fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3021 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3021 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

__________________________________________________

02.

__________________________________________________

03.

__________________________________________________

04.

__________________________________________________

05.

__________________________________________________

06.

__________________________________________________

07.

__________________________________________________

08.

__________________________________________________

09.

__________________________________________________

10.

__________________________________________________

11.

__________________________________________________

12.

__________________________________________________

13.

__________________________________________________

14.

__________________________________________________

15.

__________________________________________________

16.

__________________________________________________

17.

__________________________________________________

18.

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 093 secrets from Secret Submission Post #432.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 2 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm assuming we have some other procrastinators here, so I gotta ask: what's helped you guys in the past?

I just missed the deadline for a paper because I waited too long to get started on it. I'd really like that to not happen again.

Oh I need this thread. Putting off everything because I am being a computer zombie... all day. Classes finished and now I just have papers to write, but without any structure in my life I just am not doing anything.

The thing that's helped me is seeing that what I do is try not to procrastinate. I would try and try my hardest.

I realized that I should just be doing it. I'm the only one who can control it, and that includes allowing it to control me. Procrastination is not a disease that has you by the strings, it's your own creation.

Just do it!

Lists always help me.

Lists are my favorite way of procrastinating!!

If it's research, I go on a google spree, looking for all the relevant information sources, skim through them, and save all the ones that look okay as HTML documents on my computer (while taking note of the URLS on paper), and once I'm certain I've got everything I could need from the internet, I unplug the ethernet/internet cable from my CPU. Bam, temptation gone.

Enh, procrastinating isn't a thing so much for me, but I noticed I became a lot more efficient when I limited how much work I was allowed to do in one day. I could no longer just zone for eight solid hours on one drawing; I had to take a break every hour, and when I ran out of my allotted time, that was it! No more time! (It helps that not being singlet, I can't break my own rules; other system members will bodily drag me off.)

If I'm a web zombie, then either I need to get the fuck outside and unplug my net for a while, or I badly need some rest. (Preferably outdoors.)

Plus, there's always the question of WHY do you procrastinate? Is it perfectionism? Anxiety? Do you believe you work better when forced to do it at the last minute? Do you just not give enough fucks? Honestly, till you know WHY you do something, it'll be kinda hard to break the habit.

--Rogan

Telling people what I'm going to do and then telling them if I have done it.

Set a kitchen timer for 20 minutes. You're gonna work on the paper, and only the paper, for that 20 minutes. After that you get a break (say... 10 minutes?) Lather, rinse, repeat. Works for me.

Also, try changing formats. Go from writing on the computer to writing on paper. Go from sitting in the living room to sitting in the library.

Reward yourself with a short break after you get each chunk done. Exercise is the PERFECT break for this, because getting up and moving around also gets the gears of your brain turning.

The other thing was realizing that I procrastinate because a task seems too big or scary, or because I'm worried about getting it 100% perfect and correct.

a) breaking it down into small bits really does help a LOT. it doesn't have to get done all in one go, it just has to get done.

b) of course it's not going to be perfect. nothing is. i will inevitably make mistakes. but making a few mistakes is better than not handing it up at all. it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to get done.

Take one day (today maybe if you have a new paper) and just write down what you need for the paper. Examples: find a subject, general research on the subject to find your specific topic, write the opening and ending paragraphs(to be edited later), research, borrow some library books, pick topics, write about topic ABC, assemble essay.

Plan to do only 1-2 things per day max, several days for the longer bits like reading/researching and doing the final writing, and set aside the days before it's due as "editing" time. Separating tasks, especially paper writing, into smaller chunks is best.

Then don't do anything else until tomorrow. But commit to tomorrow. Tomorrow you're going to pick a subject. Just that. Write what you're going to do on the calendar and do that task on the day you write down. Easy and done.

My usual way is to wait until the night before and then stay up all night writing. Usually works for me because I'm good at all nighters and I also do better work when I write all in one sitting.

So do I, so writing a 30 pages BA paper will be an interesting experience. I am already far behind the rest of the class on the writing part of it, but I am a very, very fast writer when I start.

Yup, I do this too.

It usually ends with me turning in the paper about 10 minutes before it's due though, but the end result is usually not too bad.

Setting a schedule ahead of time helps so that there's a routine. I get small chores out of the way, get myself a snack and a beverage and then start work. After a couple hours, 15 minute break for e-mail/websurfing, then back to work.

But take it from a lifelong slacker, there's no magic shortcut, really. You just have to quit fucking around and do whatever it is you need to do. It takes discipline to turn off the TV, etc. but often procrastination is 100% in your control.

When it comes to writing papers, this is what I do:

1. Find a post it note or something else to write on and write it down (so you can cross out each part as you go when you are writing the paper)

2. Split everything I have to do into groups like this:

- Research theme 1
- Research theme 2
- Look at Power Points, notes and such
- Intro
- Write about Theme 1
- Write about Theme 2
- Conclusion
- Sources
- Extra

3. Figure out how long each part will take to finish (always rounding up and giving plenty of time for each part, be generous with how long it will take. You will thank me later.

4. Add all those times together, then rounding it up to the nearest full hour

5. Make a plan of how long you will spend working, adjust it to each part of the assignement, and also study breaks (remember that you have to eat and stuff too)

6. Add study time and break time together then round up once again, the amount of hours you now have will be the amount of time it will take you to finish the paper. I also tend to start writing the paper 8 hours before if it will take me 8 hours to finish it.

7. Now the hard part, following that plan. My experience is that because you are both slightly stressed because you know you have to work there is no time to do anything else and the fact that you have planned it all already you wont be running around panicking because you don't know what to do*. Also most of the time I finish with time left over, because I have been generous with the amount of time I need to write the paper which means I will work through breaks to get a part finished and so on.

*I work best under pressure, if you don't I am sure this method works, but leave some more time before the deadline.

Late reply, but this has always, always worked for me:

Start with the first, simplest step, that you can think of. Even if it's 1. Turn on computer. Then start with the next simplest step, and the next, and the next. It sounds as though it would be tedious, but once you get started, and get into the momentum of things, it just sort of flows along, until you're done whatever mountainous task you have to climb over.

[ SECRET POST #3021 ]

Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?

Re: Tips for Procrastinating?