Many of us have done it before; put an assignment or a chore off until the last minute. Procrastination is a bad habit that many people want to get rid of, but how do you stop procrastinating? It’ll most likely take time to build up the habit of not procrastinating, however there are things you can do to hopefully help you get started on your work sooner.

One way is to manage your time. Sometimes when you put off your work you just tell yourself you’ll do it later. However, what was due in two days later turns into an hour before the assignment is due. To help stop this, managing your time will help a lot. Plan out exactly what time you are going to start and what date. Make sure the time you list down is reasonable for what the task is. Sometimes you can underestimate how long it takes to do something, so make sure to give yourself enough time in the day to get it done without having to stress about not being able to finish it on time. Schedules can help a lot with this, as well as calendars. Keeping up with a schedule and starting your work at specific times can help build up a habit of doing your work.

Sometimes you’ll have a lot of work and not a lot of motivation or a lot of stress on where to start and that’s why you’ll put off doing any of it. It can help to start on the tasks that are easier or faster to complete. What isn’t as difficult can help to more easily digest the work you have and transition into working.

Give yourself a place where you won’t get distracted. Make the place you work at have very little distractions as possible. If you get easily distracted it’ll be good to minimize what’s keeping you from getting your work done. If you work better around people, then form a study group or work in an area with a lot of people. This can make sure you do end up doing the work in an area that works best for you to get it done. Not having a good place to work may make doing work more of a hassle and make you less likely to work.

Procrastination is a bad habit, but it doesn’t mean it’s out of your control. There are plenty of methods that work for different people to get their work done on time. You just have to find what works best for you. Hopefully one of the tips above is what can help.