School work can get overwhelming quickly. We’ve all seen the study tips posted on bulletin boards and HuskyCT resource tabs. Unfortunately, many of those tips were written by people who already had strong studying habits to begin with. As helpful as color coding your notes may be, some of us struggle to even start with reading assignments in the first place.
As someone who has struggled with procrastination since middle school, here are some of the tricks I have found to get the work done and maintain good grades even when procrastination does get the best of me.
Get out of your dorm
No one can argue the convenience of lying in bed trying to finish up some schoolwork before pushing it off to the side to go to sleep. However, it can be hard to separate relaxation and work when they happen in the same environment. Try to find a spot or two around campus where you still feel comfortable and relaxed but that you can dedicate as an area for just studying. Whether it’s the library, a green somewhere or even the lounge in your building, finding a workspace separate from where you relax can help get you in the right mindset to study.
Find a new way to get the information
There’s no doubt that it can be discouraging to open a PDF for a reading assignment to realize that there are 30 slides containing two pages of text each. It can be boring to stare at a screen of tiny words on a plain white background, especially when it’s for a class in which the subject doesn’t interest you.
Instead of putting off the reading, find a different or potentially quicker way to access the text. Many books have audiobooks available on YouTube for free or in subscription services like Spotify or Audible. For texts assigned from textbooks or online articles, Speechify offers a way to have the text converted into audio. Depending on how much time you have and how quickly you comprehend information, increasing the speed of the audio can also make it easier to stay focused.
Avoid taking study breaks mid assignment
Study breaks are important for avoiding burnout and maintaining overall focus over long study sessions. However, taking 10 seconds to check a notification on your phone often turns into 20 minutes of doom scrolling. Instead, commit to putting your phone away at the beginning of each assignment and to seeing an entire assignment through before taking a break. This will prevent extra fatigue from setting in and will keep you from having to repeatedly return to the same assignment.
Move your due dates ahead
One of the biggest problems with procrastination is not leaving yourself enough time to finish an assignment once you actually start it. A way to guard against this is by planning to do an assignment the day before it is due.
It isn’t easy to break the pattern of procrastination, but you can limit its negative effects by planning for it. This strategy can help to replicate the pressure of having an assignment due that moves many people to start the work without any of the immediate potential consequences of not being able to finish on time.