Procrastination problems!

Hey! I know what helps me ease my mind and not procrastinate is to remind myself although it seems hard and a bit boring I will feel better if I do it now. And if I get it done sooner I will have more time to do what I like. I may even spend a few minutes planning what to do after, but always that it would help me mentally to do work now or I could end up in a downslide of emotions. I went from psyching myself out with no free weekends either to just doing all I could even if I felt it wouldn't be enough. Because you will feel better getting things done now than later, I see it as is my self image worth taking a hit because I didn't work? Or is doing my best and having fun later worth more?

Hello @Meanttobebeath711

I also procrastinate a lot when I research too, till the point that it gets overwhelming and stressful.

I would usually write out a plan/flow diagram on what I would research about (usually on paper cause it gets me thinking more). When you get your thoughts/ideas onto paper, it gets a bit easier, as in, you kinda understand what you need to research about.

Also some times changing the wording of your thoughts also help. For example, changing “I have to” or “I need to” into “I get to”, try make it sound like an opportunity to grow/challenge yourself rather than a chore or task you’re forced to do could also motivate you to complete the task.

I also do something called “no-zero days”, even if you don’t feel like doing anything, set a timer even just for 10-25 mins where you just do the task/research you don’t feel like doing. If you get into the “zone” and continue the task after the timer, good! It’s fine if you stopped after the timer finished too, cause at least you did a part of the task already. Baby steps still count towards your goal!

I find that it also helps to set a reminder on your phone. For example, I have a reminder called “Time to chase after your dream” which rings daily at 5pm. I would motivate me to go get some work done as it reminds me of the reason why I’m in university and why I need to overcome this assignment/task/research.

Hopefully this helps a bit. I wish you all the best and that you will get a step closer to your dream career each day!

Ps. sorry for my grammar if there are mistakes :)

Thank you so much! I’ll try to follow your advice and see how it turns out (:

When I need to do a research paper, I tend to procrastinate at the beginning too. I once had more than a month's time to prepare it, then, my procrastination ended up to only getting a week left to complete the paper! I was so stressed out, as I was having trouble finding legit articles to back up my paper, that's why I had been putting it off.

With that experience, of feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and worried that my grade will be affected. I learned to space-out my research. Giving myself little tasks, that will lead me to having enough information to write the paper. I did not want to go through the same experience more than once!

Now that you know the emotions you feel after procrastinating, it can become a motivation for you to NOT procrastinate. As you've felt, it's not a very pleasant feeling. Sometimes, we need to push ourselves to do something that we have no interest in doing, but know it must be done. Then, once we get it going, it becomes easier. If you cannot give yourself that little push, maybe someone else can give you a little shove? Just like when you have a fully-loaded, heavy, shopping cart; once you've given it a little push to get it going, it will roll more easily; but once you've come to a stop, to get it going again, you'll need to give it another good push. I believe this is how we can break the cycle of procrastination. Think of "procrastination" as the shopping cart, once we are able to move it, our work will be easier when it gets going.

I hope this made sense.. To know that procrastination will only fill yourself with negative emotions and the feeling of having wasted your time, you can change that thought positively, to a drive that will aid you in doing that research little by little. To know that if you put it off, your emotions will go downhill, and things aren't getting done. Keep your dream career up front in your mind, that can also become your motivation to complete these difficult tasks that is causing the procrastination~

@Meanttobebeath711