Whenever we get a new assignment with a week's time for submission, we develop a casual approach towards it, thinking that we have an ample amount of time to complete the work, which leads to delaying it until only a day or two is left before the submission. Sometimes you sit down to do that assignment and you get distracted by other things and at the end of the day the task remains incomplete. This happens to most of us on a regular basis and this is what is known as Procrastination.
"A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by the circumstances." - Hunter S. Thompson
The statement stands true as whenever we decide to postpone a task at hand we are also losing the opportunity to give our 100% to that task from the very beginning and make it a success. Procrastinating sometimes let all the good opportunities slip from our hands as it stops us from taking the chances and make decisions that can help lead a better life.
Many students have the habit of postponing things till the very last date as they get easily distracted by the use of social media or hanging out with their friends. While these can be fun to do as they help to take are minds out of worry, these decisions can sometimes lead to pending and piled up tasks at hand or can even become a distraction from studying, eventually leading to not getting good marks in our exams.
Many amongst us have a regular habit of delaying things, which eventually leads to a guilty thought i.e. 'Maybe I should have started earlier.' Whenever we get the schedules of our exams we tend to make a timetable for studying daily so that at the time of our examination we only have to do the revision. Many amongst us are able to achieve this goal; however there are some people who get distracted by their social media accounts that they start postponing their timetable to the next day. The increase in the use of social media among the students has lead to a decrease in their study time which eventually leads to them not getting the marks they expected and they start feeling less motivated to do something productive.
WHY DO WE PROCRASTINATE?
Whenever we decide to delay a task, we know that it is probably not a good idea to do but still we do it anyway. We know that we should plan things ahead of time but we still leave it for the last minute, knowing that it will have a negative result. People often say that you procrastinate because you are lazy or you do not have time management skills; however these have nothing to do with procrastinating.
The real reason is that many people stress about the work they have to do and to overcome that stress, they turn to their mobile phones, play video games, or hang out with friends. These things take their minds off the worry however, when they realise that they still have to complete their work, they feel guilty about not starting early.
Another reason for procrastinating is the insecurity that we have relating to the task. There might have been many incidents when you knew the correct answer to the question but you could not muster up the courage to raise your hand and answer because of the lack of confidence and the fear of being judged by others.
HOW TO STOP PROCRASTINATING
Procrastination is a voluntary action where we decide to do something fun rather than doing something that is important and requires our attention. We have the power to stop ourselves from delaying things and to start becoming productive from day one. The ways we can become more productive are:
1. Make yourself aware that you are procrastinating. It is the key step to stop you from delaying things. Instead of thinking ‘I will do it tomorrow.’ consider thinking ‘I need to do it today!’ Try to break the whole task into smaller sets of tasks so that when you complete those smaller tasks you feel accomplished and feel motivated to finish the whole task.
2. Give yourself little rewards like watching a good movie, having your favorite meal, binge watching your favorite series etc. It helps you to look forward to complete the task in order to earn that reward as it makes you feel good about achieving something.
3. Never let your tasks build up to the situation where it gets overwhelming for you to complete all of those in a short span of time. Start working on them from the very first day you get a particular task. If you feel stuck up at any time, feel free to seek help from others.
4. In case you feel getting distracted while working alone, you can always ask your parents to keep you company while you do your work as it will reduce the chances of you turning to your mobile phones whenever you feel bored. You can always ask a friend too for keeping you company or asking for help whenever you get stuck rather than not completing it further.
5. As students, you should start studying from the day one of your new class or semester as it relieves you of the burden of studying the whole syllabus at the time of your exams. Also, make a habit of studying the topics that the teacher is supposed to teach you in the next class, as it will help you feel connected and keep you interested in the class rather than distracting your mind to other things.
6. Turn off all the distractions that divert your mind from completing the tasks. Shut the television off, keep your phone away from yourself or give it your parents or roommates whenever you are studying, stop watching movies or listening to music whenever you are working as it tends to distract and hamper your thinking process.
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