This seems like such a silly write up, but I’m noticing that it’s not as easy for me to complete a task unless I’m at the absolute limit of time to where it needs to get done. For example, I needed to study for an exam over the course of a week…I just started today, and the exam is tomorrow 💀. I have 4 chapters to read to and just finished the 1st :').
On one hand, I think having that kind of sense of urgency is good when you’re dealing with an “emergency”, but like…its not really ideal to constantly be in “emergency” mode. Besides the obvious answer of doing stuff early, how do I stop doing this 😦…
First thing. This isn’t silly. Lots of people struggle with this. Me included.
Second thing. If you’ve got an exam tomorrow, now is the emergency! Come back after the exam and I’ll give you some tips. For now, you have other priorities.
Not trying to diagnose you from a paragraph on the internet, but that’s an ADHD symptom. Even if you don’t have it, you’ll find many many folks in the same boat if you look at ADHD forums; and, similarly, lots of coping strategies on ADHD help sites.
I find that when there are others involved in a project, I tend to be much more productive. I don’t know if it’s fear of disappointing other people, but just having people relying on me doing my part makes my not wait til the last minute
I used to be that way back school, I ended up procrastining so much that I write my entire grad school thesis in the last two-three months of my final year. I got it done, and done surprisingly well, but it was a miserable experience.
I have since learned myself better, and I know that when I have a task that pops into my head just to do it immediately. “Oh, I will do it at X time later today” isn’t going to happen, and I know now I am just lying to myself if I try to do that. If I get started right away, I have no real issue finishing it.
Personally, things like “to-do” lists are just an excuse to not do things right away for me, so I don’t typically use them outside of a “waiting to hear back from another person” type of pending task. I just do everything as soon as I possibly can; it has the weird effect of me having a lot of idle time at work now because I tend to finish things very early on.
Maybe you can try setting intermediary goals. For example, for the second day of the week you have to know and be able to sum up the first chapter. If this does not work, you can try adding external people to it: you set up a fake exam with your friend where they ask you questions about the first chapter and give you a grade
