“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” – Michael Altshuler

None of us are immune to procrastination. One way or the other, we are trapped and struggle to free ourselves from the trap. While procrastination for some, may not be of much importance, for others it is a life-altering event. You want to complete that task, but you also want to protect your self-worth. So fear dominates and you procrastinate. That fear stops you from starting and taking that leap of faith. As a student, procrastination is harmful because it directly impacts your academic performance and behavior.

Below mentioned are some tips that can help you fight procrastination and be productive: 

# Plan your day– Make a journal or take a diary. List down 4 priority tasks and some mini tasks that hold less importance. At the end of the day, put a tick on the tasks you were able to complete and write your productivity score out of 10. When you write down your to-do tasks, it becomes easy to keep a check on what you have to do. Learn to prioritize. PS- THIS HACK IS LIFE-CHANGING. GIVE IT A TRY.

# Divide your task into small segments– Let’s assume you have to complete a lesson that will take 2 hours. Use the 25-minute Pomodoro and divide it into sessions of 25 minutes each. After each session, give yourself a break of 5-10 minutes. This will boost your productivity and make tasks easier to complete.

# Reward yourself and make deadlines– We, as humans, tend to derive value by doing the work we love and getting rewards. The reward can be anything – Going out with friends, watching a movie, or playing games. Rewards instill motivation. Deadlines help you understand the urgency of a particular task. Shorter deadlines will subconsciously tell you to complete the task faster while longer deadlines will let you procrastinate.

#  Have a growth mindset and do not compromise– A growth mindset teaches you that failure is important and helps you derive value from failures. A fixed mindset on the other hand focuses only on success or failure without deriving any value. Hence, a growth mindset is beneficial for a productive life and helps you beat procrastination.

# Destroy distraction– Do your task in a room without any distraction. Post covid- most schools are following the E-learning pattern and it is difficult to keep your cell phone away. Ideally, one should be studying without a cell phone but if it cannot be avoided, turn off the notifications and keep it on study or do not disturb mode.

# Eat well and hydrate to keep your energy level high–  Don’t skip meals. Low energy breeds procrastination.

# Make a list of the most difficult tasks and tell everyone – If more people know about the essay you are trying to write for 5 days, the possibility of not doing it is low. So, tell everyone and be accountable. Preferably, your most difficult tasks should be completed in the morning because it will boost productivity and the joy of being productive will know no bounds.

Remember: Just start. You will get in the flow after the first 30 minutes. The first step is always difficult.  Do not compromise on the quality of work that you are delivering. We can’t imagine doctors procrastinating on treating patients right? It’s the professional mindset that is important. Procrastinating sometimes is fine. It should never become a habit.