How To Stop Procrastinating Now!

Procrastination 

procrastination

prə(ʊ)ˌkrastɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n/

noun

1. the action of delaying or postponing something.

   "your first tip is to avoid procrastination"

   synonyms:

   dithering, delaying tactics, dilatoriness, stalling, temporizing, hesitation, vacillation

This explains everything, why I'm up at 11pm finishing homework, why I seem to never complete things on time, why occasionally I won't post on my blog...
I am a procrastinator! Not even going to deny it. I put everything off for as long as possible, usually because I'm just not in the mood to do it or I feel that my time would be spent better elsewhere instead of doing homework. When they say, "Procrastination is the thief of time," they are not wrong. If I'm not in the mood to do something or I'm too lazy to do it then I will find some way, shape, or form of distraction to prevent doing it for as long as possible. Since I'm in fourth year and am starting into GCSEs and all that great stuff... Anyway my point is the last thing I need right now are distractions. However, the problem is they are every where! The way to stop procrastinating is to eliminate all distractions. I have decided to compile a list of how to eliminate distractions and ultimately stop procrastinating:

1. Put that phone away; personally my biggest distraction is my phone. After getting home from school I would allow myself 30 mins on my phone. I have an alarm set to ring after those 30 mins. Once the alarm rings I have to put my phone down (preferably in another room so that it's not sitting there in front of me as a distraction) and commence homework.

2. Set a deadline; make this realistic and achievable. If you know that homework is due for tomorrow then you are more likely to do it than if it is for next week. This can be great for studying. Tell yourself that you have 3 weeks to write out all your physics notes, you may find yourself working much harder and more frequently.

3. Reward yourself; set yourself targets and reward yourself once you meet them. You could say that once you have finished your English essay you will be allowed to eat some of your favourite snack. Or when you finish your history questions you are allowed 5 or 10 mins on your phone (don't allow yourself more than 15 mins or it will spiral out of control, set an alarm to remind you to go back to your homework after your time is up).

4. Stop the excuses; results matter, excuses don't. Get what you need done done. Stop all thoughts you might have of procrastination.


If you find that none of this is working I have one last tip that may just do the trick. I call it the 'last hope.'


5. The last hope; think about the very worst that could possibly happen if you don't complete this. If you have to revise for a test  but aren't feeling motivated then this too may just save your life and end your procrastination. Think how important this test is and if you fail it how annoyed your parents will be, also how you will ultimately fail all your exams because you're bad at revising, how you will not be able to go to university and will have no qualifications, which means no job which means you will have no money and it is all your own fault because you didn't revise for that test. Sounds overly dramatic and very extreme, but you may find the results to be surprising (unless you really don't care about any of that, I'd like to hope that wouldn't be the case).


Well, that's all my tips! Although these work for me they may not be as successful for you, you will have to give them a try to find out. However, please don't criticise me if you find that they don't work because everyone is different and what works for me may not work for you!
Hope you all have a lovely day and I'll post soon! Bye!

-El x