🚀7 Proven Ways to Beat Procrastination

Hey future DUX!

In today’s newsletter, I will go through 7 different strategies to beat procrastination once and for all!

These strategies are extremely effective and have worked not only for me but also for other students.

They allowed me to overcome my chronic procrastination and become a productivity machine, which propelled me to score a 97+ ATAR and become DUX!

Last week, we discussed the science of procrastination and why it happens to you. If you haven’t read that post, do that right now and then come back here — last week’s post goes hand-in-hand with this one

Click here to read the ‘Science of Procrastination’

Table of Contents

• 1) Reduce your Cheap Dopamine

• 2) Remember Your ‘Why’

  • How to find your ‘why’

• 3) Set Your Own Deadlines

• 4) Focus on the Positive

• 5) Break down Large Tasks into Smaller Ones

• 6) Plan in Advance

• 7) Set Reminders

• ✅ Action Steps

1) Reduce your Cheap Dopamine

Recall from last week that dopamine is a hormone that contributes to a variety of things such as reward/pleasure, motivation and mood regulation.

Something that gives you dopamine will provide you with a stimulus to keep chasing that thing which as a result will make you want it even more.

The first step to beating procrastination is to control your source of dopamine.

There are two sources of dopamine:

1. ‘Expensive’: dopamine that comes from difficult & productive tasks that are conducive to our goals, such as reading, studying, gym, etc

2. ‘Cheap’: dopamine that comes from easy tasks that are NOT conducive to our goals, such as scrolling on TikTok and playing games.

    

You know what, instead of me explaining each and expanding on them, I am just going to give it to you straight…

GET OFF YOUR PHONE & STOP WATCHING SHORT-FORM CONTENT

Short-form content, like Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, and TikTok is literally like poison…

It doesn’t just cause dopamine deficiency and result in procrastination, it also reduces your attention span, focus and concentration.

So, from today, reduce your phone usage and start to replace your cheap dopamine with expensive dopamine — exercise, read a book, socialise with your family, or study.

If you want to watch a movie or some form of entertainment, that’s fine. But make sure this entertainment is long-form (not a 30-second video).

Out of all the 7 strategies for beating procrastination, I’d say that this first one is the most important as it serves to ‘prevent’ procrastination from happening in the first place.

2) Remember Your ‘Why’

Do you ever have the feeling that I have exams soon but I just don’t care?

Do you find studying to be an extremely boring and unfulfilling task to do?

If your answer is ‘yes’ to these two questions, then either:

1. You don’t have a ‘why’ — a reason for doing what you’re doing, or

2. Your ‘why’ is not strong enough.

Your why is what pushes you to keep going in times of difficulty

Your why is what enables you to complete any ‘how’…

You must find your reason for doing what you’re doing. 

Why do you want to achieve that ATAR?

Why is all this studying & self-improvement worth it?

When you answer these questions, the importance of the tasks you need to complete drastically increases - which in turn will reduce your procrastination.

How to find your ‘why’

• Think about your extrinsic desires. What are the literal things you want? What ATAR do you want? What money do you want? What career? What Uni?

• Now look behind that: Why do you want those things? Look toward your intrinsic desires. The things you want to achieve. Your dreams. The people you want to spend time with. How do you want to give back to those (like your parents) who’ve supported you? Think about why you want these things. Why not just drop out of school?

• Once you answer these questions, your why will start to emerge.

• Now, take that why and write it down. Put it somewhere you will see it every day. And, every day, wake up, look at it, and remind yourself that this is why you are doing what you are doing today to you 120% effort - despite the short-term pain!

3) Set Your Own Deadlines

A reduced urgency to complete a task contributes to procrastination.

If your exams are in 4-6 weeks, then you might not feel the need to actually study today.

So, to increase the urgency of your tasks, set your own deadlines.

• Assignment is due in 2 weeks? Finish it in 1.5 weeks.

• Exam is in 4 weeks? Study for it as if it’s in 2 weeks.

• Trials are next term? Start studying NOW as if it’s this term

4) Focus on the Positive

When you focus on the negative outcomes that may happen, such as failing an exam or not achieving your goal ATAR, you become fearful.

This fear leads to procrastination due to the ‘fight-or-flight’ mechanism of your brain. You naturally want to run away from something scary to you.

So, from now on, focus on the POSITIVE.

Instead of imagining failure, imagine success.

This step is really that simple.

Stop fixating on the negatives!

5) Break down Large Tasks into Smaller Ones

“Write 1000 word essay” is an ambiguous, large and scary task.

Of course, you’re going to procrastinate if you are told to do this.

However, if you were to break down this same task into:

• Today, write an essay outline

• Tomorrow, write an introduction.

• Write body 1

• Write body 2

• Write body 3

• Write conclusion

Now, the enormous task of writing an essay has become a much easier and smaller one.

This will beat your procrastination as it reduces the ‘fear’ and ‘uncertainty’ factors. If you’re confused about these factors, read last week’s post.

6) Plan in Advance

Every night, write the top 3-5 tasks you plan on doing the next day.

Every Sunday night, plan your entire week.

Before every study session, write a to-do list!

If you do these 3 things, I can essentially guarantee that your procrastination will reduce.

When you plan, you’re not leaving any room for the question:

What should I do today?

You know what you should do now…all you have to do is do it!

7) Set Reminders

For every upcoming exam, write a reminder of when it’s due and stick it somewhere that you’ll always see.

Here’s an example:

I did this for every upcoming exam and assignment, and it’s highly effective.

This technique kept me focused, motivated and disciplined to get the tasks that I needed to complete done!

And there you have it. These are the top 7 proven ways to beat your procrastination habit.

Don’t be like the other 95% of students who consume without taking action.

From TODAY, take action, use these strategies and watch your procrastination slowly die!

Remember though, the removal of procrastination is a journey. Don’t give up after one day.

✅ Action Steps

1. Reduce your phone usage and stop scrolling all day.

2. Remember your ‘why’ — if you don’t have one, create one. If you do, strengthen it.

3. Set your own deadlines.

4. Focus and visualise the positive side of everything — don’t say ‘what if I fail’, say ‘I can’t wait to succeed’.

5. Break down your tasks into smaller pieces.

6. Plan your days and week in advanced, alongside each study session.

7. Set Reminders for your upcoming assessment tasks.

That’s all for this week!

If you enjoyed this newsletter, you might be interested in joining my free community, the DUX Club.

I’ll see you there 🙂