procrastination

Make your work rock and get your creative juices flowing!

Whether you’ve got a few days or a few months to hand something in, there’s always enough time to get creative and produce quality work.

photo by h.koppdelaney

photo by h.koppdelaney

But it’s often so difficult to shine?  Life gets in the way, there’s so much other stuff to distract you, simply starting a project is a pain, the little perfectionist in you has niggling doubts, etc., etc.

Let’s check out some of the ways you can shove those distractions and problems out of the way:

  • Focus on the work in hand – It’s a willpower thing (or Inner Slacker thing).  There’s so much going on around you that it’s insanely difficult to ignore it.  But when you clear nearby distractions, get others out of the way, and isolate yourself from interruption and noise, it doesn’t take long before the work gets a lot easier to deal with. Honest! 🙂
  • Remember that the hardest part is the start – When it feels like hell even starting the work, you then wonder how horrible it’s going to be when you actually get on with it.  Rest assured, once you have the courage to get on with it, everything else comes naturally.  The first hurdle is the biggest one.  The rest of the way isn’t so bad.
  • Move on when you’re stuck – You’re bound to face difficulties in your study.  There are times when something doesn’t sound right, or you struggle to find a way of backing up a point.  Don’t let it hold you up!  When you face a block, make a note of it and come back to it later.  Much better to get everything else out of the way and work on the annoyances later.  You’ll be more focused on those aspects in isolation anyway.
  • Don’t let your Internal Editor get in the way – Another thing that holds us up is our wish to get it right FIRST TIME.  It’s like our brain hasn’t heard of ‘rough drafts’!  The editing process should come later, after you’ve got everything else out in the open.  The longer you agonise over a word or the structure of the coursework, the further away you get from getting the work done.  Edit later.  Piece everything together later.  Your Internal Editor can wait!
  • Don’t do it all in one session – Students who leave an essay to the last minute end up having to do everything in one go.  It’s one of the worst ways of working, but last-minute essay writing is common.  Start as soon as possible on your coursework and complete it over time.  Short sessions are less daunting and help you target specific areas of your work each time.  If you genuinely work better in much longer sessions, remember to take regular breaks from the study.  And do the work as soon as you can…don’t leave it until the day before, when it’s stressful and when you’re in danger of running out of time.
  • Mix it up! – Nobody else can tell you how to put your work together.  Do you like to write the Conclusion first?  If so, do it first!  Does the Introduction come naturally to you when it’s the last part of the creative process?  Is so, do it last!  Work to the order that works best for you.
  • If in doubt, get help – Don’t feel bad when you don’t understand what’s required.  If a question doesn’t make sense or if you can’t get your head around a concept, your tutors should be happy to help.  Make sure you know what you want to ask and what help you’re looking for and, armed with this information, ask away.
  • Your answer is not ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ – Move away from thinking about the ‘right’ answer.  What you’re trying to do is support an argument, explain a function, analyse a concept, and so on.  Critical thinking is not black or white.  It’s all about the shades of grey.
  • Stop fearing the worst – The work you do is private at first.  Nobody is looking over your shoulder.  Well, they shouldn’t be anyway.  So it doesn’t matter what you write down and it doesn’t need to be perfect.  There’s no need to panic about it; just get all your thoughts and quotes and ideas and workings and illustrations out in the open.  Even if loads of the output is rubbish, you’ll have all the good stuff sorted too.  Take the good stuff and shape it into something big.  You don’t have to tell anyone else about the other rubbish you put out.  That’s your own little secret.  It’s the quality stuff that makes you the hero…

These are just some ideas to get the creative juices flowing.  What do YOU do to get those ideas from your head to the page?

photo by SashaW

photo by SashaW

When “Just Do It” Doesn’t Do It

We worry too much.  All too often, we look everywhere but the blank page and our own ideas.  We obtain reams of paper and gigabytes of data, only to feel like we’re missing something crucial.

One short, hard-hitting piece of advice to bring you back on track is “Just do it”.  It’s not a bad piece of advice.

But it’s not enough.

On its own, “Just do it” makes sense, but it’s too cold a command.  For someone with a lack of inspiration, how can an obvious three word sentence set off a spark?

photo by mushi_king

photo by mushi_king

Lack of inspiration can manifest in many ways.  It may stem from a lack of confidence, a cautious attitude, no trust in your research findings, or even the opinions of your friends and study group.  But it doesn’t have to eat away at you until you realise there’s not enough time to make a half-hearted attempt at goodness.  Here are some short thoughts on getting on with it:

  • Surround yourself with positive people who can give you drive and enthusiasm in everything you do.
  • Replace caution with a “let’s see what if…” approach.  It’s similar to “Just do it”, but with more overview to change what you’re doing if it isn’t working.
  • Prepare to find your best moments in flashes of spontaneity and inspiration, rather than through lengthy research and reading processes.
  • Note down your own brief ideas and work around what’s missing that way.
  • Don’t spend too much time planning your next moves.
  • Leave doubting for later.  MUCH later.  If you question your ability, you destroy creativity in the process.  Don’t close down by questioning yourself; open up with ideas and interest.
  • Don’t listen to your Internal Editor!

Moving to a positive position helps make “Just do it” feel less commanding and more uplifting.  And when “Just do it” becomes “Done”, the world seems an even better place.  What are you going to do today?

What’s getting in the way of your plan?

How much planning is too much planning?

If you like to plan ahead, but still don’t feel organised, there’s a danger in spending even longer getting your act into gear.  You can obsess over stuff for a week, or even a month, with the intention to plan ahead for every last second of time.

Then, to your annoyance, something comes between you and your plan.  Then another thing gets in the way.  It could be something small, like an important phone call when you mean to be writing.  Or it could be a big deal, like you get flu and can hardly move for a few days.

They aren’t your fault (unless you meant to turn your phone off, perhaps…).  But less important matters also tend to get in the way.  Sometimes we don’t even notice.  Without warning, a whole day has whizzed past and nothing’s been done.  Fast forward a week and you wonder just how the time has flown by.

photo by woodsy

photo by woodsy

Even the most organised person doesn’t have to stick rigidly to their schuedle.  They probably can’t. After all, life happens.

The idea is to work out what activities get in the way, so you’re more aware for preparing future plans.

Each time something unexpected or unplanned gets in the way, write it down and note how long it took before you were back on track with the planned list.  Whether it was self-induced or totally unavoidable, mention it.  Don’t be shy.

This will help you discover:

  • Tasks you hadn’t considered that are part of your regular routine;
  • Necessary time-wasters, such as using the toilet, getting dressed, standing in a queue, waiting for a computer to log you in to a network, and so on (be as brutal as you like…it’s your time that’s being managed!);
  • How disciplined you are in your approach;
  • Stumbling blocks.  Things you thought you could do without, but that you would rather keep as part of your life;
  • The amount of time you want to dedicate simply to relaxation;
  • A more realistic outlook of time and an idea of where you need to start managing time better.

The exercise helps on a number of levels.  You may even realise that the enthusiasm you thought you had could be cranked up a notch. Or you may find a passion you didn’t even know you had.

Time is a strange thing.  There’s never enough, yet we seem to have more time than ever for leisure.  That’s why an exercise like this is vital in understanding just where your time goes.

When you’re done, was it a satisfactory result?  Or is it time to change?

I do this every now and then.  I don’t remember a time when it didn’t make a change for the better.

Your Perfectionism is Just Fancy Procrastination

Due to the nature of this blog, I tend to read many self-help books, study guides, productivity blogs, and so on.  While I may not agree with everything out there, I regularly find writing that I totally agree with; the advice is sound.

But I’m reading up for research purposes and to find quality links and pearls of wisdom that I hadn’t thought about myself.  Your reasons for reading study tips and advice should be rather different to this.

Are you happy with your overall techniques?  Do you mainly read advice and find yourself in agreement with it, or does it help you contemplate change?  Do you spend too much time reading up on self-help, rather than helping yourself?

I recently had a discussion with a friend about the meaning of ‘doing the right thing’.  While it was based on personal choices, rather than working techniques, the conclusion can work on either level.  We concluded that our personal positions are often based on our individual perceptions of what is right and wrong.  But in the general, overall sense, nothing is as certain as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.  Because this leaves room for doubt in our minds, we end up fuelling a relentless pursuit of perfection.

photo by yosmer

Doughnuts…so right or so wrong?

So today, I want to give you one piece of advice:

  • When you’re relatively in touch with your academic work and have a keen grasp on what matters and what suits you…STOP looking for more advice and START working.

You may read a lot of tips that tell you to “Just do it”, because starting is often the best way to find a voice and explore what’s on your mind.  But this isn’t the same thing.

The difference is that you have been looking to further yourself and, in turn, have positively developed.  The likelihood is that you already have started “just doing it”, but you can probably do it a lot faster now if you focused on that task alone.

With a quality set of techniques in the bag, now is the time to crack on.  If you insist upon perfection, you will end up wasting more time that the period before you had a focused set of study techniques.

Some near perfect outcomes can only occur through imperfection.  The reason being: there is no such thing as perfect.

The story of a professor who has just solved a 140-year-old mathematical puzzle has nothing to do with a ‘perfect’ working environment.  He was simply sitting in a lecture, letting his mind wander as he grew bored.  You can’t ask for something quite so perfect through such unlikely circumstances.

You have it in you to create your own eureka moments.  So if you’re pretty happy with the way you get on with your academic work, let the creative and practical juices flow and let it take you through glorious (im)perfection.