Combating Summertime Procrastination

By LaCoya Bell
Blog Content Contributor

How many times have you said that you were going to do something, and you never did it or said, “I’ll do it later?” This is common among most of us especially us college students. It’s this little thing called procrastination. Procrastination can be a very hard habit to break because it’s so convenient. We don’t always have the time or the energy to do things right away. This can be even worse during the summer when all you want to do is float the river.

During the summer it can be hard to find the motivation to start your work in your summer classes. It’s summer time, the sun is out, and it’s the perfect time to go swimming and hang out with friends. Studying for exams and completing assignments can become easier to avoid or prolong around this time. Who wants to work on papers at the beginning of the summer? Well the reality of it is, it must get done. As we all know summer classes go by faster than fall/spring semester classes. That means that there is no time for procrastination. I have some tips that might help avoid that procrastination this summer.

The first tip that could help avoid procrastination would be time management. Figure out your most important tasks and do those first. Before you go out make sure you get at least one assignment done or just start on it before you leave. The second tip would set an alarm to remind yourself when to start studying and an alarm for when to take your breaks. This can help more than you think. The third tip is to start something as soon as it is assigned, that way you won’t have to worry about it later and won’t have to procrastinate. The fourth tip would be to set up a chart with all the goals you want to meet that week; this could motivate you to go ahead and get those assignments/studying finished. The fifth and final tip would be, do a little studying every day for 15 to 20 minutes. By doing this you won’t have to cram everything because you waited until the last minute.

Building these kinds of habits can change your whole mindset. Eventually you won’t procrastinate as much. It will become second nature. There’s a reason why people say “don’t wait until the last minute.” It does make life a little easier. Using our time wisely can be easier said than done, but if you wait to do it, you might miss out on how easy it can be. Summertime is not the time to start procrastinating and hopefully these tips can help eliminate some of the temptation to do it.

Featured image by LaCoya Bell.