My ways to stop procrastinating

          Hello there, dear reader! Welcome back to my humble blog, where I talk about all things related to procrastination. Ah, procrastination, I know it like an old friend, like the back of my hand. So far in my blog, we've covered the 'why' of procrastination, focusing primarily on the scientific aspects of it, as well as the various personal factors involved. If you're interested and you happened to miss out on those posts, scroll down to check them out. In this post, I will be presenting solutions to the problem at hand, or in other words, I'm going to tell you ways to stop procrastinating. Keep in mind, these are my personal methods that help me get the job done.

          Tip #1: Break a task into bite-sized pieces.
As mentioned in my previous post, a common cause of procrastination is confusion. This surges when a task is too big or too daunting to even fathom how to take it on. In personal experiences, I have found that if you separate one big project into several little ones, it really makes it easier to get it done.

          Tip #2: Make lists, lots of them.
Ask any of my friends, and they will tell you that I am a huge fan of making lists. When I have many things to get done, a list really helps me to organize my ideas and know exactly what I need need to take on. I personally first write down off of the top of my head all the things that I need to get done. Afterwards, I list them from most important to least important, then I proceed to getting them done, checking each one off my list once completed. 



          Tip #3: Change locations.
I, like many people, get easily distracted by things going on around me. For example, if I'm trying to get homework done in an area full of people and noises, I most likely won't complete my work. That is why it is ideal to pick a work space that is relatively quiet, where you can dive head-first into finishing your work. Some examples of locations are: a library, alone in your room, or maybe even a quiet little café.

          Tip #4: Just do it.
Most of the time, the hardest part of getting a task done is simply to get started. So if all your other efforts fall through, just sit down, and force yourself to start the task. Trust me, everything after that will be smooth sailing.

 


          With that being said, I conclude this post on my ways to stop procrastinating. If you decide to try out one of my tips, let me know in the comments section. Stay tuned for my upcoming posts. :)

Why we procrastinate: the other factors involved

                                                                                  

Why hello there friend! And Welcome back to my blog.

          As previously mentioned in my last post, today I will be covering all the other factors involved in procrastination. Because let's face it, procrastination has got to be caused by other things, not just simply "Temporal discounting", which we talked about in the last post. There are many reasons as to why someone might procrastinate, and today I'm gonna talk about them.

          Let's begin by first asking ourselves, what makes me procrastinate? I'm not sure about you guys but personally when I think of that I think of laziness. In all honesty I think I'm actually a very lazy person when it comes to accomplishing tasks that I don't directly benefit from. For example, sure studying really hard a week in advance for a test will probably end up getting me a good grade and will definitely benefit me in my report card, but in the present moment I don't really gain anything from studying. More importantly, I don't really enjoy it.

StuDYING

          I also find that I am even lazier when it comes to tasks that don't benefit me in the slightest, such as doing chores. My parents constantly have to push me to do the dishes because it doesn't benefit me, I don't enjoy it and therefore I procrastinate to do it. In other words, if the task isn't enjoyable, I will most likely procrastinate.    
                           
          I found this picture on google that pretty accurately and briefly sums up the usual reasons why I, and so many other people procrastinate:  

          We already talked about how having a lack of interest in a task can make you more likely to procrastinate. Let's talk about confusion. Confusion steps in when you're presented with a project or task that seems too daunting to tackle. I know there's certainly been tasks I've been faced with that seemed so big and complicated that I was confused on how to even begin. And consequently, that task got put off.

          Luckily there's a solution to every problem. A task will seem much simpler if you break it down into little steps instead of one big leap. We'll talk more about this in future posts. Now let's move on to fear.

          Last on this list of reasons we procrastinate is fear. Fear that we might screw up, that we might not get that perfect grade, etc... I strongly believe this goes hand-in-hand with perfectionism. I personally am a  perfectionist, I always want things to be perfect, so I usually put off projects out of fear that they won't turn out the way I want them to. But if you think about it, putting off that project seems counterproductive, how is it supposed to turn out perfect if you don't even get started?

          With that being said, I conclude today's blog post. I'm sure there are many other more specific reasons as to why someone might procrastinate, and they also probably vary from person to person. Stay tuned because in my next blog post I will be talking about ways we can avoid procrastination.

          Oh, and I found this little comic on google, I found it pretty funny and relevant to my blog's topic so here it is: