By Samuel Mwangi ngari.
As we come to the end of 2024, how many of this year's resolutions did you achieve? If many kudos to you and if none don't beat yourself up there's next year.
Don Carlos in his song ‘ time ’, sings tomorrow is another day and time is precious. With that in mind you must be cautious not to always schedule your plans to the next day since this sends a signal to your brain that the activity is not that serious.
Have you tried to quit procrastinating and it seems impossible, worry no more by the end of this article you will be equipped with new skills to tackle this problem.
One of the reasons we procrastinate or lack to start something is due to fear or just being anxious. It can be fear to fail or just feeling like you are not prepared. Action cures anxiety and everything is difficult before starting. You should always remember that nobody was born a pro at anything, but with practice many people become pros and acquire skills.
As a student I found myself postponing revising a certain unit or even an urgent assignment. Ironically watching a series or binge watching reels or TikTok videos wasn't hard and it led to me questioning my attention skills. Well when one is reading complex topics, which will be examined later one may tend to lose focus or stall on one page dirting on the same words. One might also be tempted to take extensive breaks and getting distracted on your gadgets. To battle this one can use the five minutes rule, where one takes breaks after 30 or 90 minutes to give your brain time to relax and also internalize on the topics you are reading. This also applies to people who are always Infront of a screen.
Don't be stuck at the planning stage but make efforts to make your visions a reality. The first step is always the hardest but with consistency you grow tremendously and eliminate doubts.
Remember the satisfaction that comes with finishing a task and let that motivate you to working on that task. The more you procrastinate something the more it's likely to heighten your anxieties and make you panic.
Avoid pilling your tasks, this makes you to always rush at the last minute and this will overload your brain making you more nervous and tired. Doing your tasks in small bits is better since you don't rush and do shoddy work and you are likely to pay attention to all details.
Most students today will argue that it's better to work under pressure and wait for the deadline to start working on that task. You are more likely to submit a sketchy work and risk failing. To avoid this plan your time well and be less anxious. Time is a commodity that we can't buy but we all have equally.
As you plan your tasks be realistic and reasonable. This can be achieved by noticing your strengths and flaws. Once you do that it's easier to plan and execute your tasks. This comes back to avoiding pilling your work in the name of multitasking. Multitasking is a concept since our brains can only handle one task at a time. Being rational about how you plan to execute your plans is paramount.
Planning is also crucial in dealing with procrastination. That is if you decide to trust your mental faculty or jolt down tasks. Either way it's up to you and it helps you remember since memory is fleeting.
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