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Experiment with whichever of these strategies that suits you!

Unfortunately, procrastination helps reinforce itself. We dread (like writing) by doing something we enjoy (such as watching TV, hanging out with friends, etc.), we escape the dreaded task when we avoid doing something. Given such an option, it is not surprising that many of us choose to procrastinate. We feel all the more compelled to procrastinate next time around when we write a paper at the last minute and still manage to get a good grade.

What you should do about this

Now that you know a little bit about why you may have procrastinated in the past, let’s explore some of the strategies you may use to combat your procrastination tendencies, now plus in the long term.Be patient; improvement should come with repetition.

Take an inventory

Finding out exactly when and just how you procrastinate will help you stop the behavior. It could be tough to tell if you’re procrastinating. Think about the clues that tell you that is what you’re doing: for instance, a nagging voice in your mind, a visual image of what you are avoiding or perhaps the consequences of not doing it, physical ailments (stomach tightness, headaches, muscle tension), inability to focus, inability to savor what you yourself are doing.

How do you procrastinate?

• You will need to disregard the task, hoping against hope that it will go away?
• Over- or under-estimate the degree of difficulty that the job involves?
• Minimize the impact that your particular performance now might have on your own future?
• Substitute something important for something really important? (as an example, cleaning rather than writing your paper.)
• Let a brief break become an extended one, or an evening in which you do no work on all? (For example, claiming it through the night. that you’re going to watch TV for Ѕ hour, then watching)
• Concentrate on one area of the task, at the expense of the rest? (as an example, keep taking care of the introduction, while putting off writing the body and conclusion).
• Spend time that is too much or choosing an interest

Once you better understand how you procrastinate, you shall be much better in a position to catch yourself doing it. Too often, we don’t even realize it’s too late that we are procrastinating—until.

Create a environment that is productive

When you yourself have made the decision to cease delaying on a particular writing project, it is important which you find a place to your workplace for which you have at the very least half an opportunity of actually getting some writing done. Your dorm room may possibly not be the place where you are most productive. Ditto the pc lab customwriting. You can’t connect to the Internet (e-mail and the Web are the bane of the procrastinator’s existence—as you probably already know) if you have a laptop computer, try going someplace where. If you’re a procrastinator, then chances are you already are pretty exasperated; don’t risk frustrating yourself a lot more by attempting to write in a host that does not be practical.

CAUTION: The most skilled procrastinators would be lured to take this suggestion too much, spending an inordinate period of time “creating a environment that is productive (cleaning, filing, etc.) rather than nearly the full time actually writing. Don’t belong to that trap! While cleaning and filing are indeed worthy and necessary activities, if you only try this when you yourself have an approaching writing deadline, then you are procrastinating.

You will write while you are thinking about where to write, consider also when. When are you most alert? Is it at 8 a.m., mid-morning, mid-afternoon, early evening, or late during the night? Try to schedule time that is writing you realize you will end up at your absolute best. Don’t bother about when you “should” be able to write; just give attention to if you’re in a position to write.

Challenge your myths

So that you can break the procrastination habit, we need to work through the concept that so that you can write, we must have got all the information related to the subject, and we should have writing that is optimal. In fact, writers do not have most of the information, and conditions should never be optimal.

Think about a writing project that you will be currently putting off. On a single side of a piece of paper, write down all the reasons for your delay. On the other side, argue (as convincingly as you can!) up against the delay.

Break it down

The afternoon you can get the paper assignment (ideally), or shortly thereafter, break the writing assignment up in to the smallest chunks that are possible. This way, the paper never has a chance to take on gargantuan proportions in your mind. You can easily say to yourself, “Right now, I’m going to create the introduction. That’s all, simply the introduction!” And you also may be more expected to take a seat and do that, than you shall to sit down and “write the paper.”

Get a new attitude

We shoot ourselves into the foot, to start with, by telling ourselves how horrible a particular writing assignment is. Changing our attitude toward the duty, when possible, may go a way that is long keeping us from procrastinating. Tell yourself that the job isn’t so bad or difficult, which you either discover how to get it done, or that you could understand how while you’re doing it. You may find, too, that in the event that you start in the beginning a particular assignment, your attitude never has a chance to get very negative within the place that is first! Simply beginning to write can frequently help us feel more positive about writing.

Ask for help

• Get an coach that is anti-procrastination. Then get help from the supportive people in your life if you are really determined not to procrastinate. Tell someone regarding your writing timeline and goal, and get them to help you determine whether or perhaps not your plan is realistic. A couple of times per week, email with a buddy, relative, or mentor, so that you can report (admit?) in your progress, and declare your promise for the in a few days (or few days). If, despite your very intentions that are good you begin procrastinating again, try not to think, “All is lost!” Instead, communicate with someone about this. They might be able to help you put your slip into perspective and obtain back on track.
• Get a buddy. See if you can find a close friend be effective alongside you. They don’t have to be writing a paper; in reality, they may be playing Solitaire, for anything you care. What matters is at the library (or wherever you have decided to write) at a particular time and stay there for a specific period of time, thus creating accountability that you arrange to meet them.
• Get help with your writing. If you should be procrastinating as you think you might be a weak writer, then ask someone (a Writing Center writing coach, an ongoing or former professor or teaching assistant, a pal) to help you improve.
• Form a writing group. A writing group is a good way for|way that is great undergraduate and more advanced writers alike to produce accountability, get feedback, and just get reminded you are not by yourself into the struggle to produce also to improve your writing. See our writing group packet at to learn more about just how to form and sustain a writing group. Dissertation writers may benefit not merely from joining a writing group but in addition from reading our handout regarding the dissertation. This handout was written by a Writing that is former Center member who eventually completed her dissertation.