Tag Archives: procrastination

Beating Procrastination for Students: 7 Working Tips

  By | | ,
6 Comments

You know that feeling. There was a task that you were supposed to do a long time ago. But you were constantly postponing collecting the information for your research or preparing for your exam. There is always something to do instead of prep. And no, you’re not being interrupted by something important from the outside. You just feel more like doing something else.

And now you’re working hard, while running out of time, trying to finish your task by the deadline. And you’re beating yourself up over not doing it beforehand. Still, you stay distracted by listening to various podcasts. Or, all of a sudden, you decide to take a break to clean up your room or wash the dishes. All in all, you’re trying to do whatever you can except that task which needs to be done.

Well, congratulations, that’s procrastination! A lot of people confuse procrastination with laziness, but those are totally different things. Laziness is rooted in apathy, lack of desire to do something, and inactivity in general. Thus, it’s a passive thing. Procrastination, on the contrary, is an active process. You choose to do anything else but doing something with burning deadlines.

Beating Procrastination for Students

While you can always request help by paper writer, and never bother about your essays again, procrastination affects different aspects of your life. Solving the problem with paper writing won’t clear out other issues related to your delaying tactics. And procrastination may negatively impact not only your college life but your work as well.

If you want to start doing everything on time and learn to balance your studying, work, and leisure, you should check out the following tips that will help you in your fight against wasting time.

1. Acknowledge Your Procrastination

One of the main reasons why we cannot solve certain issues is that we refuse to acknowledge the problem. You may use different excuses to justify delaying important things because you have other important things to do.

And it’s okay to postpone doing your research when something that you didn’t see coming hits you hard. Once. If you’re holding up things on a regular basis, then you are procrastinating. You need to acknowledge it to fight it. And then not postpone dealing with it. You know you want to.

2. Figure Out the Reason

After acknowledging the problem, you need to find the reasons behind it. Writing a research paper can be an actual bore while preparing for the exam can be quite stressful. Avoiding boredom and stress is normal. But if those are the causes of your procrastination, there are several things that you can do about it.

If you want to avoid boredom, while writing your paper you can either find the ways to get it done as soon as possible, or you can think about the aspects of it that are enjoyable for you. After all, you’re processing a lot of information to transform it into a finished product. That’s something that deserves recognition.

If you’re afraid of the stress of exam preparation, think that after going through all of it, you will be able to pass it without any problems. Actually, there’s nothing to worry about at all, but we are going to talk about it in detail later.

3. Get Rid of Distractions

Quite often we try to fool ourselves. We may think that preparing for an exam while at your friend’s place is a good idea. We may consider writing the paper while watching your favorite TV series. Well, let’s be honest, that is possible only if you’re a prodigy and extremely good at multitasking. Otherwise, it won’t work. Most likely you won’t get any joy from the party/TV show, and your paper won’t be ready.

4. Set Deadlines Yourself

Considering the previous situation, you can go with a different scenario. How about setting your personal deadlines that will allow you to write your paper beforehand, and you would be able to go to the party without being haunted by the idea that you haven’t finished something? Just make the first draft of your paper, you will be able to polish it after the party. But the first draft must be ready.

online-learning

Now, let’s consider your preparation for the exam. You cannot learn everything one night before the test. How about creating the to-do lists for the day? And put each topic that may pop up on your exam to that list? Just devote an hour or two every day to each topic, and you will prepare with ease.

5. State of Efficiency

Each of us has the time when we’re the most efficient. That’s the time that you should devote to your studies. If it happens so that you’re most efficient during night hours, use them to write your paper. If you prefer waking up early in the morning, and you feel most efficient from, let’s say 4 am to 10 am, use this time frame for preparing for the exam. Utilize your state of efficiency.

6. Avoid Stressing Out

We often get anxious just thinking how much time a task can take. And the anxiety brings demotivation. And when you’re demotivated, you would rather spend your time on anything else, except that task. But you should avoid stressing too much about it. Consider several scenarios of what may happen if you succeed or fail at that particular task.

beating procrastination

If you fail to finish your paper on time, most likely you will be asked to submit it when it is ready. Yep, that can affect your score, but is it such a big deal? Not really. If you fail your exam, you can retake it. Again, it will affect your grades, but will someone die because of that? No. Nothing really will happen to you.

This attitude is not to make you forget about the pending tasks, but it will help you to take them easy. And things can be done way easier when you don’t think of them as some big obstacle in your life. It’s just another paper you need to finish. It’s just another exam you need to pass. Nothing serious.

7. Ask for Help

Another thing that you need to remember is to never be ashamed of asking for help. It will save you time, and save your nerves as well. Ask your peers who have had similar assignments for advice. Someone may share their tips for writing a research, while those who made similar research can share their notes with you. You can even ask your professors to shed some light on what to do.

Why Procrastination is a Common Response to the Climate Crisis and What To Do About It

  By | | ,
1 Comment

This article was developed via a partnership with BetterHelp.

Have you been noticing yourself procrastinating or trying to put thoughts of the climate crisis out of mind, even though you care greatly about it? This procrastination of action is a very common response to the crisis, and it’s actually the reason that many people do not take action or work towards change in the world.

Inaction in activism is something that has been discussed for decades when talking about important issues, from climate change to abuse to world hunger. It’s also common in our day-to-day lives, such as in college and school environments.

Read on to learn more about why we procrastinate real change and what you can do to beat it.

why we procrastinate climate change

What is the Procrastination Response?

The procrastination response is a very human response to stress and overwhelming feelings. When something feels too much for our brains, we shut it off and ignore it. Without something pushing us in a direction, this often becomes overpowering, and we forget our path or simply don’t take action.

You can see examples of this in society. When something huge happens that is all over the news, people start to take action because it’s at the front of their minds. However, as action dies down or things begin to get more difficult, people become stressed and focused on other areas of life. Part of this is an attention span, but part of it is something else.

Why Do We Procrastinate?

This procrastination response happens because of stress, anxiety, and attention. It can also be caused by a trauma response. Here are some regular life examples of ways that procrastination can take hold:

  • Maria wants to clean her house. It is a bit dirty. However, she’s feeling super stressed by the mess and doesn’t know where to start. Instead of cleaning, she ignores it and puts it off for a few months until it gets so bad that she has a panic attack due to the mess.
  • John has an important project due at school. He wants to do a good job, so he initially does a lot of research. However, after he does the research, his passion isn’t as strong, and he has difficulty putting his thoughts on paper. He crams the project on the last night before it is due, and due to not feeling prepared, he ends up skipping school the next day and getting a 0 on the assignment.
  • Alex wants to volunteer abroad. They have done a lot of research and have determined that it is possible. However, they need to save up money for their plane ticket. Alex has never been so good with money, and they become overwhelmed with the financial aspect, causing them to not volunteer.

As you can see in the examples, each person has a desire to complete the objective, whether it’s cleaning, activism, or a project. It’s the same way with climate activism and taking action in our own lives to help the world.

For many people who feel passionately about saving the planet, there is a lot of stress and collective fear that comes along with it. After all, the climate crisis is scary and comes with some scary outcomes if changes are not made. This fear, coupled with the pressure to make changes now, causes many people to give up hope and simply not try.

Other people may continue to tell themselves, “I’ll sign up for the next protest” or “I’ll donate next month,” and then feel shame when they don’t end up doing it. It’s a vicious cycle that can leave people feeling hopeless. The good news is that there are ways to beat it!

How To Beat Procrastination in the Fight for Climate Change

If you’re feeling overwhelmed in your fight to end the climate crisis and help spread the word, here are some ways you can reduce that feeling and start to take action.

1. See a Counselor

First of all, it’s hard to be an advocate for something when you’re dysregulated. Even though the majority of people are going through this crisis together, it’s important to take care of your mind and body so that you can feel healthy and clear-minded when you get back into it.

We see a lot of studies about work-life balance, which means taking care of your body and mind so that you can work hard and be present in your job. This principle applies to the things we’re passionate about, as well.

2. Set a Schedule

Since humans need direction to take action, it’s important to learn how to be your own boss and your own director. Instead of waiting for someone else to plan a demonstration, plan one yourself. Figure out the details as you go.

If you’re not a “leader” personality, you can still plan ways to take action in your own life. Set a schedule for the little things you’d like to do to help the environment, whether that’s taking out the recycling daily or donating glass to a glass recycling factory.

You can also plan to donate to your favorite climate organizations monthly or plan a trip to volunteer in a foreign country, plus a plan for saving up money along the way.

3. Reward Yourself for Action

As reward-motivated creatures, humans also need to feel that their actions make a change. With climate change, it’s pretty common for people to feel that nothing will change from just one person trying to make an effort. It can feel hopeless.

However, with small rewards, you can show yourself the change that you make, even if it’s something tiny. You also want to remind yourself of the reasons you’re fighting for change and know that the true award is knowing you did your best and feeling satisfied with your efforts.

4. Reignite Your Inner Spark

Finally, the best activism comes from that inner spark that inspired you to take action in the first place. Often, this is a wave of rightful anger, which comes from seeing injustices or a lack of action being taken. This wave of anger is healthy, as it prompts you to continue working.

ways to calm climate crisis anxiety

Remind yourself of this feeling by using healthy doses of media, conversations with family, and even a collage of your dreams. Don’t depress yourself by watching tons of traumatic videos. However, do something that makes you want to take action. Write a journal page about your anger and sadness. Scream into a pillow. Write a rant on Facebook that only some close friends can see.

These are healthy ways of releasing emotion, and they’re also healthy ways to be an activist and get your voice out into the world.

Conclusion

If you’d like to learn more about procrastination in any area of life, you can check out this site from BetterHelp today. They’ve also got tons of information on resources for getting help with anxiety, depression, procrastination, and more.