How to Overcome Procrastination

We’ve all been there. With 24 hours left on the clock to make an urgent academic deadline, and for some reason your brain is thinking about everything else other than the assignment that has been set, and somehow you end up watching a video about how the ancient Greeks proved that the earth was round over 2000 years ago. We’ve all told ourselves the phrase “I just work better under pressure” as we scramble and wait to do long essays or complex problem sheets that teachers had given us a week or two to use for a reason.

We’ve all probably watched the infamous ‘Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator’ TED talk by Tim Urban, so we’ve all heard that procrastination isn’t logical. And if you think about it, it doesn’t make sense to leave all our work until the last minute and focus on other things until then, but for some reason, we all still do it. At some point, we all put off doing a task that we don’t necessarily want to do, because ‘we’ll do it later’. Whilst it must be noted that it isn’t always bad to procrastinate – some of my greatest and most creative ideas have come through a bout of procrastination because I have had time to think about the topic and allow creative ideas to form over time. However, most of the time it is a hindrance to doing work in the best way, and it just leads to increased stress and possibly negative mental states. But procrastination doesn’t have to ruin your academic career, it doesn’t need to consume you and there are ways to manage it so that you can be able to get work done.

It's hard to overcome something you don’t know much about, so I have found it useful to identify the different types of procrastination that can exist. In their book ‘It’s About Time: The Six Styles of Procrastination and How to Overcome Them”, Dr Linda Sapadin and Jack Maguire talk about the six different underlying beliefs that lead to procrastination:

• The Worrier: This is someone who procrastinates because they often have a fear of failure and believe they won’t succeed at the task that they are doing.

• The Crisis Maker: This is someone who procrastinates because they believe that they need the last-minute pressure to be motivated and do the task well (similar to the phrase I mentioned before).

• The Over-doer: This person procrastinates because they have taken on too many things, and hasn’t prioritised them correctly.

• The Dreamer: This person may see the task as boring or unnecessary and believe that they shouldn’t have to work hard to achieve their dreams and goals.

• The Defier: This is someone who procrastinates because they think the task isn’t really ‘worth their while’ and they would rather not do it and instead do something else that is more “useful” to them.

• The Perfectionist: This person procrastinates because they worry that they won’t complete the task perfectly. (In many ways they are very similar to The Worrier).

People often do not fit into a singular belief; many people resonate with aspects of each six of the beliefs. I believe that when I procrastinate, I embody the beliefs of The Worrier and The Perfectionist, and those beliefs can hinder me from producing the best academic work. So how do we overcome this and do our work within the given time? Here are a few tips that have personally helped me with procrastination over the years:

1. Break the big task down into smaller tasks

Breaking down bigger tasks into smaller ones is one of my most important actions. Not only does it help me plan out my days, but it also makes bigger tasks much less intimidating because the sub-tasks I’ve set are clear and manageable. When breaking it down into smaller tasks, I also find it very helpful to write down everything in a checklist, either on paper or in my phone notes app for example.

2. Set your own reminders and your own deadlines

Never let yourself forget about the task that you have to do. Out of sight and out of mind can be a very dangerous principle for those who are procrastinating, especially because there is no guarantee that your future self will remember. So in combination with setting smaller sub-tasks, also set reminders and deadlines for those tasks

3. Eliminate your distractions

I too am a victim of constantly being distracted by my phone. It is always as you’re decidedly about to finally start some work that a group chat will come alight with some of the funniest jokes, or TikTok will show you some of the interesting content you’ve seen in a while. Avoiding using your phone can often be very hard. Still, I find that putting a significant distance between myself and my phone can be very helpful, leaving it with a parent/guardian or even a friend that you trust for about an hour or two can be the push to get your tasks done. Apps such as the Forest app, which plants trees if you avoid using your phone for 40 minutes, for example, can also be a great incentive to leave your phone alone. If you are not necessarily distracted by your phone but something else, identify what can cause distractions for you and then devise a plan where maybe you are working away from those things, and they don’t impact you.  

4. Reward yourself

Make sure to celebrate even the little wins and achievements, so that you will be more motivated to tackle the bigger projects. After finishing a task that you set for the day, reward yourself by doing something that makes you happy. For me that would be eating my favourite meal and watching a good movie or television show; for you, that might look slightly different.

Other things that have helped other people is using different study methods such as the Pomodoro technique to break up the monotony that can arise and be very off-putting when doing tasks. And if you really can’t stop procrastination, instead of just aimlessly scrolling on TikTok, Instagram or other social media platforms, put the procrastination energy into something actually productive but somewhat less intimidating, so for example doing some exercise like going for a walk, or doing a task you like a bit more than the one that you are avoiding. Those things can get you into the swing of working and you might feel more compelled to tackle the task you were doing. But overall, the most important thing to remember about procrastinating is that you are not alone. It doesn’t make you lazy or unintelligent, you’re just human.

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Written by K. Amoo-Peters