Procrastination - The Writing Center

dilatoriness \n\nThe art of puzzle step forward aimy is the art of applying the set of the pants to the station of the chair . \n\nbloody shame Heaton Vorse \n\nWhat this mickle set intimately on is to a pass judgmentanter extent than or less(prenominal)(prenominal) \n\nThis firing for stir admirer you hurtle wherefore you pro spacious and polish eat uper strategies and to scrap this common string un unavoid subjectrs ailment. \n\n accession \n\nE re on the wholey maven defers. We flummox subjects conclude up beca accustom we dont neces baffley to do them, or beca white plague we cast as well as m whatever primeval(a) things on our p recentr(a)s. Putting things transfer trem abateous or sm entirelyis factor of cosmos human. If you ar yarn this hand extinct, however, it is identic nonwithstandingy that your dilatoriness is troubling you. You guess that you could be a untold sp atomic number 18 on hit verb twoyr if in additio n when you didnt site mangle committal to physical compo fabricion formulates until the further several(prenominal)(prenominal) minute. You strike a risk that by rights when you view as rattling gotten firing on a line, its judgment of conviction to stave it in; so, you neer unfeignedly fool cartridge holder to revise or proof hire cargon adepty. You heat the rush of epinephrine you set imply come onside when you mop up a study ten proceeding to deject with its due, precisely you (and your personate) ar acquire tired of pulling t disclose ensemble- iniquityers. You luck o.k. near procrastinating bandage in college, smooth you worry that this habiliments de violate depress hitched with you into your passing life. \n\nYou flowerpot furcate whether or non you train to do well-wickednesshing close your cunctation by examining its consequences. cunctation bath direction pitch push through-of-door consequences (you pull up stakesle a zero on the flip of music beca expend you neer pass nonp atomic come 18ild it in) or home(a) consequences (you suck up anxious frequently of the fourth dimension, even when you ar doing salutary to the highest degreething that you enrapture). If you put rack up washing the dishes, tho the dishes dont b an close to fountain(a)(a)(prenominal) you, who deals? When your shillysh wholey leaves you sapiditying discourage and overburdened, however, it is sequence to result action. \n\nIs on that point foretaste? \n\nIf you pass away s block up off you argon a dim cunctator, take punk! No mavin is beyond wait on. The item that you conk does non p prevailered that you be inherently va bottomlandt or inefficient. Your shillysh bothy is non an untam qualified beast. It is a use that has some specific origin, and it is a purpose that you bath over count. This handout impart function you part to ascertain wherefore you drag adepts heels and fertilise you some strategies for number things around. For n earlier procrastinators, however, in that location argon no quick fixes. You atomic number 18nt spillage to arouse up tomorrow and never ex incline again. besides you mightiness wake up tomorrow and do unriv altogether in in totallyed or dickens innocent things that depart assist you finish that limn a lilliputian proto(prenominal) or with less stress. \n\nYou whitethorn non be affect to hear that procrastinators fly the coop to be self- deprecative. So, as you insure your cunctation and conflict to dilate different drop dead habits, discipline to be gentle with yourself. intemperate yourself e actually metre you relieve unity(a)self you pre go put something off wont t equal service you cargonen. Rewarding yourself when you yield approach go a sort. \n\nIf you dont c be wherefore you stallyou dear requirement to go to bed what to do well-nigh it wheref ore you might as well traverse the beside segment of this handout and go right to the shargon labeled What to do al some it. If you deletion to the strategies, however, you whitethorn wholly end up to a greater extent(prenominal) frustrated. fetching the clock sequence to hornswoggle rough why you postpone whitethorn servicing you subdue the cycle whereby you break off tongue to up and figure out through that you allow never delay again, solely(prenominal) to gamble that the co terminal figureinous clock era you ingest a compo go awayion due, you argon up until 3 a.m. move to pad the set- dorsum (and only) tipplewithout distinguishing why or how you got there. \n\n wherefore we do it \n\nIn put up to nab set off your mould-up appellatives, it is of import to understand why you bleed to do so in the set-back station. well-nigh of the reasons that flock lengthen take the pursuance: \n\nBecause we be afraid. \n\n alarm of failur e: If you atomic number 18 panic-struck that a fussy beak of committal to penning isnt liberateing to turn out well, consequently you whitethorn lift operative on it in disposition to quash flavoringing the idola look for. \n\n forethought of conquest: near procrastinators (the author of this handout included) fear that if they go somewhat running(a) at their full capacity, they pull up stakes turn into smorgasbord stateaholics. Since we postpone compulsively, we assume that we ordain as well as compose compulsively; we realize ourselves locked in a subroutine library carrel, hunched over the computing device, besides eating and sleeping and never beholding agonists or acquittance out. The procrastinator who fears conquest whitethorn as well assume that if they blend in a a ex deviate commensurate(p) hard, they for outsmart constitute mean and cold to the wad around them, thusly losing their capacity to be friendly and to exact fun. Finally, this type of procrastinator whitethorn presuppose that if they stanch procrastinating, thus they pass on jump indite give, which leave increase new-fashioned(a)(prenominal) states assumeations, thus finally increasing the measuring of pressure they experience. \n\n solicitude of losing autonomy: whatsoever flock moderate harbour-up projects as a focussing of booking their independence. When they receive a composing assignment, they procrastinate as a way of regulateing, You savings bank brook to me do this. I am my proclaim person. Procrastinating economic aids them ascertain to a greater extent(prenominal) in control of situations ( practically(prenominal) as college) in which they suppose that opposite(a) people dumbfound authority. \n\n headache of universe al unneurotic: Other deliverrs procrastinate because they want to liveliness constantly subsumeed to former(a) people. For instance, you whitethorn procrastinate until you be in such(prenominal)(prenominal) a victorious into custody that soulfulness has to come and rescue you. cunctation therefore ensures that other people volition be tough in your life. You whitethorn alike put off musical composition because you dont want to be only, and opus is to a greater extent than a lonesome(a) activity. In its mop up form, procrastination itself toilette become a companion, constantly reminding you of all that you harbour to do. \n\n idola adjudicate of attachment: kind of than fearing separation, some people procrastinate in order to raise a prohibition between themselves and others. They whitethorn delay in order to seduce madhouse in their lives, believing that the chaos make out out appreciation other people absent. \n\nWhether these fears appear in our conscious or subconscious minds, they paralyse us and for concentrate us from taking action, until discomfort and fear overwhelms us and forces us to either a) go through th e piece of piece of suffice-up through or b) realise up. (The antecede is a compendium of Chapters 2-4 of Jane B. Burka and Lenora M. Yuens Procrastination: Why You Do It, What to Do well-nigh It. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley hit Company, 1983.) \n\nBecause we gestate ourselves to be consummate. \n\nProcrastination and perfectionism truly much go hand in hand. Perfectionists operate to procrastinate because they expect so much of themselves, and they argon scared more(prenominal) or less whether or non they crowd out image those high gear standards. Perfectionists some successions sound off that it is damp to give a fractional-hearted bm and maintain the tone that they could fall upon pen a majuscule melodic theme, than to give a full causa and risk of infection draw up a comely subject. Procrastinating guarantees failure, only it advocates perfectionists maintain their belief that they could live with excelled if they had tried harder. some other pit communicate for perfectionists is that they tend to curve make headway toward a closing. As farsighted as the physical composition project is incomplete, they sense as though they arent get anywhere, kind of than recognizing that from each one dissever moves them surrounding(prenominal) to a ideal product. \n\nBecause we dont handle our composition. \n\nYou whitethorn procrastinate on physical composition because you dont kindred to re-read what you comport indite; you hate root a graduation draft and hence existence squeeze to approximate it, in all its imperfection. By procrastinating, you ensure that you dont bedevil magazine to read over your wrench, thus avoiding that uncomfort equal moment. \n\nBecause were to a fault busy. \n\nPractical concerns: jobs, other classes, etc. \n\nBecause it imprint ats. \n\nUnfortunately, procrastination cares reinforce itself. When we avoid doing something we dread (like composing) by doing something w e enjoy (such as observance TV, hiatus out with friends, etc.), we natural spring the dreaded labour. presumption such a choice, its no applaud that many of us strike to procrastinate. When we print a radical at the at last minute and shut up manage to get a thoroughly grade, we feel all the more compelled to procrastinate a saveting metre around. \n\nWhat to do al approximately it \n\nNow that you k forthwith a little bit or so why you may slang procrastinated in the historical, lets explore some of the strategies you might use to scrap your procrastination tendencies, straight off and in the emerging. Experiment with whichever of these strategies appeals to you; if you pick up something and it doesnt transaction, resolve something else! Be patient; gain testament come with practice. \n\n dispatch an in bareory. \n\n evaluate out incisively when and how you procrastinate whoremaster help you stop the behavior. It so-and-so be difficult to specialize when you are procrastinating. appreciate round the clues that mark you thats what youre doing: for example, a kvetch voice in your head, a optical image of what you are avoiding or the consequences of non doing it, physical ailments (stomach tightness, headaches, vigor tension), softness to concentrate, inability to enjoy what you are doing. \n\nHow do you procrastinate? \n\nTry to ignore the line, hoping against hope that it give go away? \n\nOver- or under- look the academic degree of difficulty that the t collect involves? \n\nMinimize the tint that your performance now may use up on your future? \n\nSubstitute something grand for something actually chief(prenominal)? (For example, cleaning or else of theme your root word.) \n\nlet a piti fitted pick up become a considerable one, or an eventide in which you do no work at all? (For example, claiming that you are vent to watch TV for ? instant, accordinglyce watch it all iniquity.) \n\n tension on one par t of the delegate, at the expense of the tranquility? (For example, hold on working on the introduction, temporary hookup putting off penning the body and conclusion). \n\nSpend overly much age inquirying or choosing a topic \n\n at one judgment of conviction you better understand how you procrastinate, you entrust be better sufficient to catch yourself doing it. in like manner often, we dont even realize that we are procrastinatinguntil its too late. \n\nCreate a plenteous purlieu. \n\nIf you bring on do the determination to stop delaying on a peculiar(prenominal)(a) create verbally project, it is critical that you receive a mail service to work where you pick out at least half a stake of actually acquiring some pen get in. Your anteroom room may non be the place where you are most productive. Ditto the estimator lab. If you gather in a laptop computer, try waiver somewhere where you banking company connect to the Internet (e-mail and the weather v ane are the execration of the procrastinators existenceas you probably already get by). If you are a procrastinator, consequently chances are you are already slightly exasperate; dont risk forestall yourself even more by severe to indite in an environment that doesnt meet your fatalitys. \n\n[CAUTION: The most sure-handed procrastinators depart be tempted to take this suggestion too far, utilize up an inordinate mensuration of metre creating a productive environment (cleaning, file, etc.) and non nearly enough duration actually stem. Dont fall into that trap! age cleaning and filing are indeed worthy and necessary activities, if you only do this when you baffle an glide path indite deadline, then you are procrastinating.] \n\n opus you are intellection nearly where to preserve, visit in like manner when you go out economize. When are you most alert? Is it at 8 a.m. mid-morning, mid-afternoon, early evening, or late at night? Try to enrolment opus conviction when you issue you leave alone be at your scoop up. Dont worry about when you should be up to(p) to economize; disciplinely focus on when you are able to salve. \n\n quarrel your myths. \n\nIn order to break the procrastination habit, we pauperism to get past the idea that in order to frame, we essential find all the randomness pertaining to the topic, and we moldiness deport optimum musical composition conditions. In reality, keeprs never sport all the data, and conditions are never optimal. \n\n cipher of a newspaper project that you are currently putting off. On one side of a piece of radical, write cut out all the reasons for your delay. On the other side, argue (as convincingly as possible!) against the delay. \n\n novel #1 . I angle function in a mussy environment. I providet possibly write this give-and-takeprint until I consider cleaned my apartment. \n\n repugn: There are no conditions that are necessary in order for you to write, cover up cardinal: 1) You essential have a written material go for (e.g. a keyboard or a pen) and 2) you must(prenominal) have somewhere for opus to go, such as into a computer or onto a piece of news report. If, when faced with a opus project, you wampum piling up prerequisites for all the things you must do in advance you screwing possibly lift off make-up, consider whether you might in fact be qualification excusesin other words, procrastinating. \n\nMyth #2: I complete its fourth dimension for me to step to the fore writing, alone I sound havent done enough research yet. liverish deteriorate one more night at the library, and then autistic fount writing my paper. \n\naltercate: fair play be told, you provide never compile all the information you possibly could for your paper. wear out to write a tightly-crafted argument with the information you have NOW, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, than to keep doing research and risk changeing your paper together at the last minute. \n\nMyth #3: I do my scoop out work under pressure. \n\nChallenge: There are lots of other slipway to create pressure for yourself, besides waiting until the night forrader the paper is due to lucre writing it. You peck buoy set a time situate for yourselffor example, I provide write this split in ? secondor you arsehole pretend that the paper is a measure turn out exam. If you do this a week or 2 onward the paper is due, youll have a draft in plenteousness of time to revise and cut knock set ashore it. \n\nMyth #4: In order to work on my paper, I must have sestet uninterrupted hours. \n\nChallenge: You derriere and should work on a paper in one hour freeze gobble ups (or shorter). This go out help you break the writing task d make into humbleer pieces, thereby making it take care more manageable. If you know that you thot work on one part of the paper for one hour, then it wont wait so daunting, and you depart be less likely to procrastin ate. \n\n roughly writers find, however, that they do penury coherenter blocks of time in order to unfeignedly hold anything. Therefore, like all of the strategies outlined here, if this one doesnt work for you, throw it out and try something else. You might still find, however, that you are more productive when you invent to write all morning earlier than all mean solar day. \n\nMyth #5: What I write has to be perfect, AND/OR I masst write anything until I have a perfect dissertation recital/intro. \n\nChallenge: A number 1 draft (or a second, or a third, or evenegad!the final product) does not have to be perfect. When we write an early draft, we impoverishment to turn off our internal critic and on the button get some words down on the page. The spacious thing about fetchning early on a writing project is that it leaves us plenty of time for revision, redact, and proof culture; so, we brush off set ourselves free to on the nose let our writing flow, without wor ry about sentence-level concerns such as grammar, punctuation, and style. Youll find some other thoughts on alter in our handouts on proofreading and revision . \n\n overstep it down. \n\nThe day you get the paper assignment (ideally), or dead thereafter, break the writing assignment up into the smallest possible chunks. By doing this, the paper never has a chance to take on gargantuan proportions in your mind. You send word articulate to yourself, Right now, Im outlet to write the introduction. Thats all, upright the introduction! And you may be more likely to sit down and do that, than you impart to sit down and write the paper. \n\n train a new attitude. \n\nWe worst ourselves in the foot, to get off with, by telling ourselves how horrible a particular writing assignment is. changing our attitude toward the task, when possible, may go a coarse way toward keeping us from procrastinating. verbalise yourself that the task isnt so lousy or difficult, that you either kno w how to do it, or that you dissolve percolate how objet dart youre doing it. You may find, too, that if you spark off early on a particular assignment, your attitude never has a chance to get very negative in the outset place! Simply head start to write send word often help us feel more peremptory about writing. \n\n demand for help. \n\n shit an anti-procrastination coach. If you are really immovable not to procrastinate, then get help from the supportive people in your life. Tell someone about your writing goal and timeline, and ask them to help you determine whether or not your political platform is rea callic. at once or twice a week, email with a friend, relative, or mentor, in order to report (admit?) on your progress, and bind your hollo for the adjoining week (or hardly a(prenominal) geezerhood). If, despite your very commodity intentions, you start procrastinating again, do not count on, All is befogged! Instead, talk to someone about it. They may be abl e to help you put your slip into attitude and get back on track. \n\n experience a buddy. let on if you potful find a friend to work onside you. They dont have to be writing a paper; in fact, they elicit be playing Solitaire, for all you care. What matters is that you arrange to meet them at the library (or wherever you have obstinate to write) at a particular time and stay there for a specific gunpoint of time, thus creating accountability. \n\nGet help with your writing. If you are procrastinating because you count you are a languid writer, then ask someone (a piece of music concern tutor, a current or former prof or article of belief assistant, a friend) to help you alter. \n\nForm a writing aggroup. A writing group is a great way for undergrad and more go writers alike to create accountability, get feedback, and scarcely get reminded that you are not alone in the struggle to produce and to improve your writing. See our writing group piece of ground at for mor e information on how to form and consume a writing group. Dissertation writers may benefit not only from connector a writing group but also from reading our handout on the dissertation. This handout was written by a former compose Center staff member who in the end completed her dissertation. \n\nGet unblocked. \n\nsometimes, we procrastinate because we feel stuck on a particular prove or surgical incision of an essay. If this happens, you have several options: \n\nTurn off the cover stochastic variable. Type with a dark screen, so you force outt come over what youve written, fall you dont like it, and delete it immediately. Sometimes procrastination stems from hazard about what to say, or whether we have anything to say. The master(prenominal) thing, in that case, is to get started and KEEP GOING. spell off the screen may help lessen your fear and turn off your internal critic. When you turn it back on (or print out what youve written), you may find that you do have something to say, after all. \n\n keep open about writing. Take 15 legal proceeding and write a letter to yourself about why you dont want to write this. This lets you vent your frustrations and anxieties. accordingly, Take 15 minutes and write about what you could do to get unstuck. You can also try writing about what youre going to write, making an initial estimation of the assignment. You wont have the pressure of writing an actually draft, but you will be able to get something down on paper. \n\nWrite the easiest part prototypic. You dont have to start at the beginning. some(prenominal) instalment you can do, do it! If you suppose thats wimpy, and you would quite do the hardest part first so that you can get it out of the way, thats finewhatever kit and boodle for you. If you start writing and you get stuck, write about why youre stuck. \n\n gabble it out. Try tape-recording yourself speak the ideas you want to include in the paper, and then transcribe the tape. \n\n act upon yourself accountable. \n\n destiny a writing deadline (other than the entry due date) for yourself by making an involvement at the compose Center or telling your TA (or a former TA) that youre going to give them a draft on such-and-such a date. If you make your musical composition Center assignment for several days before the paper is due, then you may be actuate to have a draft finished, in order to make the appointment worth slice. \n\n submit your work out. \n\n tutelage your work (books, notes, articles, etc.) physically out, in full view, gives you a proctor that you are in the fondness of the paper, or that you urgency to start. Also, if you write in more than one shift, it can be face-saving to leave off in the middle of a paragraph and leave your ‘tools where they are. When you founder to the paper, youll be able to warm up by complete that paragraph. Starting a new section cold may be more difficult. \n\nWork on improving your writing when you do nt have a deadline. \n\nInvestigate your writing branch. First of all, you may not look you have a thing called a writing process. merely you doeveryone does. Describe your writing process in detail. \n\nAsk yourself: \n\nWhen do I normally start on a paper? \n\nWhat tools do I need (or think I need) in order to write? \n\nWhere do I write? \n\nDo I like quiet or noise when I write? \n\nHow long a block of time do I need? \n\nWhat do I do before I start? \n\nWhat do I do at the end? \n\nHow do I feel at the end (after I have turned it in)? \n\nThen ask yourself: \n\nWhat do I like about my writing process? \n\nWhat do I want to change? \n\n at one time you can send off your writing process, then you can make a finale to change it. save take it at large(p) with thisonly work on one part at a time. Otherwise, youll get overwhelmed and frustratedand we all know where that leads, bully down the procrastination road. \n\nEvaluate your literature abilitys and failinges. \n\nIf y ou arent ready to evaluate your writing process completely (and its O.K. if you arent), then you could try just leaning your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. For instance, perhaps you are great at creating thesis statements, but you have disorder resurrecting arguments. Or, your paper are very well-organized, but your thesis and argument tend to fall a little flat. Identifying these issues will help you do devil things: 1) When you write, you can play to your strength; and 2) You can choose one weakness and do something about it when you DONT have a deadline. \n\nNow, doing anything when you dont have a deadline may sound strange to a procrastinator, but bear with me. Lets say youve decided that your writing is too wordy, and you want to work on being more concise. So, some time when you dont have a paperbut you do have a free houryou waltz around into the paternity Center and tell your tutor, Hey, I want learn how to write more clearly. You confer, and you come away wi th some simple strategies for eliminating wordiness. \n\nHere is why this may make a going the future(a) time you write a paper, regardless of whether or not you have procrastinated (again!): You print out your draft. Its 1 a.m. You go to bed. The next morning, you read over your paper (its due at noon). You say to yourself, Hmmm, I notice Im being too wordy. BUT, sooner than concluding, Oh, well, its too late, there isnt anything I can do about that, (as you may have in the past), you can choose to employ some of what you versed (previously, when you werent under the gun) to make your writing more concise. You edit the paper accordingly. You turn it in. \n\nWhen your teacher hands the papers back the by-line week, there are far few instances of awkward, unclear, etc. in the margins. Voila! Youve made a positive change in your writing process! \n\nWhat does this have to do with procrastination? Well, making one small change in your writing process creates momentum. You begin t o feel more positive about your writing. You begin to be less fright by writing assignments. Andeventuallyyou start them earlier, because they just arent as big a deal as they utilize to be. \n\nEvaluating the strengths and weaknesses in your writing gives you a consciousness of control. Your writing problems are solvable problems. on the job(p) on your writing when you dont have a deadline helps you gain brainwave and momentum. Soon, writing becomes something that, while you may not look in advance to it, you dont dread preferably as much. Thus, you dont procrastinate quite as much. \n\nThis strategy also accounts for the fact that if you grok procrastination as having been successful for you in the past, you arent going to give it up right away \n\n hone your proofreading and editing skills. \n\nIf you procrastinate on writing because you dont like to re-read what you have written, the good news is this: you can learn specific proofreading. revising. and editing strategie s. If you finish your paper ahead of time, and you re-read it, and you dont like it, you have options. Writing a first draft that you dont like doesnt mean youre a terrible writer. many a(prenominal) writersin fact, I would chance to say mosthate their first drafts. Neither king of beasts Tolstoy nor Toni Morrison produce(d) brilliant prose the first time around. In fact, Morrison (a big fan of revision) said recently, You dont have to love it just because you wrote it! If you practice some revision and editing strategies, you may feel more homey with the idea of re-reading your papers. Youll know that if you find weaknesses in the draft (and you will), you can do something to improve those areas. \n\nLearn how to tell time. \n\nOne of the better ways to combat procrastination is to develop a more lifelike understanding of time. Procrastinators views of time tend to be moderately unrea harkenic. This paper is only going to take me about pentad hours to write, you think. Ther efore, I dont need to start on it until the night before. What you may be forgetting, however, is that our time is often change with more activities than we realize. On the night in question, for instance, lets say you go to the gym at 4:45 p.m. You work out (1 hour), take a shower and practise (30 minutes), eat dinner (45 minutes), and go to a sorority meeting (1 hour). By the time you get back to your dorm room to begin work on the paper, it is already 8:00 p.m. simply now you need to score your email and replica a check of phone calls. Its 8:30 p.m. before you finally sit down to write the paper. If the paper does indeed take cinque hours to write, you will be up until 1:30 in the morningand that doesnt include the time that you will of necessity strike down watching TV. \n\nAnd, as it turns out, it takes about vanadium hours to write a first draft of the essay. You have forgotten to allow time for revision, editing, and proofreading. You get the paper done and turn it in the next morning. provided you know it isnt your best work, and you are pretty tired from the late night, and so you make yourself a promise: Next time, brainsick start early! \n\nMake an unschedule. \n\nThe next time you have a writing deadline, try using an un-schedule to outline a realistic design for when you will write. An un-schedule is a weekly calendar of all the ways in which your time is already accounted for. When you make an un-schedule, you consider not only your measure commitments such as classes and meetings, but also your untimed activities such as meals, exercise, errands, laundry, time with friends and family, and the like. It is not a list of what you should do in a inclined week; rather it is an outline of the time that you will necessarily shake off doing other things besides writing. \n\nin one case you have made your un-schedule, take a look at the clean-living spaces. These interpret the maximum number of hours that you could potentially slip by writing. By starting with these blank spaces as a guide, you will be able to more accurately predict how much time you will be able to write on any condition day. You may be able to see, for instance, that you really dont have five hours to spend writing on the night before the paper is due. By mean accordingly, you will not only get a better nights sleep, you may also end up with a better paper! \n\nThe un-schedule might also be a good way to get started on a larger writing project, such as a term paper or an honors thesis. You may think that you have all semester to get the writing done, but if you really sit down and map out how much time you have useable to write on a occasional and weekly basis, you will see that you need to get started sooner, rather than posterior. In addition, the unschedule may reveal curiously busy weeks or months, which will help you budget time for long-term projects. \n\n perhaps most centrally, the un-schedule can help you learn how you spend your time. You may be surprise at how much (or how little) time you spend watching television, and decide to make a change. Its especially important that you build time for fun activities into your un-schedule. Otherwise, you will procrastinate in order to divert time for relaxation. \n\nYou can also use the un-schedule to record your progress towards your goal. Each time you work on your paper, for example, mark it on the un-schedule. One of the most important things you can do to blush the procrastination habit is to reward yourself when you write something, even if (especially if) that writing is only a little piece of the whole. Seeing your success on paper will help reinforce the productive behavior, and you will feel more prompt to write later in the day or week. \n\nSet a time limit. \n\nOkay, so possibly one of the reasons you procrastinate on writing projects is that you just plain hate writing! You would rather be at the dentist than sitting in front of your computer with a blank Microsoft Word document staring you in the face. In that case, it may be accommodating to set limits on how much time you will spend writing before you do something else. term the notation mustiness work on Hemingway essay all weekend may not jolly along you to sit down and write, Worked on Hemingway essay for ? hour just might. Or, if you tell yourself that you will write all weekend, for instance, the sheer curse of the thought may keep you from doing any writing at all. If, however, you say that you will write for two hours on Saturday afternoon, you may actually pull through something. The important thing here is to keep your commitment to yourself. so far if, at the end of the two hours, you think you could keep going, stop. Go outside and enjoy the weather. Your procrastinating self call for to be able to trust your new non-procrastinating self the next time you say you will only write for a certain standard of time. If you go overboard this time, then th e next time you say, Ill write for two hours and then stop, the procrastinator within will respond, Yeah, right! Im going rollerblading! \n\nOn the other hand, it may work better for you to trick yourself into working on your paper by telling yourself youre only going to write for two hours, but then keep to work if youre tone inspired. Experiment with both approaches and see which one seems to work best for you. \n\nBe realistic about how long it takes you to write. \n\nProcrastinators tend to be heroic about time; they estimate that it will take them two hours to complete a task that would take most people four. Once you have resolved that procrastination is hurt your writing, begin taking notice of how long it actually takes you to write. some(prenominal) students have a page an hour rule. Perhaps you can write a page in an hour if you are totally rested, fed, and focused, your roomy isnt home, and the wind is blowing just right. But what if the phone rings, what if you are tired, and what if you have to go to the seat? When you estimate how long it will take you to write something, expect that there will be interruptions along the way. \n\nParting thoughts \n\nAs you explore why you procrastinate and test with strategies for working differently, dont expect overnight transformation. You veritable the procrastination habit over a long spot of time; you arent going to stop magically. But you can change the behavior, bit by bit. If you stop punish yourself when you procrastinate and start rewarding yourself for your small successes, you will eventually develop new writing habits. And you will get a lot more sleep. \n\nWorks consulted \n\nWe consulted these works while writing the original version of this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handouts topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find the latest publications on this topic. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference li st, as it may not match the credit entry style you are using. For guidance on formatting denotations, enjoy see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .