Close Home Forum Sign up / Log in

How do I stop procrastinating?

W

I seem to have gotten worse about (or should that be better at) procrastination. I tend to leave things closer and closer to the deadline. I have to submit my 2nd year report in a weeks time and haven't started. Thankfully its only a 1000 words but I want to give my supervisor a draft early this week. I was wondering if anyone had any tips to work quicker.

L

procrastination is a sign that you are feeling lost and overwelmed by the task of it.

first step. make a plan.

set the egg timer to 15minutes, and write freely about what you need to write in your report. write without thinking about grammer, spelling or structure.

once you have done that. go back and read what you have written and with a highlighter highlight things that you can elaborate.

your first task is to write messy. sit down and dont think to write perfectly.

visit these websites to get you started:

http://davidmaister.com/blog/18/Done-at-Last-Thoughts-on-Procrastination

https://webspace.utexas.edu/cherwitz/www/ie/b_flowers.html

your first step would be is to: write a ZERO draft of your report. then once you've done that, then go back to it and improve on it.

DO not attempt to write perfectly the first time. that will just overwelm you.

L

now your very first task is to write for 15 minutes, even if you hate it, you can do it for 15 minutes, and then report back here when you have done it.

no go do it!

L

sorry that's meant to be

*NOW go and do it

forum adminstrators, when are we going to have edit functions? :P

W

Thanks for that!! It seems to help. I set my timer for 20 min to begin with and said to my self to just write what comes out. The first 20 min were hard going but the second was much easier and in fact also I just kept going after my timer went off. Also what I wrote wasn't as bad as I thought it would be!. So thanks again for the advice.

L

you're very welcome! I am happy to hear it helped!

yeh I am the same, I will set my egg timer, but then realise I am in the "zone" and I carry on writing after the buzzer has gone off, or sometimes i even keep setting back the egg timer to have 5 extra more minutes before the buzzer goes off lol.

L

sounds like you've made alot of progress, well done you!

L

hey worried17, how's your report coming along?

9734