Time Management: Stop Procrastinating - Part 3

By mid-term, the school work becomes overwhelming. Each professor thinks that his / her course should be the prime focus of your academic life. You will have fast approaching due dates for assignments and the scheduled tests creep closer and closer. You are stressed - and even with the best intentions, you find that you are procrastinating. And, every day that you are putting off the work, the hole that you are digging becomes deeper and deeper.

Molly Ivins’ has a rule. Her “first rule of holes: when you are in one, stop digging.”

Here are three ways to manage your time - as well as deal with your stress and procrastination.

1. Don’t look at the mountain of work that you have to do. Honestly, it is not going to be done in one night or one weekend, no matter how much caffeine assist you have. Break up the task / tasks into small manageable bits. Be honest with yourself. The key is ‘manageable bits’. Do not set unrealistic goals for yourself. That is only setting yourself up for failure. It is better to do something than to do nothing. (Please see Ms Ivins’ rule of holes.)

2. Manage your stress - both physical and emotional. You might want to go for a walk before you start working. Do something physical so you can sit down, focus and do some work.

Stop the negative self talk. Don’t say that you can’t do this. Don’t tell yourself that you are an idiot for leaving it for so long. - The self condemnation does no good whatsoever. It does not put you in a frame of mind to focus and work. It will lower your self esteem and increase your depression. Set yourself up to work. (Please see Ms Ivins’ rule of holes.) Tell yourself that it is bit by bit - step by step.

3. Start - simply start. Don’t make bargains with yourself that you will not keep. Do not say, for example, that you will start after the next television show. Do not say that you will start after you reach the next level in the video game. Do not say that you will start after you have a snack. Those are example of bargains that you know you are not going to keep. And then you will berate yourself after you have wasted more hours. (Please see Ms Ivins’ rule of holes.) Just start - and doing the work will not be as bad as you imagined.

Your time is your most precious resource during a fleeting academic year. If you follow these three steps, you will find that you are doing something. And it will add up over the days. Trust yourself - you can do it and climb out of that hole.

Catherine