The funny thing about this blog post is that I’ve been procrastinating writing this. The title says it all but yes, another “ sucks” post and I’m just going to talk about why procrastination sucks to me. I want to be productive...trust me...but for some reason, my brain decides.. “no, do it in an hour”...and that hour becomes two, then three, and I just decide to do it the next day. Never-ending cycle….and it’s not the best thing when you’re in university. For some reason, I feel like waiting until the day before the due date to be like..” Ok, let me start typing now” and I had a whole week to start. Before I get into any other details, I wanna state what is the definition of procrastination.
Procrastination is the act of delaying or putting off tasks until the last minute, or past their deadline
I think some people blame being lazy for procrastination but there are several other reasons such as:
Having a bad habit of doing things at the last minute
Not feeling in the mood to be productive
Thinking that the best work happens when under pressure
Not sure how to start
Simply forgetting
It’s honestly a weird feeling because I know I need to do what I need to do, but I find myself doing other things for hours. I’ve always been a bit of a procrastinator, but it’s gotten worse since this pandemic and you would think knowing that would be helpful but no. I’ve managed to find some tips to help with my procrastination and here's what I got.
Listening to music
I’ve written multiple times about music being great for me in other of my posts. Since being stuck inside for about a year, I became a huge fan of lo-fi music and slowed and reverbed music. I would play the music from youtube before I start an assignment or studying. It surprisingly helps me focus with it playing in the background.
Have a to-do list/write down tasks
This has been such a saviour for me doing school and having my blog this year. I usually never did this but having all the things I need to get done written in a list on a notepad has been so helpful. The most satisfying thing afterwards is checking off the task I got done, whether it was an assignment or some graphics I had to do for a blog post.
Giving myself rewards after a task
I would tell myself, “Once I finish this, I can go watch that youtube video, watch a few episodes of that show or just take a break”. This kinda hypes me up to do my tasks and finish them, not rush them through. One of the best rewards that I could give myself is anything food-related hehe, reminding myself of that cake slice in the fridge is a great motivator.
Realizing how important the task is
Like I said before, I go to university and any work I do and submit is towards my final grades. Reminding myself that I need a certain grade to pass a course pushes me to study or finish up an assignment or do a tutorial sheet. Also knowing that I have like one more year at university is a big motivator too, I’m nearly at the end. Knowing the importance of the task and that you have to do it can be a great help.
Try to avoid distractions
Sadly, I’m an easily distracted person so I do find myself on my phone a lot when I’m supposed to do my work. One trick I used was to put my phone somewhere far from my workspace and if I need my phone for anything, I know that I would have to get up to go and get it. I’m a person that hates getting up after getting comfortable in my seat so this worked hehe. I would also put my phone on silent mode sometimes or focus mode which blocks me from using unnecessary apps.
This is my first post since school decided to get too much with the assignments and it feels great to be writing again. This is a struggle I dealt with throughout my whole semester and many people can probably relate. Hopefully, some of my tips can be helpful to those people. Procrastinating is not being lazy, It’s annoying that people take it like that, I want to be productive but it can be hard sometimes. If you procrastinate, it’s okay, you’re not the only one and it can be dealt with. I’m still doing my best to calm my procrastination as I want to be a properly organized person but when life comes in the way, it can be a struggle. Now some questions for you, do you procrastinate sometimes, how does it affect you in your daily life and is there any tips you used yourself that you found helpful to overcome it? I will be looking forward to talking with you below as it has been a while.
Here are a few websites that I found helpful:
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I hope you're at your happiest if not, it's okay...I hope you're starting or working on reaching the highest peak of happiness.
- Anissa (TheQuietGirl)
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