Overcoming Procrastination. Time Management - Article Example

The personal obstacle I faced was procrastination. I had the habit of avoiding doing assignments even when I knew they had to be done. Despite having a highly detailed schedule, I would still find myself procrastinating my duties. This was as a result of getting weighed down by my workload that I would have just put it all off. At most times, I found the lectures so tiring. Concentration was also lacking with new exciting things in this new environment. Some of the causes for poor time management were; lack of self motivation and knowledge as I had no predetermined goals.

Maintaining a schedule was difficult due to improper planning for a schedule that was flexible. Procrastination also contributed heavily on managing time as whatever was put off had to be done later at a time planned for another task. To overcome these obstacles, I had to employ some useful tactics. According to my biological tempo and the time of the day it became easy to plan for what would be best to do in the morning, day time and evening. I came up with a way to prioritize my day. In the evenings, I would put down most crucial things to be done the next day.

I would then attempt them in order of their significance. I would review my progress and fix or adjust my list if necessary. When all significant errands were done, timely and in an organized manner, I would reward myself. For better concentration; studying in particular places like the library is best. Where one can avoid interruption from fellow students or friends, they can cover a lot of work and do their revision. Also switching off the phone or having it in silent mode so as not to get disrupted.

During study time, one should only pick urgent calls and shun chatting with friends. Having an arranged working area beats off laziness. One can optimize their working environment. I had a file for all my things and kept them in order of the dates. My class notes were organized and kept ready for quizzes and tests. On a weekly basis, I would conduct a clean up where I would go through all my materials. I filed everything recent systematically and kept old papers in another file at home. Another helpful technique to solve procrastination would be starting on another item after finishing that which you were working on.

For example, during study time when done with the day’s work, briefly start on the next assignment so as to be ahead during the subsequent session. If the work is too much you can always do only a small part of the task at a time, and this goes hand in hand with time management. If you do small quantities of the work when it is already nearing the time it should be handed in then the assignment will not be completed, but if one starts doing small portions of the work immediately assigned by submission date, it can be complete and ready to be handed in for marking.

A relapse is normal and expected so one must not give up, evaluate what went wrong then try overcoming the obstacles again. After applying these techniques, the progress in overcoming my personal and academic challenges was remarkable. Free time and study time were defined clearly after coming up with a flexible schedule. To guarantee success in my studies, there was enough planned study time such that for every hour spent in class two hours would be devoted to revision. I discovered the overpowering problems such as the need for perfection, anxiety and panic and sought them out fast since they are what caused these obstacles in the first place.

When the mind is kept occupied at all time, for example, multi tasking it helps. During breaks, going back on what you had studied and revising this for instance definitions covered earlier when studying so that they can be remembered easily if