How to STOP Procrastinating

It happens to all of us, homeschooled, public schooled, working, not working. It's name is procrastination. It's an ugly little parasite in your brain that tells you that it's okay to put your WANTS before your NEEDS while feeding on your precious time.


I'm here to tell you, the only thing this bug will do- is handicap you. It handicaps all of us. You are the only person, however, who can kill the procrastination parasite. If you're reading this, you may not know how and that's where I come in. I'm going to help you kill this bug with a homemade concoction called Productivity, made with 3 ingredients: Motivation, Self-Discipline, and Mentality.

Motivation

Motivation is a crucial element to learning and devoting time to learn anything. If you are not motivated, you simply will not perform at your best. I think the main issue when it comes to finding motivation is that sometimes we try to stick with a certain mentality of motivation but we don't actively seek motivators.

What I mean by that, is that we are a people driven by motives- but the motives we choose may not always be the right ones. Say you are working on a grueling assignment. You're motivation to finish that assignment is obviously to "get it over with" or "hurry up and get it out of the way already" hence why it seems so grueling to you. BUT if your motivation changed to simply wanting to have a good understanding of what you are learning so that you can actively use it in the future -because you choose to, not because life forces you too- than your drive to complete that assignment will still be just as strong, only this time you will have actually benefited from it.

Other ways to find motivators are to find study focused Instagram accounts, YouTube channels, and blogs (like this one!). These outlets can be used to encourage you to spend your time wisely, and may even give you good idea's on how to better utilize it. You can actually follow the Instagram account of this blog: @selftaughtstudygirl

Self-Discipline

One of the harder traits to obtain in life, self-discipline is to productivity as sand is to sandcastles. Productivity is dependent on self-discipline. This can be quite problematic when we are trying to be productive but find ourselves distracted. Especially since we live in a world in which we have unlimited distractions. When you are homeschooled, you're distractions seem amplified because you have all day access to the phone, kitchen, television, basically anything you would enjoy in your house. It's understandable and don't worry, you are not the only one with this dilemma.

In order to be a master of self-discipline, you need to acknowledge what your distractions are. Make a list of everything that distracts you, it could be your cell phone, music, your laptop, even the kitchen (if you find yourself getting up for snacks too often). After you've honestly assessed your distractions, get rid of them. Turn your cell phone off. Turn the music off. Shut your laptop down and put it away. Move to an area of the house where you are not anywhere near the kitchen and if that isn't possible, go outside! Get rid of everything that hinders you from completing what you need to complete.

After you rid yourself of all distractions, time yourself. Make sure you give yourself enough time to pace yourself and get the task at hand done. That way you have a designated time to be on your phone, snack, get on your laptop and do whatever you want to do.

Mentality

Finally, the last ingredient to productivity is Mentality. I grazed over this when talking about Motivation, but your mentality can affect the success and outcome of your task. If it's a task you just DON'T want to get to- when you finally sit down to do it, you might find your brain being everywhere but where it should be. A bad mentality, leads to a lack of motivation, and eventually a lack of self-discipline ultimately leading to procrastination.

-Motivation + -Self-Discipline + -Mentality = Procrastination

Motivation + Self-discipline + Mentality = Productivity

How to gain a better mentality you ask? Think positively and realistically about the future you. Not the future you that is graduated and in college- the you of tomorrow. What can you do today, to help the you of tomorrow? How can you make her/his day happier/easier? See, the mentality that you gain here is a mentality of investment. Put in an investment for yourself today so that the future you can reap the benefits!

Ex: The you of tomorrow would have a happier day if she got an A on that history test, because that would also boost her overall average for that subject, which would contribute to giving her a higher GPA, which would give her a better chance of getting into a college she wants to get into. Ultimately then, you would not only be helping the you of tomorrow, but helping the you of the day after and of years ahead.

I hope I have helped you guys in some way, shape, or form through this post! If you have any things you do to stop yourself from procrastinating, please share with the rest of us in the comments below!