By Caitlin Mahoney, M.S., TLLP

The school year is just around the corner, and there is nothing more that parents and students want than to start off the year strong. One of the most prevalent problems for students of all ages and abilities is procrastination. Whether your teen wants to nap after school or your kindergartener wants to play with their friends instead of doing homework, putting off tasks is a universal challenge- including for adults. Procrastination is incredibly sneaky and can start very innocently by pushing off one small task, and before you know it, you are swamped with work and overwhelmed. The best way to curb procrastination is to establish strong habits around studying and school work before procrastination sets in, and there is no better time to establish healthy habits than a new school year. Through my prior experience as a college success coach, I worked individually, tailoring study skills and habits to students with ADHD, Autism, anxiety, executive functioning challenges, and those who just needed some extra support on their college journey develop personalized systems for academic success. I gathered 5 evidence-based strategies that students (and adults) of any age can utilize to help prevent procrastination from taking hold of their lives. Through using these strategies, you can study smarter and not harder.

Body Doubling for Motivation Focus

Body doubling is a productivity strategy to help students hold themselves accountable through working with others. Studying with and around other people has been shown to increase productivity and lessen distractions. In our brain, we have mirror neurons, these neurons fire both when a person acts and when observing someone else performing the same task. For example, if you see someone swinging a baseball bat, your mirror neurons in your brain will fire in the same way as if you were swinging the bat yourself. By being in the presence of others studying and working, you are tricking your brain into already feeling like you are studying and working. This can help overcome the hurdle of getting started on a difficult task since your brain is already primed to be in “studying mode.” It is not necessary to study with a friend or classmate; being in the presence of anyone productive will do the trick! Even if they are online.

Options for body doubling include…

Studying at the library/coffee shop/student center

Setting up a time to study with a classmate

Working on your paperwork alongside your child doing their homework

Putting a “study with me” video on YouTube. There are lots of great videos that show others working, often with some calming music on.

Snowball Effect

As I hinted at in the prior tip, getting started is often the hardest part of getting assignments done, especially if you have so much to do and no idea where to start. Think of your motivation as a tiny snowball you made in your hand. Each task you do pushes it further down the hill, allowing it to get bigger and bigger. Starting with smaller and simpler tasks and building up to the more difficult ones will allow you to feel less overwhelmed. The tasks do not need to be academically related. One of my favorite ways to get my brain moving is to do a crossword.

Options to get your snowball rolling include…

Start your study time off with “busy work” like discussion posts/responses, short quizzes..

Eat or drink something. You cannot be productive if you are hungry or thirsty. Make yourself that fancy latte you like or a special snack that takes some effort.

Make your bed. By making your bed, you are giving yourself a sense of control, organization, and accomplishment. We often do not do it, but it only takes a few moments for a big payoff!

Create Structure & Set Study Hours

We may not want to admit it, but humans thrive in structure. As children progress through school, activities become less structured and more time is spent working on assignments outside of class. This is a large adjustment that many college students face and are daunted by. Just like attending class, set designated times for homework and studying, with both a start and an end time. My favorite time to incorporate set study time is between classes or right after a class, so my snowball of motivation is already moving. When the bell goes off in class, you are able to leave, so do the same with studying. Give yourself a cut-off time in the evening that you will not work past. If you are not procrastinating and trying to cram, having a cut-off time should not be stressful, but relieving and allow you to have healthier sleep habits. Give yourself at least an hour before bed to wind down, relax, and take care of yourself. Just like the snowball of motivation needs time to build, it also needs time to wind down.

Options for structuring your time include…

Studying in between classes or right after classes

Set time aside for an hour right after school to get work done.

Put in a load of laundry and study while it is cycling.

Have a deadline for when you will stop working on homework each night.

Give Yourself Space (Don’t Cram!)

Procrastinating and cramming takes away your opportunity to learn to retrieve, recall, and relearn the material. It is very important to have some space from what you are studying so you find out what you are forgetting before you take the exam. Study in smaller, spaced-out sessions rather than cramming. Committing to less in each study session rather than doing all your assignments at once will allow your work to feel more manageable. Each session, check in on what you remember from the last time you studied, take note of the foggy things, and spend more time working on those. My favorite way to do this is to have a list of my vocabulary words and write the definitions from memory, completing the list before and after each study session to test my recall. Make sure that between these smaller sessions, take time to do what brings you joy. You cannot study well if you are burnt out!

Options for giving yourself space include…

Taking 10-15 minute breaks in between assignments.

Studying regularly makes test prep less daunting.

Allow yourself time to connect with the things you love; they are important, too!

Opposite Action

If you are familiar with Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), you’ll recognize this tip! Opposite action is one of my favorite DBT skills and applies very well to studying and other things we may not want to do. The principle of opposite action is doing the opposite of what our body naturally wants us to do. With procrastination, there is an urge to engage in more enjoyable activities, such as watching TV or playing, instead of studying. When this urge comes to watch one more episode of your show instead of writing a discussion post, do the opposite of that urge and fully lean into studying, despite the discomfort it may bring. If we want to become better students and stay on top of assignments, we may have to put off doing a fun activity to get that study time in. Once the task is complete, you can go back to what you initially wanted to do. Eventually, it will become a habit to get your work done before playing!

Options for opposite action include…

Use self-talk: “Am I avoiding this task?”

Taking the time to do work, even if it is not your first choice at the moment.

Reflect afterward: How did it feel to finish something you were avoiding?