It’s easy to fall into a habit of procrastination when doing your homework, causing you to waste a lot of time. Follow these 10 easy tips to keep from procrastinating:
One of the best ways to limit procrastination while doing homework is to eliminate distractions. For most students, phones are the biggest distraction. Turn your phone on silent and put it across the room, or better yet, in another room, so that you aren’t bothered by texts, calls, or app notifications.
If you are working on your computer, and aren’t actively using the internet for your assignment, turn off your computer’s wifi. This will keep you from getting distracted on the internet or with emails.
If you do need to use the internet for your assignment, be sure to close out of websites like Facebook or email. While it won’t keep you from opening up a new browser and going to them, it will add another step that can help to deter you.
It is important to leave yourself time to check your phone, email, or social media—otherwise you’ll just go crazy wondering if there is something important waiting for you on them. So schedule time to check them into your work. Try working for 45 minutes straight, then a 5 minute break. Get up, stretch your legs, get a drink, and check your phone or computer. But hold yourself to only 5 minutes for it, then get back to work for another 45 minutes.
If you are working on a paper, try blackout writing software. This will make only your word processor visible, and hide everything else on your computer. It is amazing how much it can help eliminate background distractions by simply hiding them. But remember: no one software can replace live writers for hire.
Depending on your personality, you should either set small goals or larger goals. These can range from writing one paragraph to finishing a whole problem set. They can also range from short term goals to long term goals. Decide what you want to get done in one evening of homework, or in a one-hour chunk.
When you set these goals for yourself it is important to hold yourself to them. Setting rewards and penalties for yourself for completing your goals is a good way to do this. If there is something you want to do late, like watch a movie or go out with friends, make it so that you will only get to do it if you finish the homework goal you’ve set for yourself.
This will help to you schedule your time well so that you aren’t left with more assignments than you can possibly get done before they are due.
The same may or may not be true of music. For some students it helps them to focus, and for others it is a distractions. Figure out what works best for you and stick to it.
So it is important to figure out what habits lead to you procrastinating or working inefficiently. Once you are aware of them, try to make sure that you don’t fall into bad habits with your studying.