How to avoid procrastination
Updated: Nov 15
By Eleanor Gil Nov. 13, 2024
After a long day at school and an extracurricular, there is barely any time left to finish homework, let alone pursue your quiet hobbies. Seconds blur into hours as you scroll on your phone, and it is nearly midnight—yet you have not completed anything and would have been better off sleeping.
Before you say “I am not a morning person,” think again. If you are unable to restore energy after naps, consider going to bed early and waking up at dawn. Harvard Business Review claims people who consistently sleep and wake up early generally feel a greater sense of urgency to complete tasks than later sleepers. Early birds increase their proactivity and thus productivity, meaning they open up more time for themselves later in the day.
Additionally, create a conducive environment to work proactively after school. Shut off your phone and temporarily quarantine it in another room. Out of sight, out of mind. Take this action without hesitation, because your brain may lapse back into the habit of opening a social media app within just a few seconds.
The aforementioned tips may not be a long-term panacea for procrastination, especially when you are on the verge of burn-out. Thus, you must tackle the root of your fatigue, not just their effects. Sahil Bloom, Stanford graduate and entrepreneur, recommends asking yourself whether you are trying to overcome the things that drain your energy. To gain this awareness of these obstacles, categorize how you felt after completing an activity into one of the three: drained, neutral or energized. Document this information in a spreadsheet or calendar, and at the end of the week, look at trends. Identify the most energy-draining activities and promptly tweak them to make them neutral, or eliminate them.
Inevitably, you will experience stress. However, by following these steps, hopefully you can become more conscious of how you spend your life and reduce unnecessary burdens that ensue procrastination.
Key Steps to Improvement:
Sleep early, wake up early
Lock your phone in another room
Cut off activities that drain your energy completely
About the Contributors
Eleanor Gil is a junior at Leland High and the page editor for School News and Feature School for The Charger Account. She loves to cultivate a quiet, eclectic joy derived from various interests and hobbies and above all, learning.
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