Monday 12-04-2021 - 10:52

 

Written by Neisha Woolrich-Fraser, BAME Ambassador.

 

Studying at university brings out the procrastinator in most of us and I can admit that the past few months have been really tough. Especially in terms of staying motivated and attending online lectures from the comfort of my own bed.

It’s so easy to become distracted by your phone and instead of doing work you tell yourself “just one more episode”, until you realise you’ve almost watched a full series in two days. We know that we should be working but we just don’t feel like doing anything.

However, as deadlines begin to approach that sudden dread creeps in as you realise you haven’t actually done much work at all and you suddenly have just over a week to complete your assignment. At this point you begin to regret the wasted time spent procrastinating instead of doing your work and come to the realisation that this next week is going to be very stressful.

As students I’m sure we’re well aware of the scenario above because it happens so often, and this year has made it so much easier for us to slip into this cycle as we have been confined into our homes. When we procrastinate, we squander away our free time and completely put off engaging with any studying.

However, this bad habit prevents most of us from achieving greater results in our lives, we’re only at university for short amount of time and it costs too much for us to waste it partaking in activities that distract us.

If you feel like procrastinating is taking over too much of your time, then below are a few of my own personal steps to help you stop.

 

1. Break up your work:

• I personally don’t complete my essays in one go, I prefer to break them down into smaller sections because it has allowed me to organise my literatures better and it’s less stressful.
• An example of how I have sectioned my essays previously would be: Intro, Main section (3-5 different section) and then the conclusion. So, all together there could be 7 different sections, which could easily be completed within a week.
• Engaging with 2-3 hours’ worth of work each day may sound hard for some people but if you break the hours up and have small 10-15-minute brakes it is achievable.

 

2. Create a study plan/set small deadlines:

• I like to create a study plan each week to remind myself what I need to achieve by the end of the week.
• Creating a study plan is a good way to organise your days and time and to also set reasonable deadlines for yourself.

 

3. Eliminate distractions:

• Just put your phone away! If you can, don’t have it in the same room so that you’re not tempted to pick it up every time you hear that notification ping.
• I tend to put it underneath my covers (and also turn vibration off), because when it is out of sight it is out of mind.

 

4. Waking up/ going to bed:

• The time that you wake up and fall asleep also play a big factor in stopping procrastinating.
• Realistically as students we don’t go sleep at 22:00, but if you aim for 23:00-00:00 and an hour before you go bed you just relax, without limited interactions with your phone.
• And when waking up aim for 08:00-09:00, but when you wake up, get straight up don’t lounge about in bed. I know myself this is hard but you’ll feel good for it.

 

5. Exercise:

• Partaking in exercise will help release some of the stresses that you are holding on to.
• You can go the gym, run, walk, cycle - do anything you want. It will give you a sense of achievement and from that more confidence.

 

6. Be realistic:

• Be realistic with your time, I’m not saying to study all day every day because that would be too much. Allow a realistic amount of time you know you could study for and try to stick to it.
• Make time for yourself by taking breaks, it’s so important to put your physical and mental health first, don’t overexert yourself.
• And ask for help if you need it.

 

7. Reward yourself:

• Each week I like to reward myself with something (usually food).
• This step isn’t necessarily the most important one, but it feels good to reward yourself after working hard all week.

 

8. Have confidence:

• Lastly have confidence in yourself and believe in your sauce.
• Confidence is half of the success!
• If you don’t have confidence in your work, then how do you expect yourself to stay motivated.
• Remember that everything is a working progress and you’re doing the best with what you’ve got.

 

Find out more about the amazing work being done by the BAME Ambassadors and for regular updates and exclusive content, make sure to follow @mmubame on Instagram.