You hate cleaning, but now that you need to study for that big Chemistry test, you’re suddenly set on making your dorm room sparkle. You told yourself that you’d pull an all-nighter for your Statistics homework, but now those ridiculous late-night infomercials seem incredibly captivating.
Procrastination can take some interesting forms. It can also have very serious effects on college students. According to Psychology Today, students who procrastinated were shown to have compromised immune systems and insomnia.
Whether your procrastination technique is Netflixing, online shopping, napping, or cleaning, work on strategies to overcome it and manage your time wisely.
Admit that you’re procrastinating. It’s the first step to overcoming it!
Set a timer for 15 or 20 minutes and force yourself to do nothing but study for the full length of time. If you accomplish that, treat yourself! Then do it again.
Create a study environment with few distractions or find a quiet place or study in the library.
Divide large assignments into smaller more manageable pieces. Plan a term paper by constructing an outline. Study for a test in chunks. Small tasks appear much less daunting than the whole assignment.
Work with study groups. Knowing that you have to pull your weight in a study group is a great way to avoid procrastination. If you lack the willpower, the study group's peer pressure and your sense of responsibility toward the group will help ensure that you complete your assigned tasks on time.