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L
EARNING
TO
L
EARN
: B
ECOMING
A
S
ELF
-G
ROWER
125
E
XPERIENCE
5: T
IME
, P
LANNING
,
AND
P
RODUCTIVITY
READING
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Consider that you may have truly over-committed yourself, making success impossible. Are
there any high-effort low-impact (or urgent but unimportant) items which you can drop? Think
“slash and burn” with respect to your priority list, actually removing the items which do not
ultimately bring you closer to your life goals.
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It is helpful to break larger projects up into smaller and more manageable tasks; give yourself
the occasional quick win as a reminder that you’re making progress.
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Take on a single task and get it finished and out of the way. Be sure to reflect on how good
removing that item from the list feels. Action and movement are key here; through them you
will reduce the list of things you need to do and begin to replace procrastination with positive
and proactive habits.
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Don’t take on any additional commitments until you’ve found a way to handle your current
commitments.
Perfectionism
This is actually quite similar to the fear of failure; perfectionism can lead us to believe that what we
do is simply not good enough unless it is perfect. There is not an infinite amount of time to devote
to each task on your schedule; you must prioritize and decide which tasks are important enough
to receive the bulk of your attention and effort. A perfectly sharpened pencil, while an interesting
idea, would qualify as running in place and, therefore, in 99.9% of contexts, a waste of time and
effort.
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If you find yourself devoting a great deal of time to tasks that do little to advance your goals,
remind yourself that there are bigger and more important projects out there where the extra
effort, time, and attention will make much greater impact.
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Finally, stop judging your performance and enjoy your accomplishments, especially when
you’re able to keep to a schedule and let a task go once you’ve devoted a reasonable amount of
time and effort to it.
A few final words on procrastination:
While we have offered general strategies for coping with the most common causes of procrastination (fear
of failure, feeling overwhelmed, and perfectionism), if you find that procrastination has become habitual
and led you into circumstances that are more than you can handle, (i.e., have you gotten to the point
where you’ve begun to jeopardize your courses and academic standing?), you should consider visiting an
academic advisor and student counseling services.