Wondering how to overcome procrastination as a student? Manage your time wisely and avoid falling into the trap of procrastination with these easy and effective strategies!
You know what they say about procrastination – that they’ll tell you all about it later.
Jokes aside, procrastination is a common problem. If you find yourself indulging in it more often than not, don’t worry. You’re definitely not alone.
Many learners wrestle with this habit. It’s not hard to see why procrastination is bad for students: it can build anxiety, reduce your output’s quality, or just bring down productivity.
Luckily, there are actually effective strategies to stop procrastinating. Even if you can’t eliminate it completely, you can manage it in a way that reduces its negative effects… as you’ll see below.
To figure out how to stop procrastinating, you need to identify why you’re doing it in the first place.
Does the task feel irrelevant or unpleasant? Do you lack confidence in the activity involved? Are you uncertain about the process for it? Do you feel like it doesn’t have clear goals or a timeline?
All of these are possible causes for procrastination – and all of them are addressable! The rest of our tips will help you out there, but it’s important to identify the main blockage first to strategise a solution.
Now that you know what’s making you hesitate, you can come up with a plan that leaps your main hurdle. Let’s take an example and say you’re procrastinating because a project seems so disorganised in its timeline that it seems overwhelming.
In that case, the strategy would be to do some time management and process clarification! For instance, you can create a to-do list for it and schedule items on your calendar in order of priority or dependence.
You can even use free tools to take a lot of the work out of it. Try Asana or Motion, for instance. Even AI scheduling assistants can help you build your schedule!
We already touched on this in the previous tip. Basically, if you think one reason you’re procrastinating is that a project looks too big, make it smaller!
It’s sort of like putting one of the big Lego designs together. It can look intimidating to put together if you look only at the final outcome.
But if you break it down into separate parts and concentrate on making each small part first, things get so much easier.
Let’s say you’re supposed to complete a mock exam paper in several days. You can break it down like this:
You now have three smaller tasks to deal with instead of a big one! That lets you spread out the work enough for recharging breaks and gives you the time and energy to think through each one.
As many procrastinators know, the real challenge is often in getting started. So, make starting easier!
Indeed, one of the best ways to stop procrastinating is to tell yourself that what you’re about to do will only take a little bit of time. You can tell yourself that you’ll just do it for 10 minutes, to begin with.
If you can, tell yourself you’ll do it for another 10 minutes after that, and another after that. Most people find this feasible because the bigger hurdle (starting) is already over.
Even if this isn’t the case for you, you can just schedule your work in intervals. Do 10 minutes of work, then a 10-minute break.
Chances are you’ll find the 10 minutes of work stretches into a lot more, though. The more you do it, the more you’ll find yourself extending the time easily.
We all need help and encouragement sometimes. Luckily, study groups and studdy buddies exist. The right one can do a lot to help drive and motivate you.
Try to identify the right location for your group to meet too. It doesn’t matter if it’s a cafe, a library, or a study room at school. What’s important is that it’s suitable for you and your group.
Even if you choose not to go with a study group, by the way, that’s fine. You still need to think about what environment seems to contribute to your productivity – something without intrusions but easy access to support, like a quiet study nook or room.
Most of us are reward-motivated – and that can work for you. All you have to do is tell yourself that you can get a reward if you achieve something!
The rewards can be simple things as long as they’re ones that give you pleasure. Want that cup of bubble tea? Maybe 15 mins on ROBLOX or COD? Whatever it is, promise it to yourself as a reward!
You can even make a list of which reward corresponds to which task on your to-do list. It’s a great way to motivate yourself to begin.
Ultimately, procrastination happens to nearly everyone. Managing it and reducing the negative impact of it is part of most life routines – and may even go beyond your studying years into adulthood.
We’re saying this so that you don’t beat yourself up if you fail to do it sometimes. Just continue trying to improve and you’ll do well!
But if you find that you’d like extra help with it and the rest of your academic work, don’t be afraid to ask for it either. Our Coaches at Aspire Hub have methods to help you as part of our weekly lessons, besides simply teaching you academic and learning strategies.
You can check out our programmes for Upper Primary, Lower Secondary, and Upper Secondary students if you want to learn more. Alternatively, you can reach out to us and we can figure out how we can help you.
You know what they say about procrastination – that they’ll tell you all about it later.
Jokes aside, procrastination is a common problem. If you find yourself indulging in it more often than not, don’t worry. You’re definitely not alone.
Many learners wrestle with this habit. It’s not hard to see why procrastination is bad for students: it can build anxiety, reduce your output’s quality, or just bring down productivity.
Luckily, there are actually effective strategies to stop procrastinating. Even if you can’t eliminate it completely, you can manage it in a way that reduces its negative effects… as you’ll see below.
To figure out how to stop procrastinating, you need to identify why you’re doing it in the first place.
Does the task feel irrelevant or unpleasant? Do you lack confidence in the activity involved? Are you uncertain about the process for it? Do you feel like it doesn’t have clear goals or a timeline?
All of these are possible causes for procrastination – and all of them are addressable! The rest of our tips will help you out there, but it’s important to identify the main blockage first to strategise a solution.
Now that you know what’s making you hesitate, you can come up with a plan that leaps your main hurdle. Let’s take an example and say you’re procrastinating because a project seems so disorganised in its timeline that it seems overwhelming.
In that case, the strategy would be to do some time management and process clarification! For instance, you can create a to-do list for it and schedule items on your calendar in order of priority or dependence.
You can even use free tools to take a lot of the work out of it. Try Asana or Motion, for instance. Even AI scheduling assistants can help you build your schedule!
We already touched on this in the previous tip. Basically, if you think one reason you’re procrastinating is that a project looks too big, make it smaller!
It’s sort of like putting one of the big Lego designs together. It can look intimidating to put together if you look only at the final outcome.
But if you break it down into separate parts and concentrate on making each small part first, things get so much easier.
Let’s say you’re supposed to complete a mock exam paper in several days. You can break it down like this:
You now have three smaller tasks to deal with instead of a big one! That lets you spread out the work enough for recharging breaks and gives you the time and energy to think through each one.
As many procrastinators know, the real challenge is often in getting started. So, make starting easier!
Indeed, one of the best ways to stop procrastinating is to tell yourself that what you’re about to do will only take a little bit of time. You can tell yourself that you’ll just do it for 10 minutes, to begin with.
If you can, tell yourself you’ll do it for another 10 minutes after that, and another after that. Most people find this feasible because the bigger hurdle (starting) is already over.
Even if this isn’t the case for you, you can just schedule your work in intervals. Do 10 minutes of work, then a 10-minute break.
Chances are you’ll find the 10 minutes of work stretches into a lot more, though. The more you do it, the more you’ll find yourself extending the time easily.
We all need help and encouragement sometimes. Luckily, study groups and studdy buddies exist. The right one can do a lot to help drive and motivate you.
Try to identify the right location for your group to meet too. It doesn’t matter if it’s a cafe, a library, or a study room at school. What’s important is that it’s suitable for you and your group.
Even if you choose not to go with a study group, by the way, that’s fine. You still need to think about what environment seems to contribute to your productivity – something without intrusions but easy access to support, like a quiet study nook or room.
Most of us are reward-motivated – and that can work for you. All you have to do is tell yourself that you can get a reward if you achieve something!
The rewards can be simple things as long as they’re ones that give you pleasure. Want that cup of bubble tea? Maybe 15 mins on ROBLOX or COD? Whatever it is, promise it to yourself as a reward!
You can even make a list of which reward corresponds to which task on your to-do list. It’s a great way to motivate yourself to begin.
Ultimately, procrastination happens to nearly everyone. Managing it and reducing the negative impact of it is part of most life routines – and may even go beyond your studying years into adulthood.
We’re saying this so that you don’t beat yourself up if you fail to do it sometimes. Just continue trying to improve and you’ll do well!
But if you find that you’d like extra help with it and the rest of your academic work, don’t be afraid to ask for it either. Our Coaches at Aspire Hub have methods to help you as part of our weekly lessons, besides simply teaching you academic and learning strategies.
You can check out our programmes for Upper Primary, Lower Secondary, and Upper Secondary students if you want to learn more. Alternatively, you can reach out to us and we can figure out how we can help you.
