Lily Huynh/The Cougar

After a long school-free break, it is difficult to get right back into a hectic schedule with zero difficulties, especially with the ongoing mid-term season, leading to procrastination. 

As the school year picks up pace, students experience trouble juggling various responsibilities such as work, assignments and personal matters.

What is procrastination?

One of the most common misconceptions of procrastination is that it stems from laziness; however, this is not true. 

Procrastination is the act of delaying or pushing back work often due to students being unable to figure out how or when to start on their work as well as having a fear of failure. 

“It usually happens when I feel unsure about what to do, want to avoid stress, or have trouble managing time,” said supply chain and logistics senior Julian Garcia. 

This often leads to neglecting their mental health causing them to feel stressed, disempowered, anxious and form bad habits such as procrastination.

The impact of procrastination 

Procrastination can affect the quality of students’ work and hold them back from reflecting their best potential in assignments, classes or work environment, unintentionally causing them to not get the most from classes. 

“It is a hard habit to get rid of since I usually do it when I have difficulty understanding or starting a task or project,” said graphic design junior Jaleesa Gonzalez. “I work with a lot of big projects within my courses so when I procrastinate, I find that the quality of the work goes down.”  

The action of delaying work can limit learning experience since it would then require students to attempt to crunch their study time for an upcoming test or complete an assignment at the last minute. 

How UH can help 

UH offers various services to help students tackle procrastination and learn ways to concentrate, study or simply take care of their mental wellbeing. 

The Undergraduate Student Success Center offers success workshops about various topics from tips on reducing anxiety to note-taking strategies and tips to stop procrastination. 

Though not all workshops focus on procrastination, many can still help with the matter due to procrastination stemming from underlying issues such as anxiety and low self esteem.  

Think about how delaying an assignment will affect you

Although it seems easy to push back the assignment and save it for later, it could potentially negatively affect the student and their grades.

“I would advise other students to evaluate the importance of what they are avoiding,” Gonzalez said. “Will it affect you, your grades, or others?” 

Make a to-do list and break things down

Making a list of assignments and events alongside their due date will keep things simple to stay on track. 

In order to ensure tasks are not overwhelming or to simply make them more appealing, extend them into smaller tasks. 

“I would tell students to start with small tasks and set clear deadlines,” Garcia said. 

Eliminate distractions

Keep away from distractions such as phones, games or friends that will keep you unfocused in order to get work done efficiently. 

“What has best helped me with procrastinating less is making a to-do list, having a comfortable place to focus and putting my phone away.” Gonzalez said. 

With the help of these tips and resources UH offers, students should be able to break their procrastination cycle and remember to give yourself a pat on the back for putting in the effort of changing bad habits. 

news@thedailycougar.com 

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“Tips on how to break a procrastination streak” was originally posted on The Cougar