I need help to stop procrastinating. I always get my work done at the last minute and it's really screwing me over. I know it's a bad habit. I've been doing this since high school. I TRY to start early but then before you know, its already bedtime. I have a hard time focusing, and I always get bored when I try to do homework, so I tend to have a computer next to me. That and there's usually assignments and stuff on the internet that I have to look up. I often find myself just loafing around facebook, clutchfans, my email, aim, among others. It's kind of like smoking for me. It's not that easy for someone to just tell me to get my work done early (ie. "don't smoke"). I was wondering if there were any tricks or techniques to help me manage my time more wisely and focus!! I'm not sure if this is just a lifestyle that I have become accustomed to or maybe I just have fu**ing ADD?! Help please.
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I don't really have any words of advice, but I feel your pain. I've always been the biggest procrastinator (my excuse has always been, "I write best under pressure!"), and it wouldn't be that big of a deal except it's spilled over into other parts of my life - i.e., organizational skills, inability to stick to a solid workout regimen, complete absentmindedness (losing everything and have no clue where I put it). I know I do have all the symptoms of ADD - of course, some say it exists, others say it doesn't. I don't like the idea of being on drugs, but it would be tempting if there was a little pill that could get me to focus. Right now, (and since junior high), I can focus really well on some things, but can't seem to cultivate good habits in other areas. It's frustrating. I was recommended this book though, so I'll probably check that out.
lmao this is hilarious you think you're here trying to get help to stop yourself from procrastinating, but by you posting starting this thread, you're procrastinating as you type this up, you know how to stop, you just want a just cause, you want to justify that by you asking for help here, you're doing yourself some good, but in reality, this is just another factor to your laziness
Holy crap, you're good, sir. I was about to start working on my IT stuff, but then I saw your post and now I am researching how to help him. And then I posted. I just don't know how to help tinywang with his issue, though, and... ... oh, man, more threads in the Hangout! Let me go look...
The deal with procrastination is that you build goals and standards that you eventually break. So there's powerlessness and a lack of control involved. Then there's that adrenaline rush when you burn that midnight oil which, for the most part, makes you feel great and focused. Finally, when you do turn in a work that is unreliably mediocre to great, you have an out if the results don't turn out as good as it could've been. After all you didn't put in a 100%. Maybe you put in 50% and got a B. Or maybe you got an A, which will probably reinforce the bad habit even more. There's different tricks to break the habit, but I'm a bad procrastinator so I could share it later. They involve short goals with simple rewards and expectations attached. Setting time for yourself to screw around so you don't feel bad about it. yadda yadda yadda A bit of a catch-22 you have there.
I'm starting to think I have a short attention span now...this wasn't that bad before. It's really hard to combat procrastination with work and school. Hopefully, I'll manage it better that I'm in school now. When I was in college, I handled it very well.
It is all about structure......if you have free time, you naturally gravitate towards things you LIKE to do.... It is very difficult to force yourself to do the tough things FIRST.....I still haven't mastered it. DD
That's my problem. For the last decade I've been able to turn in rushed, sub-par (IMO), work and get an A. There was a specific time in junior high when I wrote my paper 15 minutes before class began, and my teacher ended up gushing about it in front of the class and pulled me aside later and told me it was one of the best essays she'd ever read. Now as a senior in college that habit has never been broken. I don't always get As, but I get them often enough for me to avoid fixing my problem. Durr...good catch. What I really meant is I WILL buy it, once I get my paycheck.
Make a schedule when you wake up, take plenty of breaks (enough to keep your mind on what you need to get done.)....I did this in Uni and it worked great. It doesn't work if you keep adding/changing study time to later on in the day, cause that time will never come, therefore never break the schedule. Hope it helps.
the latter group being extremely ignorant. I used to not believe in ADD... when I was 10. Then I read the scientific data and combined with my own experiences things became very clear. Do not let the unsubstantiated uninformed opinions of an ignorant few bully you into believing ADD is not real.
hehehe, then he'll have to check the bbs all the time instead of doing work, because it's very important to see if anyone has helped him with his procrastination problem yet. Not that too many of us can truly say we have nothing better to do right this minute than post on this bbs. Myself, I got about 40 free minutes and should be practicing piano but thought I'd take care of some computer stuff first... including work related stuff which I have not yet done. I'm still not great at doing things without a close upcoming deadline; I try to carve out bits of weekend, make a schedule, and get stuff done, including some that isn't due until much later. I'm not great about sticking to this for long, but I can do some and every little bit helps.
I recently started drinking coffee on a daily basis (before I would only drink it once in like 6months) and it has helped me a lot in focusing and giving me the energy to keep on going with school work rather than go home and screw around.
I definitely work best when there are no distractions. So going to a library is the perfect way to get work done early. If I am at home, there are 100 things I could be doing other than work, and I usually end up doing those things. At a library, there is nothing to do but work and since you are all alone, you can get stuff done fast.
I think writing's a little different. I bet you thought about those things you wrote at the last moment several times before you started writing and you probably had a decent outline in place... at least that's how I do it sometimes. Not to mention that some people have to be in the zone to write well and the time pressure probably put you in the zone.
One thing I've done is that I try to work together with a friend, at least on assignments where collaboration is OK. I've found that if I try to work on an assignment during the weekend, I probably won't do it. But if I try to meet up with a friend and get some work done on the weekend, there's no way I'll let him down (and vice versa). Of course, there are other benefits to this too. I'm usually bad at procrastinating too, but this has helped me start (and finish) assignments 3-4 days before they're due...which is something I rarely did in previous years. Of course, even if you can't collaborate on an assignment, you can still work together in some aspects (e.g., do some research at a library).
