10 strategies against procrastination

1. Advice: Accept work

• Studying is work
• Acceptance of negative feelings hurdles/dry spells
• Long-term vs. short-term reward
• Develop everyday routine/work rituals

2. Advice: Self-acceptance

• Acceptance & responsibility for procrastinating behavior
• What does procrastination protect me from?
• Decoupling self-esteem and performance
• Reduction of internal demands

3. Advice: Develop rituals

• Separation of areas: work, everyday life and leisure time
• Introduce rituals (getting up on time, starting work at a specific time, taking breaks, ending work at a specific time, free time)
• Relieved of agonizing considerations and unproductive decisions

4. Advice: choose a suitable place of work

• Choose a location with minimal distractibility
• Privacy protection
• Working group/social component

5. Advice: create a work plan.

• First rough planning
• Overview: How much time do I actually have?
• Estimate the required workload
• Which claim is realistic? Do I have to make compromises?
• Then detailed planning – enter work units in the weekly plan

Detailed planning/weekly plan:

• What do I want to achieve today?
• Determine work units (45-90min)
• What do I want to edit per unit?
• Schedule breaks (15-30 minutes) in advance
• Plan buffer (1/3 of daily working time)
• Don't miss out on free time and plan it firmly
• Keep one day a week free
• The start of the learning unit is a fixed date in the calendar
• When do I want to start?
• How and when can I remember the appointment? Alarm clock, cell phone reminder 5-10 minutes before

• What do I do in the 5/10 minutes beforehand?
• What sentence can I use to motivate myself to get started? 

6. Advice: Deal with difficulties effectively

• Dealing with your weaker self: acceptance & responsibility
• Self-reflection instead of self-blame:
• At what point do I start to procrastinate?
• What helped me get to work better today?
• What do I need to achieve my daily goal?
• Identify “excuses.”

Typical excuses (thoughts that encourage procrastination):

• “I have to do it perfectly”
• “I still have enough time/no more time!”
• “I have to go back to literature.”
• “I need to be well rested/in the right mood!”
• “The weather is so nice and everyone is in the park.”
• “The apartment needs to be tidy.”
• “I have so many important things to do!”

7. Advice: Prioritize tasks

• Important & urgent things first
• Sometimes important things are not urgent

Which task has now! Priority if I want to finish my homework by the Monday after next?

8. Advice: Self-motivation

• Long-term reward is better for self-esteem than short-term reward
• Willingness to endure negative feelings
• Focus on successes already achieved
• Set small, achievable goals every day and implement rewards in everyday life

9. Advice: Spend your free time sensibly

• Accept boundaries, observe work-life balance
• Allow yourself time off
• Physical activity
• Know about your own sources of strength

10. Advice: Practice relaxation techniques

• Yoga/meditation
• Autogenic training
• Progressive Muscle Relaxation
• breathing exercises