How to stop procrastinating!

By M. Liaw

You are sitting down at your desk, persistently working for the past hours finishing that piece of work that is due that night, infuriated that you didn’t start it sooner, and for what? Well, most of the time you had to do this task was spent checking messages, doing other tasks with later deadlines, too many breaks or just doing nothing. Procrastination is the act of postponing something, which might be a relaxing thing to do when the assignment is due in 3 days, but it can hold you back when it’s time to hand it in. You might think that you are the only one who does this, but in reality, almost 95 per cent of us have procrastinated at various points in our lives (according to researcher Piers Steel). If you tend to procrastinate regularly, this article might be perfect for you. I will be talking about a few ways to stop delaying your work pace.


The first step to overcoming procrastination is to understand why you are procrastinating. This is one of the most important steps because recognizing what you are doing wrong is crucial so you can begin dealing with the issue. There are many different reasons for procrastination, whether it's lack of motivation, fear of failure, poor organization, you should find a good side to your work. Let’s say you procrastinated because you think the assignment is repetitive or boring, try to start by the part that you enjoy and find entertaining to do then work your way through the hard part which is the part you least enjoy. Or you could do the complete opposite, you could do the hardest or most boring task first to get it out of the way and then do the one that you enjoy.


Next, you should be focusing on an anti-procrastination plan, if the reason you procrastinate is because of electronics try to reduce distractions by sitting in a quieter area or turning off any type of social media or games. Try to get organized write all the tasks you need to do write the tasks you need to do on a list from most important to least important in hanging it somewhere you look at often. Make an effort to do your tasks instead of staying away from them and give yourself a reward after you finish. This way, you will stay motivated and finish your task to maybe go to your favourite coffee shop and get yourself a drink or buying a little sweet at the supermarket.


I hope that this article was able to help you find ways to help with daily procrastination and getting your tasks done in time!