Guide dealing with procrastination and stress

[chickenonsteroids]

Hello, i've noticed quite a few threads asking with help based on stress so i thought i'd help

I'm writing this as I procrastinate... i'm meant to finish my maths homework :P don't let the irony fool you! I'll get to that in a second

Stress

Firstly stress at school, whether it is GCSE's, A - levels, any further education is mainly caused by lack of organisation. So sorting that out could half or even eliminate your 'i want to rip the hair out of my head' feeling!

How to organise work:

1. Invest in a folder if you write notes with a note book and use folder separators to make things easier.
   • This makes losing notes a lot less likely because they are in a named folder. Plus it makes you feel really professional :P
2. Keep your work neat.
   • You don't want to be revising and realise that you cannot read half of anything that you've written. Some care will go a long way.
   • You don't need to write full sentences when making notes, just something that can remind you what was taking place in class.
3. Try organising your work daily.
   • This further reduces the chances of losing sheets and notes, hole punch it and keep it safe. You'd be surprised how much they can help

If you're feeling that things are getting to you, just step back for a little bit and think. You don't need to be getting overly stressed because that hinders your work and can result in tears, this isn't helpful to your development because it lowers your confidence. Try drinking some water, taking a short break from revision or going for a walk. Clear your mind.

Procrastination

This thing is horrible. I hate it loads and i have a half decent way of sorting it out. Just know that you cannot get rid of it completely otherwise you'll probably end up not enjoying life. No one can seize EVERY SINGLE opportunity they have to work. It's just not realistic haha

The reason why procrastination happens is because there are two parts of your brain that helps this. ( I cannot remember their names, forgive me for that)
One part see's the short term benefit of everything, like going on facebook or staring into the sky. This part is much bigger than the part that see's the long term benefit of working now. Plus the long term benfit part (the determined one) gets tired quickly.

Ok, imagine yourself as two people. Now you, and future you.

Now you wants to put off work and say i'll do it tomorrow until your you've started everything too late. This would make you think, 'yea i promise i'll do it tomorrow but now i'll watch tv'. Do you notice this trend? It happens a lot.

What you need to remember is that, it isn't now you that will be feeling the consequences of your procrastination, it'll be future you. (i hope this is making sense so far)

You need to look to future you and think that you want to have less work so you'll do it now.


Procrastination isn't because you're lazy, it's because you're weak in the sight of distractions (that sounds mean but everyone gets distracted for the reason i stated above)

• So lessen the distractions!
  1. Disable facebook or move the facebook app from the homepage of your phone
  2. Mute your computer so you aren't hearing all sorts of notifications
  3. Clear the cookies from your computer so you have to enter your password in everytime you want to log into something (but make sure you remember them haha) This makes logging into stuff an added effort so you're more inclined to just not bother and start your work.
• Give yourself motivation!
  1. Put pictures up of what you want to achieve
  2. Plan a little treat you can have ONLY if you've completed a certain amount of work... not if you've done something for a specific time
     • It's too easy to say 'i've read for half an hour, time to chill'. You could've just been sitting there :P
  3. Look into what you want to do and what you need to do to get there

My next point is that not all procrastination is bad!
For example, i'm writing this guide... while procrastinating haha. However it will benefit me, and hopefully others
So when you feel lazy instead of refreshing the facebook homepage, read an article from the news or a page from a book relating to your subjects.

Plus don't mistake procrastination for having a break, breaks are good! they keep your sanity in tact

Ok the end is here! After multiple facebook references, unnecessary emoticons, incomplete sentences and poor humour that is.

I really do hope someone finds this helpful as this took me a while to write but maybe it'll be worth it

Just remember, a little stress isn't bad and taking breaks isn't the same as procrastination.

I'll be adding more to this as things come to me.

I hope you found this useful in some way, please tell me if something is confusing and i'll try to find the time to change it.

Good luck in school and i hope you enjoy it

[bitesize]

Procrastination stuff was helpful, it's my worst habit!! (Doing it right now as well!!) Thanks. (:

[L'espoir]

This is fab, thanks for poosting.. Hopefully this will help other users too. Maybe other people could add their own tips too