Procrastination, a battle that many High School students face on a weekly basis. During the age of online learning, procrastination is easier than ever. We are surrounded by distractions; therefore, it is easy and tempting to avoid completing assignments and leave them to the last minute. However, this can lead to an immense amount of work to complete in a shorter time span and can cause students to feel overwhelmed. With a few small adjustments and additions to your daily routine, it is easier than you may think to stop procrastinating on your assignments.

Get a Planner

Planners keep you accountable to yourself. They help you manage your time wisely by keeping track of important deadlines for assignments and applications. This way, you’ll know exactly how long you have to complete an assignment and schedule your time and plans around that. You’ll feel a sense of reward crossing an assignment off your list. Planners are available at Walmart, Amazon, and Target, among many other stores. My personal favorite is The Ideal Planner by Emma Chamberlain; It is fully customizable and allows you to be creative. However, if a physical planner is not your style, there are also plenty of apps that can be downloaded to your phone and used in the same manner.

Time-lapse Yourself Completing an Assignment

A time-lapse is a sped-up video that can be filmed by adjusting your camera settings on your iPhone. It’s extremely easy to find yourself distracted with apps like Twitter and TikTok that cause you to lose track of time. When you create a time-lapse of yourself either studying or completing an assignment you cannot use your phone in the meantime. As a result, this keeps you off your phone and makes it easier to reduce your procrastination.

Reward Yourself

Small rewards make that seemingly unimportant Chemistry and Algebra assignments worth it. What that reward may be is completely up to you! Some examples are your favorite snack, watching an episode of your favorite show on Netflix, a hangout with friends (social distance style of course), or even just a nap. Taking small breaks is very important, even though they may seem counterproductive. With an increased workload due to online school, it is easier than ever to feel insanely overwhelmed. That feeling of being overwhelmed can lead to more procrastination, which just leads to feeling overwhelmed again, producing an endless cycle. Taking small breaks and rewarding yourself can help manage and avoid that feeling.