Procrastination is a mental failing as old as time. Long before the iPhone, handheld video games, instant video streaming, and every other time waster you can think of, students have been finding ways to do everything in the world except what they should be doing. While some are guilty of this deadly study-sin more than others, it’s a danger that anyone who’s ever paid a tuition bill or slept through a high school civics class must avoid. But procrastination can be difficult because it comes to you in many forms. Here are seven ways it sneaks up on you and how you can effectively avoid it.
1. Familiar Environments
The Problem:
Within this article, you’ll find many distractions, and most of them are probably right there at your home base. Environments that have become too familiar to you can be a giant distraction in themselves, not just because of the different toys they give you access to, but also because of the mental associations and comforts they instill in your head. If you associate your house, apartment, or dorm room as “home,” then distractions will come no matter what.
How to Escape:
To avoid this distraction, it’s vital to designate an environment for work or study use only. The moment you bring in outside elements is the moment the environment shifts in your mind to multi-purpose. Just as cities will zone districts for commercial or residential use, you should “zone” portions of your dwelling place or find another location that is used specifically for work and nothing else.
2. Movies and TV
The Problem: These two distractions can almost be distinguished as separate entries. Television and studies do not mix. It’s too easy to watch one more episode of “Teen Wolf” or “New Girl” while promising yourself that you can study afterward. While favorite TV shows, especially sitcoms, can be greater time wasters because they’re like video potato chips, movies are also big distractions because even the shortest films are around 90 minutes in length (the equivalent of four sitcom episodes without commercials).
How to Escape: These days, there are movie theaters, Blu-rays, DVDs, cable channels, and video streaming services vying for your attention. Don’t let them suck you in. Instead turn these distractions in to rewards for meeting your study goals.
3. Exercise and Hobbies
The Problem: Exercise and hobbies—yes, even good, constructive hobbies—can be the worst possible forms of distraction from studies. What makes running a 5K or writing a novel or reading a book so bad, you ask? Not only do they take time away from you learning the necessary materials for a test, but they also make you feel as if your time is being used wisely. In other words, it becomes easier to justify your procrastination when you believe you’re doing something worthwhile, and that is less time away from the books.
How to Escape: Exercise works best as a routine. Fall out of that routine, and it can become very difficult to resume. Same with reading, writing, or any other hobby that fuels your creativity. Formal education is an obligation when you’re in the thick of it, and that obligation is set to deadlines and objectives that you must be able to accomplish in order to succeed. To keep your hobbies from becoming a distraction, plan ahead. Look at the expectations of your education, and schedule your hobbies around them.
4. Friends and Family
The Problem: Spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, children, and best buddies; they all complement who you are, adding so many positive memories to life and teaching you how to love unconditionally. Good things, right? But as with hobbies, these relationships must be managed to accommodate for education. A child throwing a tantrum, a needy and emotional mate, or a hard-partying friend refusing to take their own obligations as serious as you do yours; these can all derail your progress.
How to Escape: Communication is key. If the people in your life really love you and care about your progress and development, they will understand when you tell them how important your studies are—or anything else you feel passionate about, for that matter. Being open with peers and significant others will take care of many distractions. You should also lean on them to help you deal with children too young to understand. Without their cooperation, it will be difficult to improve your studies and meet educational commitments. And if they refuse to help, then you really need to reevaluate their places in your life.
5. Internet
The Problem: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, message forums, Pinterest, and news updates can be effective tools for education, social activity, and networking, but they are more often than not black holes that suck away your study time. Short videos aren’t so short when you’ve watched 100 of them. Social media gaming can go on for hours. Forums and comments can ignite arguments that conquer days of your life, accomplishing nothing in the process.
How to Escape: During study time, turn off your router or go somewhere that doesn’t have Wi-Fi. Otherwise the temptation to “cheat” is too great.
6. Study Buddies
The Problem: A partner can be of great help to understanding difficult topics, but be careful. Study buddies can become friends, and as friendships blossom, so, too, can distractions.
How to Escape: Stay on task. Set group goals and objectives for your study sessions, and time them. “Chat time” can be used as a motivator for meeting those tasks in between study sessions instead of as a detriment to the educational process.
7. Planning, Organization, and Other Studies
The Problem: How many of you have dreaded studying for a test so badly that you “invested” your time in the planning, organization, and studies of other subjects instead? These activities deceive you in an even greater capacity than the other items on this list because they make you think something constructive is actually being accomplished, when really it’s another form of avoiding the educational objective that requires the most time and attention.
How to Escape:
If you get stuck, then yes, you should move on to something else that needs attention. Just make sure the other subject really does require it. If you blow an hour studying for a class that you’d have an “A” in even if you bombed the final, then you’re not using time wisely. Are you stuck in the class? Then schedule an appointment to speak with your instructor, or partner up with someone else who grasps the material.
Aric Mitchell's work appears regularly here at 4tests.com and across the web for sites, such as The Inquisitr and Life'd. A former high school teacher, his passion for education has only intensified since leaving the classroom. At 4tests, he hopes to continue passing along words of encouragement and study tips to ensure you leave school ready to face an ever-changing world.
The Problem: 
