Are you a procrastinator?

Finding it difficult to concentrate on getting work done? This puts you among with millions of other people worldwide who face the exact same problem. You very well may be reading this article in spite of knowing knowing that you should be completing your homework which is due tomorrow.

With school exams, a piece of work or with a deadline inevitable in the horizon, as students we feel lost and unmotivated to do anything. As a Dartford Grammar School student, we have have a healthy though rigorous work mannerism: plenty of exams, a sufficient load of homework and a remarkable amount of revision to do.

Personally, keeping things to the last minute always seems to have a huge toll on my mental comfort and on my quality of work, despite all of this, I continue to mindfully “forget” that I have work to do and instead choose to play my new video game or watch another season of my favourite show on Netflix.

The reason behind this is procrastination.

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How I stop myself from procrastinating?

This mindful forgetting may seem convenient at the time, but later (usually the day before the piece of work is due), I feel stressed and hence force myself to enter a trance of completing work without giving much thought on the quality. However, my experience as a typical Year 10 grammar school student, has helped me to learn more about the ways in which I get more out of the time I have. Below is a list of some of them:

1. I give myself rewards for doing work. This drives me forward and increases my productivity during my allocated work time.
2. I tend to break tasks down into smaller chunks which helps me to tackle larger problems, because it seems less demanding when it is broken down, hence I am less scared of the prospects of sitting down and doing work.
3. I try to bring about habits which last, for example, I like to study at specific times during the day. Setting up habits trains the brain to accept that it is time to work rather than procrastinate.
   1. FACT: It takes 21 days for your brain to make something a habit.
4. I usually exercise before work. This may seem like procrastination, but a short walk or run can increase blood supply to the brain and hence may boost productivity.
5. Although I do not personally do this, taking short power naps throughout the day can boost your concentration, taking short naps when tired can keep our minds fresh and sharp during work.
6. Pomodoro technique: Study for 25 minutes and then take a break for five minutes, repeat for four chunks before taking a longer break. This technique reduces monotony during studies and is proven to increase attention span.
7. I sometimes study with friends who I can trust. Studying in groups relieves boredom during work and enables you to combine knowledge and increase productivity.
8. Listening to music. Although, some studies have shown that listening to music may be detrimental for retrieval and encoding of information in the brain, it may allow some to study for a longer time without any distractions.

That being said, why not get yourself into the mood of studying by listening to a few of these great works. However, beware – do not get side-tracked and end up procrastinating again! Good luck with your revision!

This article has been recovered from an expired domain and has unfortunately lost images. Original writing credits belong to Chris.