How can I stop procrastinating?

Procrastinating, or putting things off, is very common, and you are definitely not alone in doing it. As a student, you often have a lot of personal responsibility when it comes to managing your time and planning your days, and it may take a long time before you face a clear deadline, such as an exam. This places high demands on your ability to work without an immediate reward — which is why procrastination is common among students. 

There can be many different reasons why we end up procrastinating, and therefore there isn’t one solution that works for everyone. Putting off something that feels difficult, unpleasant, or boring allows us to avoid those feelings for a moment and focus on something less demanding instead. This produces a sense of reward, which in turn increases the likelihood that we’ll be tempted to postpone things again when it’s time to study. 

On studenthälsa.se, you’ll find an entire self-help program specifically about overcoming procrastination that you can work through. In this program, you’ll learn how to plan your studies, set goals and sub‑goals in a sustainable way, and use tools to get started. The material also highlights the importance of rewarding yourself, taking breaks, and recharging. 

A large part of this work involves practicing how to tolerate a certain amount of discomfort in the moment in order to gain long‑term benefits. Our ability to resist impulses affects how likely we are to procrastinate. Our beliefs about what is required to study effectively also influence how easily we fall into procrastination. Additionally, the risk of procrastination increases if we are afraid of failing tasks or if we set unreasonably high expectations for our performance. To avoid the difficult emotions that a failure might bring, a person who procrastinates might choose not to do their best—or to not do anything at all. 

Many people manage their studies despite procrastinating, which can reinforce the behavior and reduce motivation to change. However, this can come at a high cost in the form of unnecessary stress, imbalance in daily life, and making sustainable study habits more difficult. 

At some universities, there are targeted interventions that aim to help students stop procrastinating, such as groups or workshops. If you feel that the self-help program on studenthälsa.se isn’t enough for you to make a change, you can contact the student health services at your university and talk through your situation with a staff member. 

I hope this answer gives you a starting point. 

Lic. Psychotherapist / Student Health Counselor