing something each day.

What “one more step” means can vary depending on when something has to be done. If it’s a paper that’s due in a few days, you should probably get at least a paragraph going each day. If its something without a deadline that you plan to continue working on and improving for quite a while, it doesn’t have to be much at all.

The reason this works is because once you start something, it’s usually easy to keep going, and you will be more likely to continue. However, if you are the kind of person that only wants to do a bare minimum, then this may be counterproductive to you.

Set and Keep a Sleep Schedule

You will be surprised how much of a difference this can make if you don’t already do this. I do this now, and even follow it on the weekends and holidays as often as possible, and I’ve been able to think and focus clearer throughout the day.

Also, you should create a morning routine that helps wake you up. I always start the day with a shower and a breakfast, in that order, before doing anything else.

Plan For Some Time to Goof Off

I’ve found that the main reason I procrastinate is because there are things that I want to do that I’ve been planning on doing. When something that I need to do gets tossed into the mix of things I want to do, I usually end up procrastinating.

Most of the things I want to do that cause my procrastination are fueled by curiosity and novelty. For example, I might want to try out a new game I’ve heard of, and until I try that game, I cant focus on anything else. What I do to take care of that is schedule some time to goof off. During this time, I try out at least one thing that I’ve been wanting to try — Just enough to satisfy my curiosity and get it out of the cognitive part of my mind and into the emotional part, leaving me feeling good while doing my work.

I find this the most useful way to overcome procrastination, because it uses procrastination against itself. After doing this for a while I  began to associate doing my needed work with the good feeling of goofing off. Eventually, I started doing one project as a way to put off another project. In the end, both projects would be completed before their deadlines and they were a lot easier to do.

Again, these are just my personal accounts on what works to defeat procrastination. It might work for you, but then again, it might not. I encourage you to try to find your own solution to your procrastination problem, because only you really know you, and only you know what will work with you.