Melt away stress by beating procrastination

Procrastination is a problem that wastes more time than any other
study "habit". Procrastinators know it's a BIG problem, but they
often find it hard to break the habit.

This edition of the "Get The Best Grades With The Least Amount
Of Effort" gives some practical solutions for kissing goodbye
to procrastination.

** How to melt away stress by beating procrastination **

We all procrastinate, but higher achieving students do it much
less and therefore get better grades with much less effort.

Overcoming procrastination requires that you KNOW WHY you're
procrastinating.

One of the top reasons is that you MAGNIFY a problem or "To Do" item
automatically, without knowing it. You actually make the problem
bigger than it actually is!

I'll prove it to you - just try the tasks below:

* Firstly, make a list of 10 things you NEED TO DO this/next week

* Secondly, make a list of 10 things you DID last week.

Now compare the two lists. I guarantee you that your TO DO list for
this/next week looks HARDER and LONGER TO DO than your previous
week's list, even though it is similar.

Am I right? So how do you get around this?

It's simple, if you follow my easy strategy.

Chunk down your "To Dos" into EASY, DIGESTIBLE PIECES...

You know the joke, "How do you eat an elephant? ... One bite at a
time". I explain this in more detail in my book,

http://www.get-better-grades.com/

but right now,make a list like the one below and see how it feels
to chunk it down.

For example:

"Study for Physics" can be broken down into:

* Rearrange my lab reports, class notes and other documents
* Read Chapters 16, 17 and 18
* Highlight the chapters and extract the key points
* Research last week's lab subject to better understand it for the
exam
* Review last year's midterm exam question
* Re-write my notes and create a MindMap
* Keep my physical desktop clean with ONLY what I am
studying
* Remove unnecessary trinkets and paperweights on my desk
* Straighten out my books so the bookshelf looks neat
* Dust, clean or wash my desk/table

[Note: Having a clutter-free study space is VERY IMPORTANT!]

You get the picture. The thing is UNLESS you deal with this
magnification problem, you'll keep hesitating and procrastinating
about things you really need to get done to make your study time
more effective. You can't get top grades unless you do what needs
to be done.

By making things look SMALLER,EASIER and QUICKER to do, you'll get
MORE done, yes, with LESS effort! But more importantly you'll get
more confidence and your stress levels will go down - WAY DOWN.

Just remember - you are the one HOLDING the magnifying glass!

This tip is just a starting point - many, many more study
strategies are revealed in more detail in my book "Get the Best
Grades with the Least Amount of Effort"

http://www.get-better-grades.com/

I'll continue to keep you updated with occasional strategies and
tips to help free up your time so you can be higher up the class
with less hard work.

Onward and upward!
Dr Marc Dussault

posted by Abra