#productive help

If you’re a bad procrastinator like myself, likely it’s a quality you vehemently hate about yourself, but also something you can’t let go of. You’ve got homework and assignments and a pile of books in the corner you want to read and hobbies and dreams you never get a chance to work towards. It’s depressing, it feels horrible and unfulfilling, and you’re desperate to break out of it, but you don’t know how to take the first step. 

So here’s my suggestion:

Set this rule for yourself: if you’re not going to be doing homework (or some other unpleasant obligation) you need to be doing something productive. Whether that be cleaning your room, doing the dishes, going for a walk or working on one of your hobbies. 

That way, instead of wasting your afternoon on Youtube and feeling stressed and disappointed in yourself, at least you’ll be doing something pleasant or getting some other sense of accomplishment. 

At the same time, it’s a lot easier to transition from tidying your desk to doing your maths homework than it is from scrolling through Instagram. 

Once you get into this mindset, it’s a lot easier to build self control in this area.

I’m not allowed to watch Youtube, but the thought of starting my English essay fills me with a horrible sense of dread? Okay, then I’m going to reorganise my shelf, then I’m going to get rid of all the rubbish in my room, and then I’m going to vacuum the kitchen. And now that I’m done, hey you know what? That English essay doesn’t feel as impossible to start anymore!

Step 1: Take all of your assignments and mark them on a calendar, that way you can see which ones are closer, and therefore the higher priority, as well as how many days you have until each task is due. 

Step 2: Write out a to-do list for each of your assignments, detailing all of the steps you need to take to get it completed. That will likely look something like this: 

Research

Take notes

Organise into points

Create outline

Write first draft

Write second draft

Edit

Step 3: Now that you have a similar list for each assignment, seperate the points into daily tasks, spanning the days before the assignment. That’ll look like this:

Day 1:

Research

Take notes

Organise into points

Day 2:

Create outline

Write first draft

Day 3:

Write second draft

Edit

Step 4: Repeat that step with all of your assignments, spanning the days until the last one is due. Likely the first few days will be quite heavy workflow-wise, but it’ll even out pretty quickly, especially as the first due comes and passes. 

I would highly recommend approaching this process with the intention to finish all assignments 2+ days before the actual due-date. That way, if another obligation comes up and takes time away from your studying, or you’re working slower than you previously expected, you have spare days to fall back on. 

I’ve been trying out this method recently, in which I’m trying to approach my To Do lists with a more positive mindset. It seems to be working nicely so far, so I figured I’d share! 

If you write out a daily To Do list, it probably looks something like this:

Clean room

Organise desk

Finish Maths homework

Start on History assignment

Vacuum livingroom 

etc

Though to me, I think that looks pretty impersonal. They’re tasks and obligations, and viewing them as such makes it a lot harder to want to start on them. 

So, instead, start phrasing your tasks and chores as “I Want To Do” lists (it sounds a little cheesy but bear with me)

I want to clean my room

I want to organise my desk

I want to finish my Maths homework

I want to start on my History assignment 

I want to vacuum my living room

(And so on)

This way, you can also tap into your motivation towards completing these tasks.

Why do I want to clean my room? Because the clutter makes me unhappy. Why do I want to finish my Maths homework? Because it’ll improve my skills and I’ll do better on my next test. Why do I want to start on my History assignment? Because if I start it now I won’t have to do it later, and I’ll be able to go to bed early the night before it’s due rather than staying up late. 

Everything in your life needs to feel personal, your daily tasks need to resonate with you and feel meaningful, otherwise everything just ends up feeling mundane.