How to avoid procrastinating: Tips to procrastinate less

The first step to overcoming procrastination is knowing which of your tasks is most important to complete first.

Write a to-do list of everything you want to achieve in a day and label all the most pressing tasks with a ‘1’, the second most pressing tasks a ‘2’, and so on.

It is also a good idea to plan a rough timeframe in which you wish to complete each task – procrastination and time management are the antithesis of eachother.

Organising your tasks this way helps with organisation and prevents you from becoming overwhelmed.

If you often find yourself panicking about multiple deadlines, this technique will allow you to stay calm and get started with a task, instead of procrastinating over it.

Procrastination psychology studies have concluded that one of the main reasons we procrastinate is because the task at hand seems too daunting.

Setting yourself tasks that are impossible to achieve in the time frame you’ve set yourself, for example, “I want to apply to 50 jobs by lunch”, is likely to increase the chances you’ll procrastinate – it’s an overly ambitious goal.

If you’re wondering why you procrastinate even when your workload is organised, it is likely because your plan is unrealistic.

Think more carefully about what you can actually achieve in the time you have, and divide the workload for a task into more manageable time segments.

Making a task you want to achieve as manageable as possible is the best way to end the procrastination loop.

It is important to not only question why procrastination happens, but also question what behaviour that procrastination leads to.

For instance, when you are bored or overwhelmed, what is your go-to means of distraction?

Are you finding yourself distracted by your phone, scrolling through LinkedIn on your laptop, or are you taking lots of tea breaks?

Think about how you can reduce the time you’re spending on these distractions – whether it’s scheduling specific tea breaks, or simply putting your phone somewhere out of sight.

There are also lots of great procrastination apps out there for those needing extra support limiting their distrations.

Hold is a phone procrastination killer that allows you to collect points the longer you spend off your phone.

These points can then be exchanged for rewards, including cinema tickets and food vouchers!

Whilst procrastination leads to stress, productivity can lead to reward.

Taking breaks is one of the top strategies for overcoming procrastination.

By designating time to decompress, and appointing yourself time to engage with the things that usually distract you, your desire to procrastinate should decrease.

Making time for the things you enjoy, whether it’s gaming or chatting to friends, will also encourage you to adopt a positive mindset that is more likely to pick producivity over procrastination.

If you’re in full-time employment you will have mandatory breaks – make sure to use of them!

Another great way for how to avoid procrastination when studying and working is rewarding yourself for your achievements.

Using incentives, no matter how small or big, allows you to gain motivation and stay focused.

For example, saying to yourself, “if I complete this project I’ll buy that new pair of shoes”, or “if I work on my assignment for three hours I’ll watch an episode of my new series.”

It is also important to think about why you’re procrastinating, instead of solely thinking about how to stop yourself from procrastinating.

If you are procrastinating a mundane task because it is tedious, your distraction is likely surface-level.

However, if you find yourself repeatedly procrastinating from your university assignments, it may be a sign of something more deep-rooted.

In these circumstances, it is appropriate to take some time out, reflect and take further action if required.

For the student who constantly procrastinates when doing their university work, perhaps a change of course is the real solution.

University career services can be a great resource for course advice, find out how to make the most of your university career service here.

Or, if you constantly have job search procrastination, perhaps this is more deeply rooted in your career worries.

Take our career quiz, to find out what graduate job you’re best suited to.

Give A Grad A Go offer a personalised job match service, aiding your graduate job applications every step of the way, get in touch and kick-start your graduate job search.

Whatever the reason, it’s important to stop and think about the reasons you are putting off a task to figure out how to procrastinate less.