Hey, guys. I know that this post is late, but I’ve been busy working and having fun. I’ll give an update at the end. To preface this blog post, these aren’t tactics I use to stop procrastinating (I still haven’t mastered that). These are tactics I use to prevent procrastination from happening in the first place. I’ve gotten pretty good at avoiding procrastination in the last few years, so here are the five approaches that work for me.
1.//I Don’t Start Any New Shows During The School Year
Binge-watching is definitely my vice when it comes to procrastination, which is why I don’t start any new shows unless it’s a school break. I stick to rewatching shows that I already love so that I can live with just watching one episode and stopping. I also watch a lot of T.V shows as they come out, so there is no need to binge watch them anyway.
I know myself. Whenever I start a new show, I continue watching until I finish. Recently, I’ve realized that I’ve grown a bit more self-control over the years and can stop myself after two or three episodes of a new show, but I try not to risk it. I’m better off waiting until I have a break.
2.//I Move Study Spots
There is something about sitting in the same place for five hours that makes me procrastinate. I may be able to focus for the first two hours, but all bets are off after that.
Pretty soon, I get comfortable with my surroundings and start relaxing by browsing through Pinterest and watching YouTube. That’s fine when I’m taking 5-10 minute breaks, but it gets to a certain point where I just can’t start doing work again.
After a few hours, I move to another study spot, whether that’s the library, the student center, or my dorm. Usually, I don’t study in my dorm room because I end up laying in my bed, but the point is that when I move study spaces (and sit at a table instead of on a couch, I feel re-energized and that pushes me to start working again.
Related – 10 Ways I Refocus Myself During The Day
3.//I Schedule Intentional Breaks
I am all for taking breaks so long as they are actually breaks. I like reading and watching YuoTube videos, but I feel super guilty whenever I use them as procrastination tools. When I actually allow myself to do those things without guilt, I can truly relax and enjoy doing them. We can still do the things we use to procrastinate, like checking social media or reading blog posts, but when we schedule a time to do those things on our own, we feel less of an urge to do them while studying.
Believe me when I say I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of YouTube and literally having nothing left to watch, so please hear this. When there is nothing to procrastinate with or you have scheduled a time to do the things you procrastinate with, you’ll end up doing the work you set out to do.
Related – How To Take Intentional Breaks In College
4.//I Have Someone Hold Me Accountable
This doesn’t necessarily mean telling someone what I want to get done and checking in with them (though that also works). For me, it’s having set appointments during the day. I am at my most productive when my day is scheduled. When I have a specific place to be by a specific time, I use all my free time to get other tasks done because I know I’m on a time crunch.
Unscheduled days are procrastination bait for me. Even if I wake up early, I still won’t end up getting my work done until the late afternoon because I have so much time during the day. This is why I will sometimes make plans with a friend in the evening or go to a school event. It forces me to get my work done before nine.
Another more extreme example of this is what I did yesterday. I posted my to-do list on Instagram and updated every time I crossed something off. Yesterday was a completely free day for me, but I was able to be productive because I was held accountable.
5.//I Keep My Room Clean
One of the ways I procrastinate is by cleaning. It’s hard for me to focus on my work when my room is messy. (It’s one of the reasons it’s easier to study at the library or in a coffeeshop). Everything doesn’t have to be completely organized, but my bed has to be made and my clothes have to be out of the way. Yesterday is an example of that. I knew that there wasn’t any point in studying before unpacking and cleaning up my dorm room. If I had started studying immediately, I would’ve stopped in the middle of things to tidy up one at a time in order to procrastinate. By cleaning everything at once, I didn’t have that urge for the rest of the day.
I deep cleaned my room yesterday, which is something I do once every two weeks. It’s why I don’t have to clean very often. For me, it’s better to do a huge clean all at once than to spread it out throughout the week. That way, I don’t have to think about it again after it’s done. It’s one less thing to use for procrastination.
(I’ll link my cleaning routine below)
Related – How To Keep Your Dorm Room Ridiculously Clean
6.//Bonus Tip: Keep Your Phone Away From You
Here’s a bonus tip that I just gave a reader. She messaged me on Instagram about half an hour ago about how she struggles with putting her phone away while studying. This is what I do in that situation. When I study in my room, I charge my phone away from my desk so that it’s not immediately in my line of site. Whenever I study at the library, I keep my phone in my purse. Out of sight, out of mind.
I do, however, keep the sound on my phone on. This way, I know when my mom calls or I get a text message. I keep all social media and email notifications off on my phone, so it doesn’t ding constantly and I don’t feel the urge to check them multiple times per day.
The reason most people feel uncomfortable keeping their phone away is that they don’t want to miss anything important. I can get away with that because I’ll hear my phone when there is something I need to respond to immediately. Everything else can be postponed for later.
I hope that helped. Make sure you at least try to utilize these things because these tips won’t work unless you do them. Only scrolling through Pinterest and looking through anti-procrastination tips won’t work.
So let’s get into the mini-update. I would have posted twice last week, but I’ve been working on a lengthy anecdotal blog post that has been taking up a lot of emotional energy. That post was actually supposed to go up instead of this one, but I’m not quite done yet. I still have the goal of posting a hundred blog posts this year, so you will get one week next month where I post three times instead of two, so don’t worry about that.
I hope the beginning of your semester is going well and until next time.
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What tactics do you use to avoid procrastination?