The Simple Solution To Procrastination-itis

It’s a terrible curse that even when it’s in our own best interests to do something we still procrastinate.Even if dire consequences await if you do.Procrastination is a particularly common problem for high school students. Perhaps your teen is currently suffering from a vicious strain of procrastination right now?If they are, they’re not alone.Every single person procrastinates. And unless some drug company comes up with a very freaky type of drug to cure procrastination-itis, I’m not expecting your teen to stop procrastinating altogether.

Our goal simply needs to be to get them to procrastinate less

Procrastination is probably one of the biggest obstacles holding your teen back from getting the grades they’re capable of getting.Unfortunately, it’s more trying than ever for a teen NOT to procrastinate, with the ridiculous number of technological distractions at their finger tips!I battle procrastination fairly well (most of the time), but that’s only because I’ve been studying a lot longer than your teen and find it fairly easy to get into the swing of things. But I didn’t have the internet or cell phones to distract me when I was at high school!

So what is the simple solution to procrastination-itis?

When you’re staring down a long dark tunnel that seems never-ending it can all seem pretty grim and depressing. And this is the way most teens think about studying.But when you have something to look forward to, it’s a THOUSAND times easier to launch into the task ahead of you.

This is why incentives can play a huge role in combating your teen’s procrastination.

Incentives will give your teen little beacons of light to look towards as they make their way through the otherwise very dark tunnel.Incentives punctuate study time and make it seem much less daunting.This is why they work so well. When a task feels daunting and overwhelming, it’s human nature to try and avoid it for as long as possible.

When you have little things to look forward to, it makes the task much easier to tackle.

The way I use incentives is simply to set myself little goals throughout the day.For example, I’ll tell myself that I’m allowed to watch an episode of Friends if I study straight for the next three hours without procrastinating.Or I’ll tell myself that if I study hard for the next few hours before dinner, I’ll feel great about the effort I’ve put in and feel no guilt in sitting down to a nice dinner and relaxing for an hour or so.These small incentives work really well for me, especially when I’m putting in more study hours for upcoming exams.

Everyone is different!

Incentives that help your teen battle procrastination may very well be different. Sit down with them and have a chat about what little things would motivate them.They will often have a few ideas that you wouldn’t have thought of that might work very well for them.Using incentives it just one example of all the really simple things your teen can do to help transform their grades.Maybe using incentives will be your teen’s magic bullet for study success? 

Image Credit: [F]oxymoron on Flickr