By this point in your education, you have probably heard many of the tried and true methods for supposedly shaking that nasty procrastination habit and getting down to business. Some of them are quite useful, but not all of the classic techniques work for everyone.
In fact, if you’re the more unconventional type, you might need an unorthodox approach to productivity if you’re going to pull it off the right way. Today, we’re going to explore some novel approaches to cutting the fat and improving your focus in a way that you may not have encountered before.
Preplan & Pre Commit To Studying
If you approach your studying like a chess master, you’ll find the pieces fall into place more frequently than they would if you’ve been strictly improvising your approach. Along those same lines of thinking, if you tell yourself “I’m going to do X at Y time” well before that time comes, you’re more likely to follow through with the act.
You can streamline your timetables and maximize your productive time by using timekeeping tools/software. This kind of software is perfect for identifying what you’re doing at what times and where you need to focus your efforts to improve your daily game plan.
Simplify Your Checklists
One reason that many people have trouble with checklists is that they are too long and too complicated to prioritize. The solution is to chop down that list to maybe one main goal a day with two or three sub-goals you’re going to knock out the way.
Let’s say you are working on a project. You could try going all out and handling every bit of the project you need to submit at once, or you could break it down to a more feasible segmented challenge. Instead of pulling yourself every which way, tell yourself, “today, I’ll just evaluate my progress and research for the next chapter.”
If you happen to complete faster than expected, then you can set up a new main goal. This will allow you to give 100% on any given homework or exam, and prevent you from splitting your focus (which might reduce the quality of your time spent drastically).
Identify What Not To Do
Though we often concentrate a lot on what we should be doing, the things we shouldn’t be doing are just as important. They differ from person to person, so you have to sit down and make an honest evaluation of what’s holding you back, then strive to eliminate it if you can.
Maybe you’re checking your email too much? Write yourself a reminder to only do it once a day. Spending too much time on meaningless busy work that you promised your friends you would do for them? Learn to say “no.” Once you know what to cut out, it’s a simple process to disengage from the time-wasting activity.
Go With The Flow
Sometimes, distraction and procrastination will just become unavoidable. In these cases, go with it. Make sure you’re procrastinating in a way that will leave you feeling recharged afterward, and just count it as a break. That way, you won’t be kicking yourself over how you were wasting time.
You have to allow for some flexibility with what you do, but as long as you have the basic structure of your day planned out, a quick diversion isn’t going to kill your flow (especially if you took the time to plan for it beforehand). If you are looking for more useful tips like these, make sure to check out more blogs at College Basics.
