Procrastination: Enemy of Success

rnDo you ever get the feeling that everything conspires against you the minute you have a deadline on the horizon? Procrastination tends to be shrugged off as nothing more than a lack of time management skills, but new research suggests that the real problem might be slightly more complicated. First of all, it’s important to recognise that although we all procrastinate, we’re not all procrastinators.rnChronic procrastination, which is thought to affect around 20% of the population, can be defined as the voluntary delay of an important task, even when we know we’ll have to pay the price later on.rnStudies show that such chronic procrastination can be the cause of a host of problems, from lower grades to higher stress levels to poor health. Some practical ways to counter procrastination could include breaking tasks up into smaller and more manageable assignments or setting personal deadline, but researchers note that addressing the emotional aspects of procrastination can be more difficult. Blocking access to distractions, for example, by going to a quiet place or switching off your phone while studying, can help, but this too requires self-regulation, which procrastinators lack in the first place. Some research suggests that finding something positive or worthwhile about the task itself may fill the need to find short-term mood fixes and can help procrastinators focus on the here and now. We believe that shifting the focus from punishing lateness to rewarding the early bird can also help procrastinators to see the positive side of getting things done on time, or better yet, early. Procrastination is the enemy of success. The time you waste on stalling breeds guilt, and guilt deflates energy and sometimes even leads to depression. When you feel stuck and can’t seem to move ahead, always remember that you don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going! You have to learn how to have fun while studying. Here are some tips to get you started to balance your studies with everything else: ✓ First, take the notion of balance. Life resists balance. ✓ Second, as unlikely as balance is, priorities are important, and keeping to those priorities will help you keep from burning out. ✓ Finally, as important as studies are, there is much more to life at university.