Now let’s imagine- you have an assignment complete.

You probably do have one and so do I now, but here I am giving you tips.

3000-words minimum essay to be submitted in a month or a 40-minute presentation due in 2 months. I rarely ever get started on the very day I become aware of these tasks and really stretch out and enjoy the time given just rush it all in the last few hours closer to the deadline.

And throughout that entire high-pressure ordeal, you look somewhat like this:

Fortunately, the internet (the biggest feed to procrastinate on things) has some really good videos, books, articles and ideas on how to deal with procrastination. One of them that really stood out to me was this Ted Talk by Tim Urban. Understanding and conceptualizing your problem is half the victory, and Tim Urban managed to de-abstract, de-mystify and help us really understand procrastination with the use of brain scans and advanced science. Watch it right here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU

There are multiple points I took away from this video, but the biggest one was this- getting started is the hardest part and once you get started, you will eventually get going.

So tip 1: Whatever work you have, get started, and its okay if getting started is just creating the blank word document or writing a single sentence. Force yourself to do SOMETHING. It is always better than nothing.

But you may ask- “how do I deal with distractions in order for me to sit and do SOMETHING in the first place?!”

That’s where we use the wonders of technology to deal with the… tempting curses of technology. Which brings us to our tip 2:

Use apps and extensions like ColdTurkey and a Pomodoro timer to time and manage your motivations and workflow.

ColdTurkey helps you to block out distracting websites so you won’t be able to access to them in a given time.

Pomodoro technique is a timing system where you work in 20-minute intervals with 5 minutes breaks (you can adjust these numbers and see what works for you best). Once you are done with 4 cycles of these Pomodoro sessions, you can enjoy a 30-minute break to get back into the work.

You will reach a point where your flow state of work is being disrupted by breaks and want to work more. Now isn’t that a great place to be?