The Ultimate Guide to Beat Procrastination [A MUST READ]
Academic procrastination is one of the biggest reasons of students’ poor academic performance – and it is directly related to a failure in self-regulation practices (such as poor time management or getting distracted by other things). Carola Grunschel from the Bielefeld University in Germany led research on how to train the academic procrastinators to improve their learning processes. Some of the key findings were:
Types of Academic Misconduct Procrastinators are Prone to:
Some of the unethical activities in students that stem from academic procrastination are:
Using false excuses or fake medical certificates to get the deadline extension to get an exam postponed
- Indulging in Plagiarism (where they pick up quotes or ideas from other authors and do not acknowledge them for them)
- Copying from someone else’s paper while writing an exam
- Carrying and using crib notes, books, electronic gadgets or other forbidden items in exams and using them, and
- Copying the entire homework (or assignment) or parts of it from others
- Fabricating facts, data or results for the research work.
Key Areas Students Need to Work On to Overcome Procrastination
The research findings also indicated that the key areas that one should work on to promote self-learning and beat procrastination are:
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Time Management
One needs to take into account how many hours he or she spends in classes, at sports classes, or with friends per week. One also needs to keep in mind the time that’ll be required to solve an assignment and reserve blocks of timings on your planner accordingly. Time Management can directly impact your academic life and also help in improving grades.
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Goal Setting
Break assignments into smaller goals – and promise yourself to finish one sub-task each day. When the complete assignment seems overwhelming, these small steps can save you from cumulative disaster effect later.
Preparing for Exams: Set some time for exam preparation as soon as your academic calendar commences. Make notes while reading something and organize them in a neat and orderly way. Schedule time and a proper plan for revisions on a regular basis and solve the past years’ question papers or sample papers at least once every week. When you are ready for the exam, you won’t feel the need to cheat.
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Learning Skills and Knowledge Needed to Solve Assignments and Take Exams
Students may cheat in exams for two reasons – either they don’t know the answer to a question or they don’t know how to express their ideas or solutions they know. In any case, it is imperative for them to learn the necessary knowledge and skills they need to ace their exams or do their assignments. Besides subject revisions, they also need to use language and pick up flair of creative writing that does not come naturally to everyone. It is a good idea to opt for a few tuitions or writing courses to make it easier for you to present your answers in the required manner.
Excellent Tips to Beat Procrastination from the Experts
- Procrastination causes a ripple effect. It may not affect you immediately but more you put things off and avoid things, more you start lagging behind in your personal, academic and professional lives. The key to beating procrastination is to take the first step. Once you start doing something, you’ll find it easier to move ahead.
- To make sure you work in the right direction and build momentum, break down your tasks in manageable and achievable chunks. Having a work plan makes it easier for you to complete all the assignments in a timely manner. Google calendar works as a wonderful planner which can be used across all your gadgets and can remind you when to do a certain task.
- Use Peggy Duncan’s ‘Stare at the Photo’ technique. Place your goal chart or a photo of you with an award on your study desk (or wherever you tend to go when you get distracted). You may also keep a photo of your parents smiling proudly instead. It will serve as a reminder of what you want to achieve whenever you are drifting towards procrastination or spending too much time on social media.
Alternatively, when you feel like procrastinating, write down examples from your past where you missed an opportunity or suffered a punishment due to procrastination. Keep this list near your books. A look at the list will remind you why not to procrastinate.
4. Rory Vaden suggests that there might be two reasons why you are not doing something that needs to be done:
- You don’t want to do it, and
- You think it is not the right time to do it.
A good way to initiate your change of heart is to give yourself emotional permission to get the task done today so that you can spend more time on things you want to do tomorrow.
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