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Time Management Hacks | Causes of Procrastination | Stopping Procrastination | Life Hacks to Tackle Procrastination | The Pomodoro Technique

When talking about Time Management, most people want to increase their productivity. Start implementing some of these tips today, and you will get more and better work done in less time:

• Write SMART goals down and check your list regularly.
• Define your priorities and focus on one thing at a time.
• Use a calendar or planner and plan your days, weeks, and even your semester.
• Set yourself deadlines and reminders.
• Understand where your time goes and start tracking your progress.
• Set yourself little challenges such as “I will get this done in 2 hours”.
• Use your time wisely, do reading on the bus or train, use time in between classes for homework.
• Do it now! Stop procrastinating! It’s all about getting started. Start now!

Procrastination

Procrastination can fundamentally undermine all of your time management systems. Asking yourself what is causing you to procrastinate is a critical first step in managing your time well. Tips to overcome procrastination include

• Breaking large projects down into manageable tasks
• Getting organized and coming up with a plan 
• Boosting your self-motivation
• Building up your self-confidence
• Limiting distractions

Even if you have the best intentions to stop procrastinating, a lot can happen during a week that might hinder you in reducing your procrastination. Here is a list of reasons and strategies on how to overcome those roadblocks. Keep trying and practice the new life hacks explained in .

One all-time favorite is the Pomodoro Technique, which can be easily implemented using an app such as  or .

Download this template in Microsoft Word to help get organized. 

Curious?

Take a procrastination  to learn more about your own tendency to procrastinate, or watch this funny TED Talk “”! 

You can also watch a on procrastination from given on September 20, 2022, where she explains why we procrastinate, how it affects our lives, and how we can reduce it.

Time Management Hacks

When talking about Time Management, most people want to increase their productivity. Start implementing some of these tips today, and you will get more and better work done in less time.

• Write down specific goals and check your list regularly.
• Define your priorities and focus on one thing at a time.
• Use a calendar or planner and plan your days, weeks, and even your semester.
• Use your syllabus at the start of the semester and add all your assignments to your calendar, highlight the most significant ones.
• Try to plan your upcoming week no later than Friday. By planning before the weekend, you can include Saturday and Sunday in your plan (instead of catching up the weekend after).
• To learn at the college level, expect to invest 6-9 hours into homework for each 1-credit course.
• Set yourself deadlines and reminders.
• Anticipate and begin work from busy times and schedule it into less busy times.
• Include breaks in your plan (work for 90 mins, take a 30-minute break).
• Reserve time for unforeseen emergencies (buffer time).
• Work ahead, submit assignments 2 days before they are due.
• Break large projects down into smaller more manageable pieces.
• Understand where your time goes and start tracking your progress.
• Use your time wisely, do reading on the bus or train, use time in between classes for homework.
• Use the Pomodoro technique (work for 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break, after 2 hours take a 30- minute break), also available as apps such as or .
• Avoid burning out. Take time off every week. Get enough sleep. Invest time in self-care.

Time Savers

• Get organized, declutter, and you will find things quicker (e.g. separate folder for each class, throw away what you don’t need).
• Eliminate distractions, every time you get distracted you lose focus and time (e.g. close your browser, turn off your phone).
• Say “no”. If you say “yes” to everything, other people will decide your schedule and not you.
• Cut down (or stop) watching tv, it is a huge energy robber.
• Set yourself a deadline or time limit for a task (Parkinson’s law = Work expands to fill the time available for its completion).
• Set yourself little challenges such as, “I will get this done in 2 hours”.
• Do a lot of your homework in the morning (The same tasks will take you 50% longer in the evening).
• Be aware of tasks that can be done in short times, like responding to emails, picking up a book from the library, doing laundry.

Resources:
Time Management Secrets for College Students by Dennis Stemmle
The Productivity Revolution by Marc Reklau

Causes of Procrastination

Why students procrastinate

There are many reasons for procrastination. Each task that you procrastinate may be for a different reason. When you boil it down, procrastination is often a combination of motivation, confidence, and comprehension issues. Here is a list of common causes.

• Lack of motivation, interest or joy completing a task
• The goal and relevance of the task are unclear
• The task itself is too vague
• Low self-confidence, fear of failure and perfectionism
• Lack of understanding and how to accomplish the task
• The task seems too large, difficult and overwhelming
• Trouble concentrating or a low energy level
• Difficulty organizing or initiating a task

Effects of procrastinating

Procrastinating can lead to stress, anxiety and low performance. Here are a few reasons why:

• You will likely run out of time and your work might look incomplete.
• Your work will be hurried, which will create stress.
• The task will not get easier and you will likely lose your chance to ask for help.
• You will have no buffer in your schedule for unplanned life events.
• Good ideas take time. Not procrastinating gives you the chance to amaze yourself and others! Want to know how? Keep reading: Stop Procrastination – Today

Stop Procrastination — Today

Procrastination is prevalent on campuses, so you are not the only procrastinator in the room.

Several factors contribute to procrastination. You may procrastinate because a task seems too large and overwhelming, and you don’t know how to get organized. You may procrastinate because you don’t enjoy the task, and you are not motivated. You may procrastinate because you think you can’t do it. Or you may be simply too distracted or have no energy. Below are a few tips to help combat procrastination in any of these situations.

• Getting organized and coming up with a plan 
  • Break large projects down into manageable tasks.
  • Overestimate by one third how long each task will take to ensure you have built-in buffer time.
  • Implement the , which is based on time intervals that promote bursts of intense productivity, followed by brief rest periods.
• Boosting self-motivation
  • Make the task or project meaningful and relevant by connecting it to real world scenarios or to your personal goals.
  • Tell yourself, “I am just going to start this”, rather than “I need to finish this.”
  • Celebrate and reward yourself immediately after you complete a task.
  • If you have difficulty starting a task, create an official deadline or study group meeting obligation.
  • Find an accountability partner and challenge or check in with each other daily.
• Build your self-confidence
  • Visit your professor’s office hours.
  • Join study groups.
  • Remind yourself of your own past achievements.
• Limit distractions
  • Find a location where you focus best.
  • Turn off your phone.
  • Use apps to block distracting websites or applications such as  or , which often have built in timers to reinforce the Pomodoro technique.
• Practice the research-based Life Hacks demonstrated in the following videos to help overcome certain aspects of procrastination in a fast and effective way.

The Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique (ital. pomodoro = tomato) is a great method to conquer procrastination. This time management philosophy was developed by the Italian life coach . It’s based on working in 25- minute intervals and using a timer to keep yourself accountable. (The kitchen timer that Cirillo first used was shaped like a tomato.)

This is how you can apply the strategy when doing homework, writing a paper, studying for an exam or many other projects:

1. Pick ONLY one specific task (no multi-tasking).
2. Work on that task for 25 minutes and do NOTHING else. Set the timer!
3. henever you think of a DISTRACTION (another task, something you would rather do), write it down.
4. Take a 5-minute BREAK and do whatever you want. Set the timer! Repeat those steps 3 more times (for a 2-hour study session) and then take a longer break. Repeat as needed.

Consider the following tips to optimize the Pomodoro Technique:

1. Get everything in place before you start, so that you don’t get distracted looking for a pencil or a textbook. Also, remove anything that might distract you (e.g. social media, your phone, apps or websites).
2. Experiment with time intervals to see what works best for you. Your intervals can be shorter or longer depending on your energy level, time of day or nature of the task. If you have a good work-flow, feel free to keep working beyond 25 minutes but take regularly scheduled breaks to optimize your brain capacity.
3. Use a commitment app on your computer or phone. Instead of a tomato shaped kitchen timer you can use apps such as , , , or .
4. Keep track of the number of pomodoros, so you can take your longer (~20 minute) break.

Adapted from .