3 Tips For Overcoming College Essay Procrastination

3 Tips For Overcoming College Essay Procrastination Three Tips for Overcoming The Procrastination Doom Loop Three Tips for Overcoming The Procrastination Doom Loop Tell us if this sounds like a familiar story.  At  the beginning of the summer you told yourself you were going to sit down and write your  college admissions essay. Im going to get a jump start, you said to yourself, how hard could it be?  Instead you took a few trips to the beach, ate a lot of ice cream and even cleaned your room (three times) instead of sitting down at the computer. Now it is September and the school year  has arrived. Why (whyyyyy?!) is this happening? Whoever says they don’t occasionally struggle with procrastination is fooling themselves. Or maybe theyre putting off owning up to their own procrastinatory tendencies?  We all need help overcoming  that little voice that says if you take a nap now, youll work harder later or my internet connection is a little wonky Im going to close my computer and type out that first sentence later.  Luckily for us,  science is here  to help us overcome these unproductive thoughts. A  recent article in The Atlantic  explores  scientists most recent theories about procrastination and how to break the cycle. Apparently it’s not a matter of getting better at time management. (Go tell mom you were right!)  When  deciding to put something off for the moment, most of us  delay action because we feel like we’re in the wrong mood to do it (sound familiar?). We also  think our mood will change in the near future, and that at some point we will actually feel like attacking the tasks set before us. Unfortunately, you likely wont pop out of your bed one morning with an overwhelming urge to start penning your personal statement. When you dont accomplish the task you  have already delayed, you feel bad  and push  it  off even further.  This creates what scientists call a “Procrastination Doom Loop.” It looks like this: Delay ? Guilt ? Cant write if I feel bad! ? Delay But it’s not all bad news.  Science has also provided some tips for overcoming this vicious cycle, all of which can be applied to the essay writing process: Set a one-shot reminder as late as possible. Giving yourself a one-time-only alarm will break the doom loop, shock you into action, and won’t give you time to put off (or forget) to sit down and write. Stop thinking of your essay as work. Find something you like about this essay-writing process; make it a game, build in rewards anything to convince yourself it’s not something you  have  to do. External deadlines are more effective than our own. The false deadlines we give to ourselves, though well-intentioned, rarely work.  Outsource  your deadlines instead; to your parents, to a friend, to us! Contact us  for help breaking the Procrastination Doom Loop. Read more about  The College Essay Advisors Process. Check out our  guide to the 2017-18 Common App. About CEA HQView all posts by CEA HQ »