Study Academic Services at California Polytechnic State University has a good document about procrastination, which talks about characteristics, overcoming benefits, reasons, ways to overcome, and common impediments to overcome procrastination etc. I like the area where it introduces different tools to overcome it:
* Make the tasks look small and easy in your mind. (“I’ve written lots of excellent papers; this is just one more paper.”)
* Do only a small part of the task each time. (“I’ll just check out the books tonight. Later on, I’ll glance through them.”)
* Five-minute plan: Work on something for just five minutes. At the end of five minutes, switch to something else if you want. Chances are, you’ll get involved enough to keep going.
* Advertise your plans to accomplish something, and let peer pressure push you forward. (“I told everyone that I was going to finish this tonight.”)
* Use a good friend as a positive role model. If you have trouble concentrating, study in the presence of someone who doesn’t.
* Modify your environment – if you can’t study at home, find a place where you can study; or, change your study situation at home.
* Plan tomorrow and establish priorities – some students find that simply writing down reasonable starting and stopping times help them get going.
* Expect some backsliding. Don’t expect to be perfect even when you’re trying to get rid of perfectionism! So occasionally, your plans will not work. Accept setbacks and start again.
There is a Word document you can download and print out as well.
Study Skills Library: Procrastination – [California Polytechnic State University]
