A Christian College of the Liberal Arts & Sciences

How to Stop Procrastination

The Process

  1. Acknowledge that it is a habit 
  2. Name your cycle (What are your distractions when you are bored, threatened, etc. by an assignment?)
  3. State your goals for your assignments
    • Short-term goals
      • Have 5 pages read by 7:00 tonight
      • Have 6 resources researched with notes written for paper by Saturday
    • Long-term goals
      • Have all the reading done 2 days prior to the exam
      • Have a rough draft ready 3 days before the paper is due and take it to the writing center.  Complete the final copy (printed) the day before it is due
  4. Take Action
    • Plan
    • Organize
    • Refrain from negative self-talk
    • Revise Goals as needed
  5. Institute the 10 minute plan
    • Commit to working on the assignment/task for 10 minutes. 
    • After 10 minutes, ask yourself if you can work 10 more minutes
    • If you can not work 10 minutes on an assignment try moving on to another academic activity/assignment for 10 minutes and come back to the original when that one is finished.
  6. Chunk the assignment (think is smaller pieces)
  7. Use a check list
  8. Bribe yourself 
  9. Adopt a DO IT NOW Philosophy – Think Nike and JUST DO IT
  10. Have a re-lapse plan (What if...)