"Never put off till
tomorrow what you can do today" [Lord Chesterfield letter
to his son].
It’s Tuesday evening and you’ve got mountains of
studying to get through for tomorrow’s cycle test. But that is manageable
right?
It’s not so bad you reassuringly say to yourself as you arrange
your books. It’s only a few chapters...Until at 10pm it suddenly hits you that
you’ve got an assignment due tomorrow too!
How on earth did this happen? You check your
homework diary to see if you are not just imagining things. Yep, it’s true.
Where did the time go? Time just seemed to slip away...
It all happens to the best of us. No matter how
organised we are (or try to be), no student can resist committing this crime.
Even though it can be
The Oxford Dictionary defines procrastination as “to put off doing something”.
Whatever that something
is, you might be under the illusion that you have got an abundance of
time. You continually tell yourself that
you do it tomorrow. Well of course you can do it tomorrow... just with a whole
amount of pressure added to it and countless cups of coffee.
Seth Baker from Pick The Brain says:
Procrastination is usually a symptom of some other problem: poor preparation,
perfectionism, a fear of failure or rejection, or just a simple lack of
motivation and interest.
And
you think back to all the times you could have done your said-assignment... in
between constantly updating your tweet, and catching up your missed series(
because those things are things that you never seem to procrastinate or
hesitate doing).
So
how can you fix this problem?
·
Eliminate as many
distractions as possible (this means turning off the BBM, closing yourself in a
room for a couple hours etc) As Seth Baker states: Each distraction pulls your
focus away from the task at hand
·
Force yourself to do it.
Start telling yourself that if you don’t get it done, you will get nowhere.
Seth Baker states: The perfect time is
now. Not tomorrow, not next week. Today.
·
You don’t have to be
perfect.
·
Set your own deadlines.
·
Stay organised
As Seth Baker states: Procrastination is like
leaving the headlights on in a parked car: it’s a slow drain on your mental
battery. The longer the lights are on, the harder it is to get the engine
started. By continually avoiding to do something you know you need to do,
procrastination sucks the energy out of you.
The
perfect time is now. Not tomorrow, not next week. Today
A true procrastinator doesn’t shovel the snow; a true
procrastinator knows that the snow will melt...eventually!
Imani Dlamini
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