How to stop procrastination

We have all experienced it: You NEED to finish that important essay that is due the next day but you haven’t even started yet. You start watching Netflix or Youtube and realise that it is already time for bed.

We all procrastinate, trust me, but some people are just better at it than others. This article contains useful tips to overcome your procrastination habits:

To do list - Before you go to bed, create a list with the things you want to achieve the next day. If you actually focus on the things you still need to do, you are more likely to do it. Tip: set a clear time for each activity. This will give you an overview on how long each action actually takes. Different apps on your phone can also be great helping tools for struggling students.
Prioritise – Do the important things first, and then do the other things. We know you are so tempted to leave the hardest things for last, but that’s not so smart when you know you will not able to finish it on time. In your list, label and rate all the tasks with stars; 1 star being the least important and 5 stars being urgent.
Rest time – Even though people keep saying you should do an all nighter and cram all your essays and assignments in, resting is the better option. Rest will give you more energy and thinking time to succeed in all the tasks. Give yourself some rest in between work. Every time you finish something, you can be 5 minutes on you phone for example.
Do not “Perfect” everything – Of course you have to try your best on your essay, but there is no such thing as “perfect”. You can sit there for hours changing your whole essay, but try to think about all the other things you could be doing in that same time. Give yourself a good amount of time, and then hand it in.
Focus on your goal – If you remind yourself on why you want to do it, you get more motivation; maybe you don’t want to fail for that subject, or you finally want to have a clean room.