Do you remember a time when you procrastinated so hard that you completely lost track of time and ended up crunching at the last minute? We always set the best intentions; we have all been there at one point in time. Procrastination can either be a welcomed gift, or your worst enemy. If you’re anything like me, procrastinating always hits you when it is not welcomed. Here are some of the ways that I have found to help me keep focused and less distracted!
1. Social Media
This is ultimately the easiest way for us to be distracted and procrastinate. Even when I find myself in the middle of a paper, I’ll say to myself, “Just a three-minute cat video to lift my spirits!” Next thing I know it’s 3 a.m., and I’ve officially found the dark hole of YouTube! OK, maybe not that bad…
Easiest fix? Install a webpage blocker through your extensions. If you use Chrome, you can easily download the best rated webpage blocker. Remember, always research the extension at least a little bit before downloading!
2. Timers
Many of you may already use this while studying. Every 15 minutes, you have five minutes of rest and stretch. Now, it may seem easy enough to use your phone or smart watch to time yourself. However, it is so important to try to use something that you do not already associate with, let’s say, checking emails or checking news headlines. Every time you go to set an alarm, you may end up actually distracting yourself and procrastinating further! So just buy an inexpensive egg timer already!
3. Music
Music can be a great way to get energized, feel happy, and get focused! Well, all except for the focused part. A great study on music, found that computer programmers overall felt happier in the workplace when listening to their personally preferred music via headphones, but ultimately their productivity went down. Now, I love music and sometimes I will find myself using it as a distraction source. So now what?
To combat this, use music to your advantage. Let me explain, put on your headphones just to block everything out, specialty headphones exist that do just this. Or you can listen to binaural beats, rain falling, white noise, or just calm instrumental music. Then, if you become tired in the third study hour, and need some happy energy, listen an energizing song during your five-minute break only!
4. Get everything done when you can
This may seem like a no-brainer, but actually sticking to a schedule can be super hard. I have tried semester after semester to set up a weekly routine. This is all well and good to set intentions, and if you can keep it, awesome! Sometimes life gets crazy, and there’s no way to get in laundry on a Tuesday. So what do I do?
I keep my Sundays just for me, this is my day to get everything done, just in case I couldn’t during the week. This allows me not to use doing the laundry as an excuse to not study! This works for grocery shopping, bill paying time, or never ending house chores.
And that brings us to…
5. Go easy
We are not procrastinators because it’s enjoyable. Usually we procrastinate over things because we believe we won’t get a good exam grade, so by putting things off, we use procrastination to blame. This is OK, for a little while, until you start to demand more and more out of yourself. That is the point you decide for yourself, that you can do it, and that you don’t need to procrastinate because you got this! So be easy on yourself. Give yourself the happiness and time that you need to feel your best.
Lastly, just continue the self-practice of personal happiness and confidence every day. When you feel good, you’re better at what you do best- being awesome.
