Write your goals down. Cherly Travers, PhD states, "The act of writing something down seems to make us accountable to a goal. It also helps people to write their way through a problem when they encounter barriers”.
This is extremely helpful not only in laying out everything that you need to do but it can also help remove any stress you may be feeling by allowing you to physically see the things that you need to get done.
Make a to do list and organize it into sections labeled urgent and important. This will help you to complete your tasks in order of importance so that you can maximize your time.
James Clear, a New York Times bestselling author of Atomic Habits, states that “Urgent tasks are things that you feel like you need to react to: emails, phone calls, texts, news stories...Important tasks are things that contribute to our long-term mission, values, and goals.”
If you are a fellow procrastinator you know how necessary breaks between work is. Despite how nice it may be to take the occasional TikTok break, it can be easy to get wrapped up in doing other things and push back doing assignments.
Set up a reward system where the more you complete the bigger the break/reward you get. Psychologist Craig Malkin says: “Taking time to reduce stress enhances productivity by keeping you sharp and boosting your capacity for creative problem-solving."
Working in your bed can actually decrease your productivity. As stated in Healthline, “Working from bed decreases sleep quality, which decreases work productivity, energy levels, and quality of life. Using the bed as a workspace means you're bringing your work with you to bed”.
Working in your bed messes with the relationship between sleep and work in your brain. It will trick your mind into thinking that your bed is a place of work or on the other hand when you are working you may feel the need to fall asleep.
Of course it is always best to do what works for you, but if you are finding that you are constantly distracted try looking for another location to work.
The Pomodoro Method is a time management technique used to help maximize the amount of work you are able to do in a given amount of time. As stated in the Focus Booster blog, “It is an effective way to achieve balance between quantity and quality, and all you have to do is focus for 25 minutes at a time”.
Many students are used to pulling all-nighters and completing as many assignments as possible within hours. With the Pomodoro method, you can balance your time and this will allow you to feel less burnt out and more energized.
