It’s that time of the semester: as we rush towards Carnival, professors realize how much more they wanted to get done and throw more work at you. It’s tough to stay on track without getting discouraged and overwhelmed by all of the assignments waiting for you after class.
We all have lapses in our self-discipline, but most often they take the form of procrastination. But before I tell you how to train your self-discipline, we should first establish what procrastination is, and why so many of us do it.
Why do we procrastinate?
Procrastination is a habit, and according to Psychology Today, college often brings it out, with about 70% of college students identifying as procrastinators. The worst part about it is that procrastinating feels good now at the expense of how you’ll feel later, so you don’t really know what the impact will be until it’s too late. You know what I’m talking about—you know you should get ahead on that research paper, but you just can’t wait to watch this week’s episode of Downton Abbey. Later on, you’re wishing you’d have just done the research paper when you had the time, because now it’s due in eight hours and you’re staring at your blank computer screen. Not to mention that you also kind of wanted to sleep.
It’s easy to get stuck in this pattern at CMU when the second you finish an assignment you realize you have three more waiting in the wings. And we all know that procrastinating on one assignment can keep you from getting started on the next one, and then the next one, and suddenly you’re behind and you don’t know how to catch up. The key to preventing that from happening (or pulling yourself out) is self-discipline. You can train self-discipline by recognizing when you tend to fall into bad habits, and knowing what to do when those tempting moments present themselves.
1. Examine yourself realistically
Take a step back and look at your semester thus far. Maybe you’ve been turning in assignments you’re not proud of and scoring lower on quizzes and exams than you’re used to, and your midterm grades were downright terrifying. And what for? Well, maybe you spent three hours the night before your midterm online shopping. Think about how that test would have gone had you spent those hours studying. Let yourself get angry. You deserve that grade, and you kept yourself from getting it!
Now, I’m not saying that you can’t online shop. I’m just saying that you should give yourself those extra hours to study before the test and online shop afterwards as a reward. The reward of earning your shopping time helps justify putting it off for later instead of your work.
2. Set some goals
Figure out what exactly you’ve been doing that’s been keeping you from getting your work done. Are you getting distracted in the UC? Always checking Facebook? Decide which behaviors you want to change, and write them down. Write as many as you like, but stick to 2-3 to tackle right away.
One of mine was: I want to work on campus more often, rather than in my bed.
3. Articulate why you want to achieve these goals
It’s not enough to just know what you want to do. Thinking deeply about why you want to change these behaviors will help you actually change them when the time comes. Write them down below your goal to help visualize how much achieving this goal can help you:
I want to work on campus more often, rather than in my bed.
Why?
- I think I will be more productive.
- It will help me stay active throughout the day, rather than going home after class and letting myself check out.
- I may see more of my friends around campus.
- It will make sleeping at night easier if I keep the stress of homework away from my bed.
- I won’t have to go outside in the cold as much if I just stay on campus between meetings and classes.
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4. Decide what’s holding you back…and then attack it
So now you have all of these good reasons for achieving your goals, but somehow none of them have happened yet. Why is that? It’s important to recognize what’s been holding you back from doing this before, and how easy those fears are to dispel.
I want to work on campus more often, rather than in my bed.
Why?
- I think I will be more productive.
- It will help me stay active throughout the day, rather than going home and letting myself check out.
- I may see more of my friends around campus.
- It will make sleeping at night easier if I keep the stress of homework away from my bed.
- I won’t have to go outside in the cold as much if I just stay on campus between meetings and classes.
What’s holding me back?
- I don’t want to spend money to buy food on campus when I have snacks in my room.
Solution: Always have snacks, and over pack just in case.
- Being on campus is not as relaxing in my room.
Solution: It shouldn’t be, think about it. And, it will feel much better being able to actually relax in my room, rather than stress out about not working.
- I won’t be around as much for my residents and dorm events.
Solution: Carve out some time to with residents after getting work done, and treat important dorm events as rewards.
As you can see, this can be as extensive as you want to make it. The point is to convince yourself why changing your behavior isn’t just something you want to do, but it’s something that you can and should do.
5. Keep track of your progress
Start with two or three goals to start, and pay attention to what you’re doing to achieve them over the next couple of weeks. For the first few days, I wrote what specifically I did differently, and when I slipped up and took that nap I didn’t need before my night class. I found that keeping track of my achievements made me want to keep doing well so I’d have something to write down; it also made me not want to have to write that I’d slipped up.
You may realize in this process that one or more of your goals isn’t helping you like you thought it would. That’s OK! You only want to concern yourself with goals that you believe in, so change or drop your goals as you see fit.
And finally, remember that this is a process. Your habits won’t change overnight, but each time you go out of your way to do something differently, you’re one step closer.
Good luck!