Procrastination is when you postpone or delay doing something. It is 'wasting time'. Typically teenagers waste time by:
~ surfing the internet,
~ spending time on particular websites (Facebook and Youtube are common)
~ messaging each other
~ watching TV
~ gaming
It's very common to feel unhappy at how much time you've wasted and how unproductive you've been. This contrasts with the feeling of satisfaction you often experience when you've spent time being productive and 'getting things done.'
Do you procrastinate?
What do you waste your time doing? How do you feel after a period of procrastination?
The long term answer to overcoming procrastination is developing your will power, but in the mean time, here are some tips that might help:
1. have a timetable and a 'to do' list. Make sure the timetable includes breaks and time for the things you enjoy doing
2. begin a task - tell yourself I'm just going to spend 5 minutes revising, then I'll get back to Facebook; often it's the starting of the task that's difficult and once you've begun, it's easy to keep going.
3. Reward yourself for the time you've spent working
4.Have
specific goals:
- “get an A in my coursework” is
not specific
- “spend 20 minutes every day working on my coursework” is much better
5. If you do end up procrastinating, don't get depressed about it - think of it as a temporary failure and get back on the horse.
