Study Tips

Learning how to sell yourself successfully: The art of a good scholarship application

by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

PFAU 27 01 1024x205 Learning how to sell yourself successfully: The art of a good scholarship application
Scholarships are a great way to help you to achieve your academic goals.

It is easy to sell yourself short and think you aren’t smart enough, hard working enough, or overall good enough to receive a scholarship, but that is 100% not true. If you have an academic goal in mind and work hard towards it, it is highly likely that there are plenty of scholarships, grants, and bursaries out there suited to you. You just need to know what you want, be creative and resourceful looking for funds, and learn how to sell yourself well.

Figuring out what you want:

One of the hardest things about applying for scholarships, and in life, is deciding who you are and what you want. It’s unlikely that you will find a scholarship/grant/bursary that is suitable for you, if you don’t know what you are looking for in the first place. So, how do you figure this out?

The best place to start is with what they call your “signature skills“. Your signature skills are the things that you are naturally good at, that you feel accomplished, happy, and respected whenever you apply these skills. For example, even since I’ve been a young kid, I was a decent writer. I liked to imagine things, making up crazy stories, and learn new words. It was difficult at times, and my dad put my assignments through several arduous edits. I was a terrible speller and I hated reading. But, somehow, I knew I was good at and I enjoyed it, especially when I did things like write articles for the local newspaper. People would compliment me on my humor and prose. It made me feel good. Of course, at the time, I didn’t really think I could make a career out of writing, but here I am. So, what kinds of skills do you have that you have always done pretty well, even when you were a young child? What do you people often compliment you about? Those are probably your signature skills.

Knowing your signature skills, can help you to think critically about what you want in life. What do you want to study at school? What do you think would be an interesting job? For example, being the genius that I am (*cough*), I received a scholarship for Engineering in Undergrad that was larger than any of my other scholarships, but I wasn’t interested in Engineering. I was interested in Politics, so I went into an Arts degree. In the beginning I didn’t get as larger a scholarship, as I would have if I’d enrolled in Engineering. But, in the end, I received several scholarships throughout my Undergrad, Graduate, and post-Grad years because I followed my interests and skills set, and developed those skills over time. It’s highly likely that had I enrolled in Engineering I wouldn’t have done that well, and I would’ve lost my scholarship after the first year, and just be miserable, penniless, and beating myself up. Knowing what you are good at and what you enjoy, can help you to choose a path that exemplifies those skills and passions. Then, you can start to look for scholarships related to your own specific gifts and goals, and be more likely to receive them as you continue to build up your qualifications and experiences.

Finding the right scholarship/grant for you:

As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, it is important to know what you are looking for in a scholarship. There are gazillions of scholarships out there, once you start looking, so don’t waste your time applying for all of them. Instead, focus on the ones that you think are best suited to your own unique skills set and long-term goals.

For example, I studied Chinese Politics in Undergrad long before it was cool to be interested in China. In fact, most people thought I was crazy…but now, who’s laughing?! Anyway, I knew that I wanted to go to China, and hopefully learn Chinese, so I asked my Chinese Professors for advice. She was and still is an excellent networker, and she let me know about several scholarship programs through the Chinese government, Taiwanese government, Canadian government, and even a special program with a grant for teaching English in China. This process would be a lot easier today with Google because I could do a quick search of “Chinese Language Scholarships for Canadians” and find a bunch of these links. However, it is also extremely useful to have a mentor to point you to opportunities because they can also give you advice on what the scholarship committees might be looking for. Since it was still a bit unusual for a Ukranian-Canadian from rural Alberta to want to go to China to study Chinese, and I had passionately pursued a degree in Chinese Politics and History, when I applied for all of these scholarships, I got EVERY one of them, and had to chose where I wanted to go. Knowing your own special niche and searching for specific opportunities in that area, no matter how crazy everyone else thinks you are, can really pay off because you are putting your energy into applications that are best suited for your long-term goals, and can really highlights your own unique skills set.

Fine-tuning your personal sales pitch:

Once you know what you want and you’ve found it, the last important step is knowing how to sell yourself so that the selection committee believes they are giving the scholarship to the best person. Instead of thinking about all the ways in which you are going to impress them with a long list of high grades and extra-curricular activities, try to think about the selection process from their perspective. They will be sifting through piles of applications and reading about all kinds of people with lots of accomplishments. So, how can you make yourself stand out?

Well, in my case, I used my strength in writing and added some creativity to my application. I wanted to tell a story about myself. Now, this doesn’t mean that I made up any information or embellished reality. But, it does mean that I thought about what parts of my own academic and professional life would help me to succeed in a Chinese Language program, and how I could present those qualities in a manner that was interesting and relatable to the audience. Thus, I started with a quote from a famous Chinese story, and used that story as a basis to explain why I wanted to study in China, in what ways I was prepared, and how I was going to use my new language skills to achieve my long-term goals. By using this quote and story, I was able to show indirectly that I had an in-depth knowledge of China, and a passion for its history and culture. It also helped me to stay on track and focus only on the skills that were related to the application criteria. In the end, it seemed to work. Therefore, I recommend taking a risk and being a little creative in your next scholarship application. After all, what do you have to lose? They’re the ones giving you free money!

Scholarships can be intimidating. You may feel that you aren’t smart enough or hard working enough to qualify. But, I guarantee that if you are passionate and dedicated to something, there is someone out there willing to give you money to pursue your dreams, so give it a shot! Start thinking about what you want, where you can find it, and how to tell the best story about yourself. If you need some help getting started on this journey, please reach out to us for a free 30 minute consultation and find out what PFAU can do to help you to reach your full potential on the page, and in life.

All content in this post is created by Lisa Pfau and Patricia Huang. Feel free to share it widely; however, please do not replicate any of the text or graphics without our prior permission. Doing so is violating copyright law. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property rights.

Overcoming Scary Standardized Exams by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang
LSATComic 1024x205 Overcoming Scary Standardized Exams by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang
Overcome exam stress and excel.

I remember when I wrote my GRE. It was the most stressful exam of my life. The first time I took it, I wasn’t worried at all since I had no idea what to expect. I was smart and I was sure that I would score decently. Wow! I totally misjudged the exam.  First, you need  your passport, you go into a little cubicle, you can’t go to the bathroom for hours, you can’t bring anything in, and the questions start and disappear once the time is up, there’s no time to think…. The second time around I literally was crying in the hallway floor before heading down to the exam centre. So much stress!!!

Eventually, I did master the stress and exam though. There are a few things you can do to help yourself too:

Give yourself 3-6 Months to Prepare:

Unlike most exams in high school or university, you can’t just memorize all of the material in a short period of time. You need to understand how the exam works, identify different types of questions, and know the content so that you can answer everything quickly without the stress of the situation getting to you.

Use the Library:

There are numerous exam prep books out there. Instead of buying them all, check them out from the library and do as many practice questions as you can. You can also find lots of resources online. The best bet is to go to official test sites for practice tests, as well as well-known exam prep companies for books. Make sure that you have the most updated versions for practice tests, but you don’t necessarily need the most updated exam texts for practice unless there has been a major change in the exam. The majority of the questions remain the same, so don’t worry too much about using older editions for drills, as long as you have a few up-to-date practice exams from the official website that you can use for a full practice.

Create Flashcards:

There’s a ton of material to memorize in order to score well on the exam, particularly if there is a vocabulary section or math section. The best way to deal with it is to create flashcards and work on memorizing terms and equations while you’re riding the transit, working out at the gym, or waiting for an appointment. It is a good idea to keep track of what you remember and what you still need to work on by putting the flashcards aside that you feel you’ve already mastered and replacing them with others that you aren’t fully confident about. You can also find several free apps that generate flashcards and quizzes to help your review.

Do Short Drills:

Speed is a key element of succeeding on standardized exams. There’s no time to think about your answer, you just need to know it. Practicing sections of the exam under time pressure allows you focus on mastering certain types of questions while increasing your speed and accuracy. Different sections tend to require different skills sets, so once you feel comfortable with one section, you can move onto the next. By mastering one section at a time, it makes doing the full exam under time pressure a lot less daunting.

Note Your Mistakes:

Every time you get a question wrong, go to the back of the workbook and read the explanation. You will likely start to see patterns in your errors and certain types of questions that you struggle with. If you can identify those patterns, then you can slowly recognize the correct response in different cases. Don’t beat yourself up about making any mistakes, but take this as an opportunity to learn and improve. These exams don’t test your intelligence, but you’re ability to master the exam.

Cracking standardized exams isn’t easy, but it is possible. There is no secret weapon to getting a good score, but hard work, lots of practice, and understanding what the exam is all about sure does help.  And remember, if you need extra help, don’t hesitate to reach out to us to set up a free 30 minute consultation with a qualified exam prep tutor.

IMG 20190128 094757 1024x1024 Overcoming Scary Standardized Exams by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang
Pfau-pfau gets frustrated with her LSAT practice.

The content of this post is created by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang. You are welcome to share this post, but please do not replicate any of this material without our permission. Thanks!

4 Tips on how to Maximize your Holiday Break

It is easy to promise yourself that you will get caught up or get ahead during the holiday break, but once family come over, the parties start, and all the distractions begin it becomes almost impossible. Then, before you know it, you are back to work and even further behind that before. Here are four simple things you can do to try to make the most of your time off, while still enjoying the festivities. Check out our YouTube video 

Sleep-Study Balance by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

PFAU 20 edited 01 Sleep Study Balance by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

 

It’s the day before your exam. You sit down to review those final 10 chapters. By lunch time, you’ve only managed to get through two. You start reviewing Chapter 5 while eating your dinner. It’s 9:00 p.m. and you’re only halfway through Chapter 7. Midnight creeps up and you still have two more chapters to go. Your exam is at 9:00am. Do you still up late and keep studying or go to bed and get at least 7 hours of sleep? Studies show that a good night’s sleep has a positive impact on your memory and recall compared to cramming in those last two chapters before your exam late at night.

 

Great, you say, but what if I go to bed early and miss important concepts that are then on the exam! Yeah, that’s a problem too. The key is to create a balance between study and sleep. Here are a three tips to help you out:

 

Start studying 1-2 weeks in advance: Of course, the most obvious and repeated advice is to start things early so that you aren’t stuck at the last minute. “Easier said than done”, said one procrastinator to another. As a rule of thumb, I would not study any new material the night before the exam, but leave that night for review only. That way if I don’t get through all of my review notes, I am confident that I have the materials somewhere locked in my brain. “Easier said than done,” said the other procrastinator to the first one. Right, so how to put this into action?

 

First, mark a reminder in your calendar at the beginner of the semester that notifies you three weeks before each exam to sit down and make a study plan. This will force you start thinking about the exam earlier than usual.

 

Second, during that week, sit down and review all the units that you need to cover before the exam. Figure out how many days you have to study. So, if you are starting two weeks in advance, realistically you 9 days to study (14 days – 1 day for review + 2 weekends where you’ll probably goof off = 9 days).

 

Third, figure out how many chapters you need to cover each day in order to finish up in 8-9 days. Make sure to account for the other exams you also need to prepare for.

 

Fourth, write these goals down in your calendar or a notebook, and make sure to start studying on the first day no matter what. Even if you don’t get far, at least you started and are beginning to building up momentum and get your brain set on studying.

 

Fifth, keep track of your progress, so that you know if you need to put in an extra day or late night. It is easier to catch up over a couple days than it is over a couple hours. Then, if the night before your exam you are focused on review, you can stick to a reasonable bedtime even if you don’t finish everything, knowing that you covered it all at least once.

 

Only study what you need to know: So often as students we get carried away with wanting to cover absolutely EVERYTHING. That’s not realistic. You need to study smart. There are a few things that can do to help you to identify what to study and what to leave out.

 

First, attend the review session at the end of term. The TA or Professor will often provide you with a study guide or at least drop some hints. Don’t hesitate to ask what will be covered in the exam a class or two before the end of term, if they don’t explicitly lay in out for you. You’re doing yourself and your classmates a huge favor.

 

Second, attend lectures and tutorials regularly. The Professor is usually only going to test what he/she covered in class, not the whole textbook. Reading the whole textbook may provide you with useful supplementary information, but it likely will not be necessary for doing well on the exam. Instead, focus on understanding the key concepts, definitions, and examples that the TA and Professor bring forth in tutorials and class. You can also check for bold text or sections in the textbook. These are usually important key terms/concepts. The end of chapter review pages also help you to identify key concepts/terms. Knowing what you’re heading into, can help you to get what you need done before the exam and sleep easier the night before.

 

Ask for help sooner, rather than later: If you don’t understand something, don’t wait until the day before the exam to ask for help. Ask a friend, your TA, or Professor, if there is a concept in class that you really don’t understand after going to the lecture and reading the appropriate chapter in the textbook. The Professor’s office hours are there for a reasons, so please use them. Moreover, showing that you are engaged and attempting to understand the materials helps you to build a positive relationship with the Professor and TA. This relationship will be important in the future should you require reference letters or want to discuss a grade appeal. Trying to understand a difficult concept while under exam preparation pressure is an almost impossible task, so give yourself a leg up by asking questions early.

 

Being realistic about your study plan means that you definitely will be able to head to bed early before your exam, and possibly feel more rested during the whole exam period so that your brain is fresh and ready to go on exam day.

 

**All blog content is original created by Lisa Pfau and Patricia Huang. Please respect our intellectual property rights and do not copy any of this content without our prior permission.  However, please do feel free to share widely.

 

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Avoid Plagiarism & Maintain your Academic Integrity by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

PFAU 11 comic book thick edited final 01 Avoid Plagiarism & Maintain your Academic Integrity by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

 

Recently a well-known and prize winning American poet was accused of plagiarism by her contemporaries and her reputation completely sullied. Plagiarism is a major academic offense, and a very common mistake made by 1st Year Undergraduate students. In order to avoid a failed assignment or scary encounter with your Professor, there a few things that you can do to protect your academic integrity:

 

When in doubt, cite: Although you can be penalized for citing too much (ongoing debate among Law students), that is a far better offense than citing too little or not at all. You will not be kicked out for being honest about your unoriginality. Thus, if you think that the ideas that you are using in your essay are based upon someone else’s, make sure to cite the article or book that you got them from. Citations are not just for quotations, but paraphrasing as well. Paraphrasing means taking someone else’s words or ideas and putting them into your own. It is often taught in lower grades that paraphrasing can be presented as your original thoughts, but once you get into university and college paraphrasing without a reference is a serious offense. The main idea of a book, the argument/theory in an academic article, or a discussion by your Professor in class needs to referenced. Generally any evidence you are using to prove your point needs to be cited. If you are still unsure about whether or not your are plagiarizing, Turnitin.com has an interesting quiz where you can test yourself. Your analysis of the data is where you have a chance to be creative and present some original work of your own. In other words, you take other’s information and thoughts and provide your own opinion about them. If you are really creative, maybe someone else will cite you one day!

 

Consult a Style Guide: Another thing to watch out for when referencing material in your essay is the referencing style. Different faculties and departments use different referencing guidelines. The Social Sciences, for example, tend to use APA/ASA style, while Historians prefer Chicago Style and the English department sticks to MLA. If you are confused about the difference between these different referencing guidelines, it is best to consult a style guide and confirm with your TA/Professor. You can usually find reputable style guides in your university or college bookstore, or else online with a quick Google search. Look for one’s that have been published by or reviewed by academic institutions to determine their accuracy and relevance. One of my favorites is OWL Purdue. I find it easy to follow and comprehensive. I also really like how they give you the citation format for both in-text and bibliography, as well as a real example of what the citation would look like when input into your essay.  it is a resources I suggest to all of my First-Year students.

 

Take detailed research notes from the start: Many students avoid putting in citations because they find it tedious, or have lost their references. They read books and articles and know the main ideas, but haven’t noted exact page numbers or even the source while doing their research. Then, when it’s time to write the paper, they remember the content, but not where they have gotten it from. At this point, citing sources seems like a big pain in the butt.

 

The best way to make citing easy is to take detailed research notes that include the authors name, date, text (if you are using the same author more than once), and page number in one notebook/document that is solely dedicated to your research essay. Every time I write down a quote or paraphrase an idea while reading a text, I write down a simple citation in brackets after each note, even if it’s from the same author and on the same page. It is unlikely that I will remember those details later when I’m writing up the paper.

 

It is also a good idea to add any materials that you are think relevant to your bibliography immediately. Many university/college libraries have software, such as RefWorks, to help you to organize your research materials and automatically generate bibliographies. Most libraries also provide free courses on how to use the library system and citation software throughout the year.  You can usually find this out by consulting your university library information desk.

 

Don’t risk your academic integrity! Cite any and all ideas that you believe not to be your own. Referencing others work gives credit where credit is due, as well as, helps you to engage in the ongoing academic conversation in a respectful and professional manner.

Beat Exam Anxiety by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

PFAU 4 comic book final LARGE 01 Beat Exam Anxiety by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

 

When I was in high school, and the early part of my Undergraduate studies, I suffered from terrible exam anxiety. Before my first Grade 12 Provincial Exam in Alberta, Canada, I remember throwing up my Cheerios in the bathroom sink. My anxiety stemmed from having tanked my Social Studies Provincial Exam in Grade 11, which I had opted to take a year early to give me a leg up on my other Grade 12 exams. FAIL! My poor grade was a huge disappointment since I had consistently had the highest grade in the school in Social Studies since Grade 9 until that point. I was also competing to become Valedictorian, and since Social Studies was not only my favorite subject, but also a required course and Provincial Exam scores accounted for 50% of our final grades in all required courses that one bad exam significantly impacted my overall GPA. So, by the time Provincial Exams rolled around in Grade 12, I was sick to my stomach.

As a result, I decided to rewrite my Grade 12 Social Studies exam in the hopes of overcoming my fear of writing essays on exams. Yes, the person who currently teaches others how to write academic essays used to find the process painfully difficult. In the end, Terry Smart (yes, that’s his real name!) beat me out for Valedictorian because my rewrite score was not eligible. Fortunately, these experiences taught me a few tricks that helped me to overcome my exam anxiety during my Undergraduate studies.

 

Create a Study Schedule: I was a terrible procrastinator until about Grade 12. Any assignment or exam, I would put a lot of effort into, but probably just a few days before it was due. I learned by retaking my Social Studies exam that I needed to start studying weeks, sometimes months in advance, in order to really digest all of the material. Studying in advance also helped with time management by encouraging me to breakdown all of the exam material into sections, assign a date and time for each section, and ensure I left a few days grace period to review everything. I generally recommend that for any mid-term or final exams students allot themselves a minimum of two weeks to prepare, if not more.

 

Find a Study Buddy: When I was in Undergrad, I made a few close friends in my major, Political Science. If we missed a class, we’d take notes for each other to ensure no one missed an important concept, assignment, or deadline. We’d also study for exams together, which meant comparing notes, discussing concepts, prepping potential essay questions, and even summarizing readings. Working together helped us to understand the material from the perspective of both student and teacher. It also made exam prep a lot less overwhelming because we were in it together.

 

Visualize Positive Outcomes: A TD Bank survey of 500 small business owners in 2016 uncovered that entrepreneurs who visualize success are more confident than those who do not; and, those who create a visual reminder (ie. Vision board) are twice as confident as those who do not. In fact, 82% of business owners who used a vision board from the beginning reported having accomplished more than half of the goals outlined on the board. Now, building a business is the ultimate test, so why not apply these same principles to your academic goals and studying? You can start by switching your storyline of blank faces, sweaty palms, and D- into a big fat A smiling up at your from your exam paper. How will that grade make you feel? What will you behave like and feel like while writing an exam with such a positive result? Put an intention out there and have that positive possible outcome motivate your studies.  Just like the Little Engine that Could, keep telling yourself – “I think I can! I think I can!  I think I can!” – and you’ll ace that exam in no time.

 

Think of it as a Game Show: I used to love trivia as a kid. One of my favorite shows was Jeopardy. Thus, instead of thinking of an exam as a pass or fail experience, I would think of my grade as a score in a game show. Each question I got correct, I was amassing points towards the ultimate prize of an A+. This way, even if I didn’t get 100% on the test, I still didn’t completely lose out. I still went home with some sort of consolation prize: B+. Thinking of exams in this way helped to take the pressure off of being better than my classmates or impressing the Professor; and instead, I created a competition with myself, where each correct answer and new tidbit of information was a step towards success. Somehow this made studying fun!

 

Take a few Deep Breaths & Calm your Mind: Even after doing all of these things, come exam day, as soon as the Professor put the exam paper in my hand, my mind would go completely blank. It turns out that this black out is a natural response to stress designed to help our primitive selves to escape a dangerous situation by putting all of our resources into our physical fight or flights responses so that we can run away from a tiger or something. At the same time, this fight or flight response reduces stimulation of the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that allows us to have abstract thoughts. It is usually abstract thoughts that we need to answer those pesky exam questions. I was not aware of the connection between stress and the prefrontal cortex at the time, but I did notice that if I focused my attention away from the exam to my breathing for a few minutes, my mind would clear and all of the answers to the questions would slowly resurface. Therefore, I developed a practice of spending the first 5 minutes of an exam taking deep breaths and clearing my mind of worries, and then, I would flip to the longer essay questions and jot down some random thoughts related to the questions before focusing on the more intense and specific multiple choice and short answer questions. Essentially, I was meditating for 5 minutes at the start of every exam, a practice that has now been largely linked to the strengthening of the prefrontal cortex and calming of the amygdala.

 

So, before you FREAK OUT about your next exam, try some of these simple suggestions. Writing exams is stressful.  There is no avoiding that, unfortunately. However, with the right strategies, attitude, and supports, you can definitely make exams a lot less painful than they have been in the past, and maybe even a little fun!

 

 

**All content in this post is the intellectual property of Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang. Please do not replicate any of this content without prior consent. You may share this post and other similar posts widely while making sure to give the authors credit, however.

 

 

When should you drop a course? by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

PFAU 17 edited 01 1 When should you drop a course? by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

It can be a difficult realization to discover that your original academic plan is not working for you, and you’re struggling to meet the expectations of a particular course. Should you drop it? Or, you should you ride it out and see if you can pass?

 

There are a few things to consider when deciding whether or not to stay in a class that you not doing well in:

DEADLINES: The first and most obvious question to ask yourself, is has the add/drop deadline passed? If the deadline has already passed, well, I guess the university has made the decision for you. Thus, it is important to make a note in your calendar at the beginning of the semester of any important deadlines, such as add/drop or submission for graduation. You don’t want an administrative oversight to jeopardize your future. There are actually two add/drop deadlines to pay attention to. The earlier deadline usually allows you to drop a course and get a full or partial refund. The second deadline usually allows you to drop a course, but you may not be able to get a refund for your tuition.  If finances are an issue for you, it is particularly important to note this difference.  As an aside, I am writing this blog post a week before the first add/drop deadline usually comes into affect in colleges and universities, so you may want to check your own university calendar too.

 

REQUIRED vs. OPTIONAL: Another important thing to note is whether or not the course you are considering dropping is a required course or optional. If it is optional and you are struggling, it may be easier to decide to drop it. However, if it is a required course, you need to consider when you may be able to take it again as you cannot avoid it completely. Some courses only run every two years, so you really need to check with your faculty and department before deciding to drop any required courses to ensure that you will be able to take it before your graduate.  In addition, you need to check to ensure that that particular course is not required for any future courses you want to take as that will also impact your timeline.

 

WORKLOAD: Finally, I would consider the impact of dropping this course on your overall workload. Will dropping this course help to give you more time to focus on other required courses.  It is important to get good grades in the courses that are directly related to your major and degree, so if dropping an optional course will allow you to do that then that might be a good reason to let it go. However, if you are struggling with the course for other reasons, such as not understanding the course content or other factors in your life that are impacting your ability to do well in class, you might want to look into resolving some of those issues before deciding to drop the course. For example, you could look into getting a tutor. Or, you might go to student services and see if you can get some other supports to help you to manage your time and adjusting to university better.

 

Dropping a course is not an easy decision, but sometimes it is easier to admit defeat than to continue fighting a losing battle. Remember it is about winning the war, not one little fight.

 

**All blog content is original created by Lisa Pfau and Patricia Huang. Please respect our intellectual property rights and do not copy any of this content without our prior permission.  However, please do feel free to share widely.

 

KICK PROCRASTINATION OUT OF YOUR MIND!! By Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

PFAU 9 comic book edited final 01 LARGE KICK PROCRASTINATION OUT OF YOUR MIND!! By Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

“Procrastination may not take up a lot of effort physically…but it takes over the mind!” ~ Stephen Hall

 

To be honest, I procrastinated writing this post about procrastination…

…I put away my dishes. I filled my water bottle. I searched up some good music. I adjusted my writing lamp. I even posted a quote about procrastination to Instagram. An hour and half later here I am finally putting words on paper.

 

Procrastination seems to take little effort, but pretty quickly it becomes a job in itself, taking real effort avoiding the task at hand and filling it with other unproductive and likely unnecessary activities. So, what can you do to kick procrastination out of your head?

 

“Whatever form of procrastination comes in, learn to identify it, root it, and kick it out! ~ Jim Howard

 

Procrastination usually comes in for me in the form of small little administrative tasks or detailed searches on Google or unnecessary tidying or straightening up.  When I feel like I’m really busy scurrying around, but not really getting anything substantial done, I know that I’m procrastinating. I tend to do this when I’m nervous about a tasks or imagine it to be more difficult or painful than it is in reality, such as writing this blog post! Yeah, writing a blog post takes work, but once I get going it usually just flows. It’s the getting started that takes 80% of the effort. Fortunately, there are a few things I can do in those moments to get me back on track:

 

  • POSITIVE SELF-TALK: If I’m already worried about something, beating myself up about dragging my feet to face it will only make me want to avoid it more. Instead, I try to take a moment to be with my anxiety, acknowledge it, and reassure myself that it’s not as bad, hard, scary, whatever as I dream it to be. I also remind myself how many times in the past I have faced a similar situation and been successful. Finally, I even acknowledge that procrastination is normal, and take a deep breath and get started. As I said in the previous paragraph, getting started is often the hardest part.

 

  • I START: Even if I only finished part of what I planned for that day, I feel like I achieved something. Sometimes just putting pen to paper for 10 minutes is enough for me to get over the original obstacle that was holding me back and fueling my procrastination. Then, the next day it is much easier to get to work immediately because those 10 minutes helped to restore my confidence and reduce my stress. Instead of staring into a blank overwhelming abyss of possibility; there is something on paper and the finished post suddenly seems only a few keystrokes away.

 

  • BREAK BIG PROJECTS INTO SMALLER TASKS: Writing 50+ blog posts can seem overwhelming, but if I break it down into one blog a week that seems doable. Now, that I had a timeline, I can also start thinking of topics that might fit that time of the school year and plan ahead (in other words, use my usual procrastinating tactic of list making for good). This planning ahead will prevent me from getting trapped by my incessantly need to research and generate ideas when I’m avoiding writing an essay. No need to think of a topic for that week because I already have one planned out in advance. I can even break each blog post into parts (opening hook, introduction/personal story, tips, closing statement). Then, if I can’t get the whole post done at once, I can at least finish one section at a time.

 

  • SET DEADLINES: My blog post needs to be up every Wednesday morning at 6:00am, so I need to finish it before then. Granted, it is currently 9:45pm on Tuesday night, so I’m not setting the best example. But, come on, technically I still have 8 more hours to get it done. Of course, this situation tonight is not ideal and highly ironic given the topic of this post, but having a weekly deadline at least forces me to get it done. I also add other boundaries, such as my office closing at 10pm and not taking my computer home, so actually I only have 10 more minutes to finish up. But still, if I can’t finish by 10pm and I’m really stuck, I can take my computer home with me on the subway and keep working.  Not ideal, but it sure beats a 5:00am scramble. Setting mini-deadlines leading up to the big deadline can help to prevent an overwhelming scramble and poor job at the last minute.

 

  • REWARD YOURSELF: After I’m finished this post, in the next 5 minutes, I’m going to head home to watch a cheesy show about a Mountie and teacher in the early 1900s Western Canada on Netflix. The best part of all of that is that once I submit this post, it will be completely off my mind and I can enjoy my tv time and have a restful sleep without worrying about how I’m going to wake up at 5:00am to finish my post. Procrastinating by watching Netflix is fun too, but whatever you’re avoiding is lurking in the back of your mind, infringing on your R&R. It’s so much nicer when you can really enjoy a reward AFTER completing a task instead of  using it as a distraction.

 

Yeah, so we all know a lot of these tips.  In fact, you may be procrastinating by reading this article on procrastination RIGHT NOW!  That’s totally what I would do. Oh well…no one is perfect.  We’re all a work in progress. In fact, I went back the next day to edit this post one more time after it was online because I noticed some typos.

It takes time to break old habits and replace them with old ones (20-something days according to many lifestyle programs), so congratulate yourself for taking the first step and realizing you have a problem that you want to change.  Use that procrastination moment to your benefit and start to implement some of these simple steps to get yourself back on track. Just start, do your best, and let go… That’s really all we can do every day. 🙂

 

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