Tips for a procrastinator?

Question

I'm home schooled and school ends in about 20 days. I have a bunch of work that needs to be done,but I keep putting it off. HELP?

Answer 1

I am exactly the same so I can relate!! Some ways that I find very helpful are the following:

1. Setting Goals

2. Not doing other things until I have complete those goals.

3. Rewarding myself with a little leisure time after I get the stuff done!

4. Remembering that if I don't get it done now...I'll still have to do it later!! It's not just going to disappear forever. :)

5. Not eating lunch until I've done three hours of study

6. Not eating tea until I've done three hours of study

Make lists if you need to!! I find it really annoying if I have a list and I haven't crossed out the stuff on it! It motivates me to get it done!

Hope this helps! Good luck!! :)

Answer 2

From a fellow procrastinator: Don't think, just do it.  If i think about what i need to do and in what order, writing it down as specific tasks, then first thing when i get up, i read the first item on the list and do it without allowing myself time to think about it, i get much more done.  It is when i think or allow distractions that the time slips away without my accomplishing a thing.

Answer 3

The reason you keep putting it off is likely a combination of the following reasons:

1) The amount of work seems overwhelming so you don't do the work in order to avoid feeling overwhelmed.

2) It's not clear how much should be done each day and to avoid the feelings of uncertainty, you avoid doing the work.

3) You don't have your priorities and goals clear.

The key to overcoming #1 is to just make yourself do the work regardless of how you feel. Just because you feel that way doesn't mean you have to give in to the feeling. When you can do that, you have taken a step up in emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is key to living the most successful life you can live.

They key to overcoming #2 is two-fold: like the above, you need to make yourself work even though you feel the way you do, plus, you need to sit down and work out how much you need to do each day to finish in time.

For #3, you need to figure out what is important to you in terms of school, why it's important and set some specific goals: how well you'd like to know the material, etc. This might actually come before #2 so that you can plan out your work better.

After that, you need to start each day writing out a plan for the day. Don't make it super complicated or you'll be shooting yourself in the foot. Set mini-goals for the day--how much you'd like to accomplish by lunch, before supper, etc. If you can set your plan and make yourself follow through on it--keeping in mind you don't ever have to actually FEEL like doing it (just like a diabetic doesn't FEEL like taking an insulin shot), you just do it.

Answer 4

Tell yourself this: If I put all this work off, I won't graduate.  

and if you don't graduate, you will be working at McD's for the rest of your life.  

Hope that helps :)

Answer 5

Don't look at the whole project. I find a big looming project is too overwhelming and I get panicky.   Try breaking it up into smaller, more easily managed portions.  Get a calendar, and set daily goals of what needs to be done to get the work done by the end of the school year.  Sometimes I say, if I work for 30 minutes, I get a 10 minute break.  Then work for another 30 minutes.  Using this slower method, I manage to get my schoolwork done.

Answer 6

This is how I simply I look at it:

If I don't do this schoolwork, I'm going to die.  It's not really true but it's going to be tougher to make money in future.

If you do it, you'll live. Think of the $$$.