How students can overcome procrastination? | Expert Speak | Rajat Soni

If you are a school or college students, deadlines must be very important to you. But, as students, one always tends to delay or wait until last minute to complete important tasks, be it completing homework or submitting a project. However, this procrastination can often lead to several problems and last minute complications!

If you also, often find yourself in similar situations, you might be a victim of procrastination! Motivational speaker and teen-life coach Rajat Soni shares a few simple tips that will help you overcome procrastination and be proactive in completing important tasks on time. He also highlights how this can help overcome a lot of unnecessary stress and tension for the students.

Excerpts from Video

Rajat Soni Explores Students’ Mindset

The long summer break means loads of fun time, travel and no school. But, it also means plenty of homework to get done. Teen Coach Rajat recall his summer breaks, he would linger on during the initial days by convincing himself that there is a lot of time to finish the homework. However, as it would happen there would be just a mere of four days left for the vacations to end and he wouldn't have been touched his homework.

Game of Hero vs. Villain

He says that 'there is this hero in our mind which always tells us ‘this is a perfect time to do it’, and then there is a villain, which is that instant gratification villain, which is making us spend so much time on movies, video games and mobile phones, but we are not doing the real thing. This is what procrastination is.

Tips to overcome Procrastination

Have you ever repeatedly put off an important task for later?  If your answer is yes, then you are procrastinating. And no procrastination is not same as laziness. The dictionary meaning of the word Procrastination is 'the action of delaying or postponing something.' Teen Life Coach Rajat Soni explains some excellent tips on how to beat procrastination for teenagers.

The first step to stop procrastinating is to identity what is it that you are procrastinating about. Write down the task that you are procrastinating about. And then try to identify what all activities are doing instead of that. It is essential that you understand your pattern as it will help you break away from the activities that lead you postpone the task at hand.

2. Create a smart schedule

A smart schedule is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound. Assign timelines to whatever you are doing. Once, you have identified the activities that you do instating of completing the task at hand then make schedule wherein you allot specific time for each activity. Set small, easily attainable goals so that you don't feel tempted to delay or postpone the task at hand.

3. Digital detox

Just like when we eat too much over the week and we are concerned about our health, we go for a detox. Similarly, go for a detox from your mobile phones and from all the gadgets. Take a break, turn off your notifications and work on things that are important to you.

4. Reality check

In order to stop yourself from procrastinating it is really important that you do a reality check on how much time you are spending on what task. Is it worth the time, energy and the effort. If you are buying some app is it really worth spending your money on? Even when creating a schedule make sure you assign the right amount of time for each task you have at hand.

5. Affirmations

Our mind is a humble servant that can be easily trained should you some effort and energy into it. Your mind will do whatever it is that you tell you do it. So, if you tell your mind, ‘I will do it now’ and repeat for a minimum of five times, you will feel more confident and the task would seems a lot more easier.  These are the few mantras that you can use to beat procrastination.

About the Expert

Rajat Soni is a Teen Life Coach, a motivational speaker and the founder of RajatSoni International, an organization catering to the overall personal development of teenagers. He helps teens and pre-teens overcome shyness, social anxiety, learning difficulties and any other factors that may be stopping them from achieving their full potential.