Jumpstart Your Work: How to Stop Procrastinating
When a due date is rapidly approaching, it’s easy to find anything else to do rather than starting on the task at hand. This is especially true when it comes to holding your teen accountable for their homework, school tasks and even household chores.
As the end of summer approaches, maybe your teen needs to finish up last minute summer reading or assignments prior to the first day of school. Or, during the school year, sometimes projects that have longer due dates (say, a month) can sneak up on your teen or they can feel like they don’t need to start because the due date is so far away.
86% of high school and 88% of college students procrastinate regularly. Teens that have ADHD or have difficulty with executive functioning have a soft internal clock. They need to know what gets them motivated. Their goal is to become self aware. How can you make yourself get started even if you don’t want to do this?
Here are our best procrastination strategies to help your teen (or even you!) jumpstart work.
By time
Use a timer. For example, start with just five minutes of work or see how much work you can do in twenty minutes.
By task
Do the hard ones first or do the easy ones first. Just do the first five. Do just one page. Give yourself a task and start there.
By location
Go to your study place or change it up and go somewhere new. Try a place that may not be a traditional study space: the bathtub, the dining room or the library. Go somewhere else for a change of scenery.
By having an incentive
After the work gets done, you can go to the mall. Or, after the work gets done, you can treat yourself to a popsicle, a piece of chocolate or 10 minutes on social media.
If one technique doesn’t work, try another one. The important thing is that your teen chooses one and starts there. Don’t overthink why a certain technique might work or might not. The important thing is that your teen starts their work before the last minute and continues to improve.