Procrastination is one problem almost every student finds themselves battling. Sometimes, we know the right thing to do, but just don’t want to do them. It’s easy to put off undesirable assignments until the last minute when it’ll force you to spend sleepless nights working on them. Why spend the whole night frustrated when you can simply start your homework on time and have enough time to finish it. If this is a battle you continuously find yourself in, this article is for you. Read on to find out how you can end procrastination as a student.
Why Do Students Procrastinate?
Why Do Students Procrastinate?Most times, when students procrastinate on their home works, it’s because they either don’t understand the material, are confused about how to get started, or think it’s irrelevant to their academic pursuit. While these are the primary reasons, there are some other reasons that people hardly talk about. When you put it into perspective, you’ll find that procrastination is a combination of confidence, comprehension, and motivation issues.
In contrast to many people’s beliefs, procrastination is not always due to laziness or lack of care. Most times, there are deeper issues leading students to develop the habit of procrastination. Here, let’s review some of the issues that may cause students to procrastinate on assignments.
Fear of Failure
Many students will prefer not to do a task than to fail in it. This is a mentality that often extends to their class and home works. The fear that they won’t do homework correctly can put students in an unending circle of procrastination. Therefore, if you want to understand why a student is procrastinating on their homework, perhaps the first place to look at is whether the assignment is too hard for them to the extent of being scared to fail.
Trouble Concentrating
One major problem that students deal with most times, especially as young adults, is difficulty in concentration. This age comes with a lot in their lives, and they often have to think about different activities at once. If left unchecked, too many issues affecting their concentration span can lead to homework procrastination. This is why parents need to partner with teachers to improve their concentration level in class and at home. Parents are often advised to talk to teachers and school counselors if they notice anything eating into the student’s concentration level at home.
Poor Organization Skills
It goes without saying that being consistent with homework requires organization from students. As a student, you would have several different tasks to complete every day. It’s easy to get caught up with these tasks and forget your homework. This is where proper organization comes into play. Without organization, you’ll find yourself running around in circles as you struggle to complete different tasks at the same time. However, organizing your daily tasks would help you know when to do your homework and when to handle other tasks.
Is Procrastination a Mental Illness?
Knowing that procrastination involves putting stuff off despite expecting to be worse off, as a result, it’s sometimes surprising to see that we still do it. This is why many people are asking if procrastination is a mental illness. Let’s start by saying that procrastination differs from scheduling or planning. There’s nothing wrong with delaying the completion of a task because you want to complete it properly. But students must learn to differentiate that from compulsively putting things off. Most people will find themselves procrastinating at one point or another. If it’s not too frequent, then it can be shrugged off as a common part of human experience.
However, you must be careful enough to know when procrastination becomes a habit. As a habit, it can be deadly serious for students and non-students. Experts suggest that there are several reasons why a student may procrastinate, including mental health issues. It can be a characteristic feature of mental health issues like:
Depression: Students can be depressed too, and one of the common effects of depression in students is low self-esteem, which is seen as a major cause of procrastination. When students begin to doubt their ability to do well in their homework and other tasks, they become less likely to complete it on time.
Anxiety: Another lead cause of procrastination is anxiety, which is a common mental health issue. Anxiety can force a student to become preoccupied with the fear of failure, causing them to lose confidence in completing certain tasks. Once students begin to lose the confidence they once used to approach homework, you can expect them to start procrastinating as a way to avoid failure in the short term.
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: People with this kind of condition often find time-management and organization extremely difficult. Of course, you know that organization and time management are crucial factors to consider when completing tasks on time. Therefore, it’s not surprising to see that students with this kind of disorder tend to procrastinate more often than other students.
Why Is It Hard for Some Students to Start their Homework?
Despite being a common and widespread educational activity, some students still find it challenging to start their homework. This is probably because most students need to do their homework amidst a pull of more attractive and competitive after-school tasks. Even the most serious students can sometimes find it challenging to start their homework. After a series of research, we’ve come up with some of the major reasons why students may struggle to complete their homework. Check them out.
The homework takes too long to complete
Young adults are often stuck in a pool of activities. Some of these activities are naturally fun and inviting and, as such, attracts their attention easily. It takes guts for them to leave those activities for the several minutes they’ll need to focus on their homework. However, they tend to give in to the appeal of other activities if the homework looks like it’ll take too long. A recent study of 700 students showed that most students would not be motivated to start home works that would take them more than 60 minutes. Therefore, if a student is showing unwillingness to start homework, perhaps you should look at the duration it takes to finish the tasks.
Students misunderstand the value of homework
This is perhaps the lead reason why students often feel unmotivated to start their homework. Most students believe that homework only has educational value, and since they are outside school, they do not have any motivation to start their homework. Students are hardly aware that beyond academic developments, home works are designed to measure their learning motivation, confidence, and ability to take on responsibility. Until they recognize that home works carry all these short-term and long-term benefits, they may not be interested in starting assignments by themselves.
Lack of feedbacks
Students want to know whether they are doing well or not in every task. Not providing feedback for homework shows that the teacher does not care about the students’ efforts, which can discourage students from trying. Students particularly desire praise from their homework efforts, and teachers have to provide this praise to sufficiently motivate students to try more. Most teachers overcome this by expanding homework evaluations to include points for including assignments. This way, students know that they earn points even when they do not get the questions correctly.
Lack of homework plans for student
As part of their job, teachers are typically tasked to provide workable homework plans that students can follow. It’s a known fact making provisions for homework increases the likelihood of getting homework completed. This is why teachers and parents must collaborate to create homework plans that include the time needed to execute the work, deadlines, and daily completion routines. Having such plans spelled out for the students will motivate them to complete homework even if they dislike the assignment.
How to Stop Overthinking While Studying?
While it’s natural to overthink things once in a while, some people find that they can’t seem to stop the constant barrage of thoughts. As a student, it’s easy for these constant thoughts to distract you even when you are under intense pressure to study. If you experience this often, here are practical steps that you can use to stop it.
- Train your mind not to overthink in any circumstance, including when you are not studying. Doing this will help you develop a habit of not overthinking things, so your mind can focus on the things you are doing.
- Meditation is another key to stopping yourself from overthinking when studying. If you can, practice meditation before your study time to relax your brain, mind, and muscles. This way, you’ll get rid of every thought and get your mind empty and ready for your study.
- Listen to music if you have the habit of doing so. This may be difficult for some people, but if you’ve mastered the habit of listening to music while studying, then this can be the ultimate key to clearing your mind.
- Start with a more exciting topic before going to the less exciting topics.
- Lastly, learn to be conscious of your state of mind. If you find yourself overthinking, drag your mind to the present, and focus again. Remember never to close your book because you are overthinking.
How to Finish Your Homework Faster?
Doing homework can be both time-consuming and frustrating to anybody, and you are probably sacrificing many activities for it. When a teenager procrastinates homework, it’s probably because they can’t overcome the temptation of other fun activities. However, learning how to do home works faster can be the key to avoiding procrastination. Learning habits like focus, planning, organization and self-motivation can help you finish your homework quicker. Read on to find tips that will help you complete your homework faster.
Work in a comfortable, well-lit environment
Comfort is key to productivity and creativity. You don’t want to be struggling between finishing your homework and finding balance; hence, the need to ensure maximum comfort. Avoid doing your homework on your bed or the floor because these environments can potentially make you distracted and sleepy. Also, ensure that your work environment is well lit to avoid struggling to see.
Prioritize by importance and due dates
Certainly, you’ll need to complete several different assignments throughout the week. One trap that most students fall into is to start with the simplest subjects. While this is not necessarily bad, it can mean late submission if due dates are different. An excellent way to go about it is to start from the ones that are due first so that you can finish them before their due date to avoid the pressure that comes with a last-minute rush.
Set a timer
Before starting each assignment, set a timer with the number of minutes you want to complete your work. Regularly glancing at the timer will help you stay aware of how much time you’ve spent on the homework and how much time you have left.
5 Powerful Tips to Stop Procrastinating on Your Homework
Procrastination often comes like a thief – stealthily crawling into our lives until it becomes a habit we can no longer deal with. If you always procrastinate on your homework, here are five powerful tips that will help you learn how to end procrastination.
Figure out why you are procrastinating
Procrastinating is not always a coincidence. Sometimes, it can be a complex issue that involves a combination of factors. Except you understand the real reasons behind your procrastination habit, it may be impossible for you to deal with it. Understanding why you’ve formed the habit of procrastination puts you one step ahead in solving the issue.
Write down what you are procrastinating on
Most times, homework procrastination is a result of stress and lack of motivation. But you might be surprised at how therapeutic writing down the task you are procrastinating can be. Writing down the task can help to make the situation more manageable.
Break your homework into smaller task
This is one point that we can’t overemphasize. It goes without saying that breaking tasks down into smaller bits makes them more manageable. So, if your procrastination is a result of the complex nature of the assignments, you can break them down to make them easier and more manageable.
Create detailed timeline with specific deadlines
Now that you’ve probably broken the homework into smaller manageable tasks, you may consider setting specific timelines for each of the tasks. Assigning a timeframe for each task will help create a sense of urgency and motivate you to finish on time so that you can move to the next.
Spend time with people that have overcome procrastination problem
There’s no problem too new on earth. You’ll probably find a few people that are constantly winning the battle against procrastination within your circle. Identify such people and learn from their experiences. If they can, let them tell you the turning point for them and the tips they used to overcome procrastination. You can apply their formula to your life to see how it works for you too.
Wrapping Things Up: How to Stop Procrastinating on Your Homework
Although procrastination is often accepted as a part of human existence, the truth is that we can still be aware of it and make conscious attempts to conquer it. Once you’ve committed yourself to solve this problem, you’ll find that there is no shortage of steps you can take to fight the urge to push things off and leave them for the last minute. Throughout this article, we’ve provided all the information you’ll need to overcome procrastination. Employing the strategies in this article will not only help you stop procrastination in your homework, but it’ll also help you stay motivated to live a better life.
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