How I Fight Procrastination

At the beginning of the semester, I set up the goal for me to stop procrastinating; whether I actually accomplished the goal was the real question. Throughout the semester, I tried to procrastinate less by doing the assignments the day it was assigned. This allowed me to have more free time to do whatever I wanted. Unfortunately, this plan only worked for a few weeks, as more work began piling up, it consumed more of my time, including my weekends. 

Halfway through the semester, I came up with another plan where I would try to fit all my work into one day, including the night. This was a simple way for me to get everything done quickly and it freed up more time for me to focus on my own interests. This way it also allowed me to perfect my assignments before turning them in. It was a sacrifice that I was willing to make so I would have time that wasn’t always revolving around school.  After a while of staying up late, it stopped working. I got tired and my mental health deteriorated, but it was the only way that I knew that I could get my assignments done in time. At that point, I felt hopeless and I didn’t feel like finishing any of my assignments but I was afraid of what others might say so I kept going. I started to put my mental health aside just to complete the assignments that I was given. I then started to procrastinate more and more, so much that I would start finishing my assignments or papers hours before they were due. The assignments that I was turning were no longer my full potential and I was just overall struggling with school.

Previously, I was in the stage of contemplation but after reviewing the last couple months I think I'm stuck in the pre contemplation stage. I have just accepted that my struggle with procrastination isn’t going anywhere. If I were to ever attempt taking on this goal again, I would do things differently. I would start by splitting my assignments into different sections and completing them separately. If something is due that day or in the next two days I would complete those assignments just so I don’t have to stay up all night and worry about those assignments. Then if I don’t have those assignments done on that day I would have the other two days to complete them. Another thing I could do is to write in a planner and write down what I need to accomplish for that specific day.

Overall, I'm a little disappointed that I didn’t accomplish such a simple goal. Mentally the thought of fixing my problem with procrastination was easy but once I took on that challenge I just got overwhelmed and tired. On the bright side, I can make another attempt to achieve this goal next semester.