I’ve been saying I’ll stop procrastinating every goddamn New Years, but it just never ends. It just causes unnecessary stress, but it’s as if I PHYSICALLY CANNOT STOP. Even right now, I have 4 finals I need to take tomorrow yet here I am… on CC… I can feel the anxiety in my chest as I type this. I somehow always reassure myself that I’ll be able to do well, but of course that never happens. So how did you guys get over this devil
Bump
Asking this on here is like going to a bar and asking people how they quit drinking.
Well I’m assuming y’all have your shit together, being the top students and all
Trust me I don’t. I always–even though I tell myself I won’t–procrastinate until the morning of to write anything English related. That’s when I feel most “inspired” at 2am, but then again I do all my homework/ read a book (or 2) between 12am-6am because I have a weird sleeping schedule.
On the days I do actually get work done ahead of time, I typically consider all the stuff that I will have to do alongside that assignment or not be able to do if I put if off. Weigh the pros and cons of putting it off. If the cons outweight the pros, then get to work pronto.
I think I might quit procrastination tomorrow, or maybe the next day, not sure…
Perhaps write a note to yourself about why you don’t want to procrastinate including evidence of how it doesn’t work well and read that note when you feel like procrastinate.
Ask yourself why might you want to do your work now rather than later? Speak the reasons to yourself.
Try it and get back to us.
No can stop procrastination. Seriously, people are either procrastinators or they aren’t. If you are, nothing will change. What you can do is keep it under control. But you can’t stop it.
Intelligence does not necessarily equal virtue. John Adams knew it back in the day, and it still holds true. Just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you won’t procrastinate. I certainly do, as do most in my school.
The key is to CONTROL procrastination…like many things, it can be acceptable (or even beneficial!) in small quantities. Here’s how you do it:
- Do other homework if there’s one assignment you really dread. For me, I didn’t always like doing AP Comp essays, so rather than just surf the web, I’d do my other homework that’s a lot easier (Gov, econ, stats, etc.) and then work up to the Comp paper. For me though, my biggest procrastination problem was with college apps, as I didn’t have much of a problem maintaining my A’s this semester. The solution for that is the same…work up to it.
- Envision your goals and remind yourself the work you put in now will pay dividends in the future. Think of college acceptance. And think of doing well in college, which is MUCH harder than in high school, on average.
- Close a web browser and commit to a set period (60 minutes +) of time. For me, this is easy if I’m just studying or doing normal homework. But if it’s an essay, I often am lost for ideas and sometimes procrastination can help me think of what to write about. If that’s the case, then set a time limit for “going astray” - i.e. 10 minutes in a 60 minute period.
Using this advice, I maintained a 4.0 UW GPA throughout my first 7 semester of high school, got 6 5’s and 1 4 on my AP exams, finished 11 college apps (and got into Stanford EA), with free-time still intact.
Even top students can be big procrastinators. I have found though that when you move on to things like college, one of the main testaments of how well you do will not rely on pure intelligence alone but how you time manage.
My main advice is if you don’t need the internet STEP AWAY FROM IT. Unplug your computer, disable the wi-fi, do whatever you have to so you are not distracted. Similarly, put your phone in a hard to reach place and turn it off until you reach a desired point. If you have to use the internet, use apps to block the websites that distract you most and don’t touch it until you are finished.
What I do is set deadlines for myself and have certain set goals during that time. For instance, in one hour I will persist to get two body paragraphs of my essay down. Once you get into the thick of it and you have your own deadlines for yourself (which keep me on task) it becomes much easier. Make it realistic but this will let you see where your time goes and how efficient you really are. Then take a ten minute break, reflect, and then continue. If you did more than you expected, reward yourself with a treat such as a snack, but don’t let yourself get distracted. It’s a good thing that you are tackling this now and realizing you need to change, because it was the bane of my first semester in college and the reason I wasn’t able to get what should have been easy A’s.
When did we become the top students…
Stayfocusd is my best friend
You can’t really ever stop. I procrastinated so much during my A Level finals. I completed like 5 Tv shows in a couple of months. But I still studied a fair bit during that time. Thankfully, I got good grades in the end , otherwise I would’ve regretted it for the rest of my life. So the best thing to do is study as much as you waste time 
I enjoy the mental breakdowns and immense pressure, so I’m sticking to it.