How I Retrained My Procrastination Monster to Work With Me
How I learned to handle anxiety-driven procrastination.
A university student, I’ve partaken in my fair share of procrastinating. It always leads to stress, anxiety, and often an all-nighter to get things finished on time.
Over the years, my friends and I have had many finals study sessions where we cursed ourselves for needing to cram last minute. After all is finished and we’re lying on the floor outside our exam rooms in exhaustion, the echoing question around us is why? Why do we do this? And how do we stop?
For me, anxiety and depression are the primary reasons I procrastinate. I get afraid of the insurmountable amount of work in front of me because I missed a week of school while in the hospital or because of a family emergency, and the pile I return to seems endless.
The overwhelming sense of panic keeps me from starting without spiraling into the dark place. It took me about five years of practice to develop skills to get me through. These may not work for you, but I find even knowing someone else found a way to manage something I’m struggling with gives me a place to start.
Method 1:
Acknowledging the source
Allow whatever is stopping me to voice its concerns. For me, if I ignore my anxiety, depression, or fear, it grows and envelops me until I’m paralyzed. Spending more energy ignoring it takes up more time than giving it an outlet.
For me, this means showering so that my muscles relax (or I can cry in peace), changing into soft, comfy clothes, making my bed, and ranting. Ranting to a friend, to my journal, to my cats, or to myself.
Doing something soothing like watching my favorite movie or fixing tea helps me organize my thoughts, which makes letting out the true mental block easier.
Once the reason is out, even though it’s still hanging in the air, it releases some stress of holding it in.
Leaving enough breathing room to move forward.
Method 2:
Breaking things down.
Making an organized list is not a new suggestion with procrastination. But I find a never-ending list of work only stresses me out more. So I do something a little silly…
I break my lists into individual documents or pages of sub-lists, so it looks more manageable. I.e., If I have five classes of homework, I dedicate a page or notes document to each. If I’ve missed multiple lectures within each class or assignments with many components, I give each lecture and assignment their own page.
Then I organize the lists in order of what’s the most time-sensitive.
If I find myself still too overwhelmed, I try an alternative approach.
Method 3:
Procrastinating by being productive.
If the most important thing is squeezing my chest in its fist, I skip it. And move to something that’s still time-sensitive but can be done quickly. Maybe it’s an urgent email to my professor about why I was absent or to my advisor to let her know I might not be able to finish a large assignment, and I don’t know what to do. Asking for help is always an essential step if you’re drowning.
Often the momentum of getting something stressful but small off my plate makes everything else seem less intimidating.
Method 4:
If all else fails, I don’t do it.
Now obviously, this isn’t always an option. Sometimes what you have to do is a necessary commitment, or the consequences are too severe for it not to get executed. For those, I repeat methods 1–3 until I can push through and get it done.
But occasionally, it’s not worth it.
The panic and the time is not worth it when you could be moving forward and getting other things done that might not be as immediate but are more important.
So I write it off, and it hurts, but it allows me to get everything else done that I needed to. And if I finish all of that, I might feel well enough to turn in what I let drop a little late.
Better late than never is a cliche for a reason.
Better never than your sanity should be, too.
