0:01

I was quite bad with procrastinating.

0:03

I would like to often do overtime at work

0:05

instead of studying sometimes!

0:08

Until the fear set in, it was quite hard

0:10

to motivate myself.

0:11

Motivation is like

0:13

your daily coffee. You need to drink it

0:15

daily in order to make that effect!

0:18

Hello, I'm Krutika Adatia, and I'm a chartered

0:20

accountant. I now support accountancy

0:23

students through their training, and as

0:25

an educator, I'm regularly up close

0:27

and personal with some of the common issues

0:29

people face while studying for

0:32

and sitting their accountancy exams. So, in this series for the

0:34

ACCA, I'm

0:37

chatting to experts about strategies

0:39

we can all use when facing some

0:41

of life's challenges. And

0:43

this week, we're looking at something so many

0:45

of us struggle with: procrastination,

0:48

putting off what we know we should be doing

0:50

but can't quite bring ourselves to start

0:52

or finish. Why is it that so

0:54

many of us struggle with procrastination?

0:57

What's happening in our brains when we procrastinate,

1:00

and what strategies can help us improve

1:02

how we manage our time? This is

1:05

On Your Marks, because you'll never know until

1:08

you try. With

1:10

what can sometimes feel like constant distractions

1:12

available to us, whether that's TV

1:15

shows on demand or texts on your

1:17

phones, it's no wonder that a lot

1:19

of us struggle with procrastinating on tasks.

1:22

I know I used to get distracted by notifications

1:25

on my phone all the time, whether

1:27

it's WhatsApp, iMessages, social

1:29

media, or email. It would mean I'd

1:31

start a task, get distracted, and realize

1:33

I'd wasted 20 minutes scrolling or being

1:35

unproductive. I now have most

1:37

of the notifications on my phone turned off,

1:40

but interestingly, I still find myself

1:42

turning to my phone when I'm putting off

1:44

a task. I'm sure you can relate. So,

1:46

with me today to chat about all things

1:49

procrastination, I've got Dr.

1:51

Julia Ravey. She's a neuroscientist,

1:53

podcast producer, and author who

1:55

has recently written a book called Braintenance:

1:57

A Scientific Guide to Creating Healthy

2:00

Habits and Reaching Your Goals.

2:02

So, Julia, are you a

2:04

procrastinator?

2:05

Yes, I'm a massive procrastinator. It's

2:08

always on the things that really mean a lot to me

2:10

as well, and even sometimes things that I'm looking

2:12

forward to doing in my head, I'm like, " Oh, I can't

2:15

wait to get down and work on that thing,"

2:17

because I know it's going to bring me the thing that I

2:19

really want and then I come to do it and

2:21

it's just like, " Nope, I don't want to." I remember,

2:24

I think it was in my third year of university, my

2:26

dissertation, it was also something I really cared

2:28

about, and I was like, " Oh, I really...

2:30

I'm excited to dig into that research." But

2:33

every time I come to do it, I found it so difficult,

2:35

and that was until the very, very last

2:37

night before my deadline, I was in the library,

2:39

I'm not joking, all night. I wouldn't recommend

2:41

it. It was like the worst feeling I've ever felt.

2:44

I had to drink so much coffee, and

2:46

I was like, " I just need to get this done because the deadline is

2:48

tomorrow." The only thing that could make

2:50

me do it was that deadline

2:53

being there. And I know I could have

2:55

done even better in that assignment

2:57

if I'd just done the work beforehand,

2:59

but it's not like a logical thing when

3:01

you're in that moment, you know that

3:03

you should be doing it, but it's so difficult, so difficult.

3:06

Do you know what? Firstly, I'm so glad you said you're a procrastinator

3:09

because, as someone who's studies

3:12

the brain, knows a little bit about it. I was thinking

3:14

maybe you have the magic. So, firstly,

3:16

thank you. You are a procrastinator. It makes me feel

3:18

a little bit better. So, you

3:20

mentioned that, obviously, you had a

3:22

deadline to work towards. That's what propelled

3:24

you to want to get your dissertation done, but

3:27

why is it that we procrastinate?

3:29

Yeah, I think with procrastination, what it

3:31

is when it comes down to the bare bones

3:33

of it is, it's a decision.

3:35

It's a type of choice that we're making, and our

3:38

brain is making thousands of decisions

3:40

every single day. Some of them you're really conscious of. If you

3:42

go to a coffee shop and you're like, " What do I want to

3:44

order?" You're thinking, " Oh, I'll have a latte or I'll have a cappuccino,

3:46

or whatever." Other things are a bit more unconscious.

3:49

The route you take to work, for example, you

3:51

just go, and sometimes you go, " How did I even get here?"

3:53

Your brain has decided which route you're going to take because you

3:55

take it all the time. So, I think when

3:58

it comes to making a decision, our brain is constantly

4:00

doing that. And what it's doing in that moment

4:02

is, it's thinking of all the options I

4:04

could possibly do and giving each of them

4:07

a value. And this valuation

4:09

process can take into account things like

4:11

that we actually want. So, if you had a goal

4:13

of like, " Okay, I really want to eat more vegetables,"

4:16

and you are at the cafeteria, you look at the choices

4:18

on the board, one of the values that your

4:20

brain could be thinking is, "Oh, that dish has got loads of vegetables,

4:23

so that's going to be good, good." But

4:25

there are other things that the brain takes into account

4:27

that maybe aren't so much in alignment

4:30

with what we consciously might want. So,

4:32

if you are really hungry or really, really tired

4:35

that day, you get those carb cravings, and

4:37

all of a sudden you're like, " Oh, I want the dish

4:39

that's covered in loads of cheese. Give

4:41

me the cheese." And that option

4:43

is given a higher value. Or it

4:45

could be as well like the environment around

4:47

you. So if you go to the same coffee shop every single

4:49

day, you might feel like you just get the

4:51

regular, your brain is like, " Oh, we always get

4:53

that one thing." So that option is valued

4:55

higher. So you have basically your brain

4:58

constantly making all these calculations as to

5:00

what should I value the most. And

5:02

with procrastination, your choices

5:04

basically are, should I do this thing,

5:06

which is maybe really hard, or

5:08

maybe it means a lot to me, or

5:11

should I go and scroll on my phone?

5:13

Should I do something which is really relaxing?

5:15

Should I do something which is going to feel nice and fun

5:18

right now? So it's actually a no- brainer

5:20

when it comes to that type of choice.

5:22

So that's really interesting what you've just said there.

5:24

It's helped me to understand what's happening in my

5:26

brain a little bit better. So, I

5:28

know you've alluded to this already and the answers

5:30

that you've just given, but I'm going to ask, what's happening

5:32

in our brains when we are procrastinating?

5:35

Procrastination in the brain is a battle.

5:39

Your brain is in a battle, and this is particular

5:41

areas of your brain are fighting for which

5:43

choice you should make. So, you have these areas

5:45

in the front of your brain which are

5:47

more logical, they're concerned

5:49

with future planning. If you have long- term

5:52

goals, that's sort of where it's making calculations

5:54

as to what actions you should take to

5:56

align with those goals. But then buried a bit

5:58

deeper in the brain, we have areas

6:00

involved in emotions. So

6:02

these areas are to do with, it could be like fear,

6:05

sadness, joy, all of these sorts of emotional

6:07

responses we have. That area

6:09

is also fighting for which

6:12

choice should be made. So, in procrastination,

6:14

you have this battle going on in your head of

6:16

the logical areas of the brain versus

6:19

the emotional areas of the brain. And

6:21

really, procrastination happens when either

6:23

the centres are very,

6:25

very loud. So if you sit down to work,

6:28

you could be thinking right, "I know right now I

6:30

do this study session, I'm going to

6:32

hopefully pass my exam." So that is the

6:34

logical centres going, "yes, yes, yes, do

6:37

the work." But even that

6:39

moment, your emotional centres are saying, "

6:41

Oh, my goodness, this is so, so hard."

6:43

If that is louder than the logical centres,

6:46

then the emotion is going to win out. Also,

6:48

it could happen the reverse way as well

6:50

if the logical areas of the brain, these frontal areas

6:52

are a bit quieter in their responses.

6:55

So say, for example, you go to sit

6:57

to do your work, but you don't really have

6:59

that sort of long- term goal

7:02

in mind, you're a bit like, " Well, what's the point in doing this?"

7:04

Or the deadline is far away. If the

7:06

deadline is far away, you go, " Ah, it doesn't matter. I

7:09

can put this off till tomorrow." If

7:11

you don't have that long- term logical

7:14

focus, then the

7:16

emotional centres could win out again because that is a

7:18

weaker signal. So, really, when

7:20

we are procrastinating, we are in this battle

7:22

between logic and emotion,

7:25

and that's what's going on in our brains, and all of us

7:27

will procrastinate a little bit more or a

7:29

little bit less than each other. All our brains are unique,

7:31

so some people might find it easier to exert the

7:33

self- control. Some people might find it a

7:35

little bit tougher just because of our genetics,

7:38

our experiences. So each of us will

7:40

have a tendency to procrastinate more or less than

7:42

each other as well. So, I'd say

7:45

procrastination is something that you're always going to come up against,

7:47

and it's not something that you should take

7:49

as, " I don't care about what I'm doing," or

7:52

not something you should take as like, " Oh, I'm rubbish as

7:54

being a student or trying to study." It's

7:56

something that we're all going to face because it is

7:58

this decision point and it's just the brain

8:01

working as it should.

8:02

Amazing. So just so

8:04

I hear you correctly, you're talking about the

8:06

emotional part of your brain kind

8:09

of being in a little bit more overdrive than the frontal

8:11

logical part of your brain?

8:13

Yeah, that's it, because if you think about

8:15

a task that we procrastinate on, a

8:17

lot of the times there is sort of emotion

8:20

loaded there because often

8:22

it means a lot to us. So that is something

8:24

which can be quite emotionally intense.

8:27

Also, it could be something which is quite difficult

8:29

and hard and stressful. So

8:31

what that's creating in the brain is sort of emotional

8:33

discomfort and uncertainty. The brain

8:36

does not uncertainty or discomfort. It

8:38

will try to escape it, but also

8:40

when you come to do a task as well, it could

8:42

be factors outside of just

8:44

the task itself. It could be that you haven't slept

8:46

well that night. It could be that you're hungry.

8:48

It could be that there are other things in your life that are going on,

8:51

which means those emotional centers are on

8:53

a bit more of a high alert, and that makes it harder to

8:55

exert that control. So,

8:57

I think, yeah, when you sit down to procrastinate,

9:00

when you sit down to work, that is going

9:02

to be something that comes up more

9:04

often than you might anticipate.

9:06

That's really fascinating. So, I

9:09

guess the emotions that you are describing

9:11

are they essentially what lead us to

9:13

not wanting to get started with something? So,

9:16

how is it that we get over that initial

9:18

hump of wanting to get started

9:21

with something, and how does motivation

9:23

feed into that as well?

9:24

Yeah, I think a lot of us

9:26

have probably felt this before. It's almost

9:28

like the fear of starting something is worse

9:31

than actually doing it, and you build it up in your

9:33

head to be this huge thing, and once you actually do

9:35

it, you go, "Oh, it wasn't that bad." So, what we

9:37

want to do is try and get over that

9:40

initial hump to sort of show to ourselves, " Look,

9:42

it's not that scary. It's not that hard, it's not that bad."

9:45

So what I like to do is try and think

9:47

of something really, really

9:49

small that I can do as sort of a starter

9:51

task. So, for example, if I was trying

9:54

to write an essay, my

9:56

starter task would be, " Okay, I'm just going to write three

9:58

sentences." That, I think, gives

10:00

you a long enough time to sort of try and

10:02

get into something but three sentences. I

10:04

mean, in your brain, you go, " I can write three sentences."

10:06

Come on, you're not thinking I'm going to write a thousand words.

10:09

You think three sentences, that's great.

10:11

If you're sitting down to do a practice math

10:13

problem, you say, " I'm going to do one problem, and

10:15

that's it." And after that, I can stop if I want

10:18

to. But I find, nine times out

10:20

of 10, once you actually start doing it

10:22

and get into it, you will keep going. So it's

10:24

nice to have a mini- goal to sort of get

10:26

you going. I always find to get over. Then, when

10:29

it comes to motivation... Motivation,

10:31

I have a funny relationship with it because I think it's

10:34

a great thing when you have it. When you feel

10:37

that motivation wave, you are riding

10:39

it, New Year's resolution, that type of vibe.

10:42

It feels amazing to have motivation

10:44

and you're doing your work and you feel great, but

10:47

if you don't have motivation, then you feel

10:50

really, really rubbish, and it can

10:52

almost be read as a sign

10:54

for your brain of, 'Oh, I don't have motivation,

10:56

therefore I don't want to do it, or therefore I can't do

10:58

it." So, I think with motivation, you

11:00

should see it as an emotion. Sometimes

11:02

it's high, sometimes it's low, it's

11:05

not always going to be there. So,

11:07

I would say what is quite important

11:10

with revision and trying

11:12

to get into a routine and not procrastinate

11:15

is to say, " Right, I'm going to study

11:18

short amount of time, but I'm going to do it consistently."

11:20

So that could be, it's going to be every weekday

11:22

at, I don't know, nine in the morning. And so, you have a

11:24

little slot, it's almost like an appointment

11:27

in your diary. You have a little slot there, and you

11:29

show up and do it. And if motivation's there,

11:31

great, you might want to go a little bit longer. If it's

11:34

not there, you turn up, you do your small

11:36

little task, you try and keep going a little bit,

11:38

but if you can't, you've done your small task and you

11:40

move on, and you show up the next day. And I think it is

11:42

about that repetition to

11:44

really drill it into your routine.

11:46

That's refreshing to hear that motivation is just

11:48

an emotion, because often you think

11:50

that if you want to pursue something, that innate

11:53

motivation has got to be there. So

11:55

that's really quite refreshing to hear. And you spoke

11:57

about blocking out time to complete

11:59

these small tasks. So how important

12:01

is time management in all of this as well?

12:03

I think time management is

12:05

a funny one because when it comes to procrastination,

12:07

I think time management can help,

12:10

but I think the problem actually

12:12

is emotional management. So with

12:15

time management, it's like, " Okay, I've got my diary,

12:18

I'm going to block things out." But we

12:20

all know that if your heads are in

12:22

the right space, you could have the perfect diary, color

12:24

coordinated, bam, bam, bam, I've got it all in

12:26

there. If your head's not in the game, you

12:28

will just not do it. So, I think with procrastination, it

12:31

is about being able to override

12:33

that emotional discomfort that you feel.

12:36

So with the small little tasks we were talking about getting

12:38

over the hump, and there are other little methods

12:40

that I definitely have in my back pocket, which can help,

12:42

but time management can help. I'd say with that

12:45

because a lot of the time with

12:47

these tasks, we procrastinate on a

12:49

big negative emotion we feel

12:51

is overwhelm. You can look at it

12:53

and go, " Oh my goodness, I've got a whole syllabus

12:56

to learn for this exam. I need

12:58

to know all of these different things. I don't know any

13:00

of them." And that overwhelm can drive us to

13:02

just not want to do it. So I would say with

13:04

time management, the way we can help get

13:06

rid of that emotional sort of overwhelm is

13:09

to break it down. Take your

13:11

syllabus and break every

13:13

topic down into subtopics, even

13:15

subsubtopics if you want to, and

13:17

then sit and put

13:19

them into your diary of what

13:22

you're going to do exactly on that day. You

13:24

could do this if you have an exam coming up, you could do it for a

13:26

whole syllabus, or you could do it week

13:29

by week if that's a little bit more how you feel.

13:31

You could sit on a Sunday and go, " Right, what am I doing

13:33

each day this week?" But you've got your list there,

13:35

and that means that when you show up to do your work,

13:38

you are not having to go, " Oh my god, I'm so overwhelmed,

13:40

what should I do?" You've got it there in front of you already,

13:42

so that takes out something off

13:44

the table already, right? Today, I'm studying this

13:47

one thing. So I think that's how time

13:49

management can really help us. And then showing up

13:51

again repeatedly over and over again. You

13:53

want to get your study routine almost

13:55

to be a bit like brushing your teeth, something

13:58

you just do, no drama. You just

14:00

show up, and you do it. And I think

14:02

because the connotations

14:04

of studying and what it can lead to has

14:07

such a big, " Oh my god, this could change my life because

14:09

it could." But if you just

14:11

take it as like, okay, I'm just going to go to my desk today,

14:14

show up, and I'm going to do my work.

14:16

If you have no drama, it's much, much easier

14:19

to do. So time management can help with

14:21

that emotional management side of stuff, definitely, it can

14:23

just remove some of that intensity

14:25

around the situation.

14:26

I like that. So you've really tied that into

14:28

just planning out things so that as a

14:31

student, let's say, listening to this, they're

14:33

thinking right, need to get on, book my

14:35

exam, right I've got the exam, here's my syllabus,

14:38

let's break it down. This week, I'm covering

14:40

this. That's a fantastic actionable step

14:42

to take away. Now, you mentioned

14:44

routines as well there. So with

14:47

routines, not everyone finds

14:49

it easy, right? Julia, so what

14:51

are your tips and advice around setting

14:54

routines? What are the best practices

14:56

around that as well?

14:57

I think routines are hard because people

15:00

look at the way of routine and go, " Oh, so boring.

15:02

Oh, so boring." But

15:05

I think boring is sometimes good. Brushing

15:07

your teeth isn't fun, but you do it every day.

15:10

So having a bit of boredom is actually

15:12

quite good. It's better to be a bit bored than have

15:14

a lot of drama around it. But

15:16

the thing with routine, which is difficult, is life.

15:19

So you could have the most perfect routine that you

15:21

think in your mind that something happens in

15:23

your life and that gets all thrown out the window.

15:26

So I think what's important is to look

15:28

at your diary, keep your

15:30

revision time to be a sort

15:32

of short- ish period that, if you

15:35

could extend it, you could. I'd

15:37

say it's better to do it over a longer period of time,

15:39

short bursts every day than try and cram

15:42

and feel like you've got a cram all in

15:44

the last minute. So I would say look

15:46

for a short amount of time, and which window could

15:48

you fit it in your day? Some

15:51

people might think, " Oh, I've got kids.

15:53

I've got a job where time

15:55

always overruns." I think,

15:57

where in your day could you fit

16:00

that 20 minutes or something like that?

16:03

Get it in there, and consistently show

16:05

up and do it over and over again as much

16:07

as you can. Now, it's not going to happen every single day,

16:09

but I think if it doesn't happen one day, dust yourself

16:11

off, and the next day, just try

16:13

again. If you find it's not working for you, experiment,

16:16

it doesn't have to be, " Okay, I've picked nine,

16:19

and that's what I've got to stick to." No, experiment

16:21

with it as well. And I would say, really

16:24

think about when you work best.

16:26

We all know when we work best.

16:28

I think, I know for me the

16:30

morning is my time, but

16:33

if I'm not in the right zone, I

16:36

will stay up too late, be watching that

16:38

Netflix, watching that TV, and then the next

16:40

morning I'm too tired to get up, and then I miss my

16:43

time where I would be studying. So it's about looking at

16:45

your entire day and thinking, " If

16:47

I went to bed half an hour earlier, that means I could get up a bit earlier

16:50

and do it then." So I would say experiment,

16:53

have a bit of fun with it, play around with it, and see

16:55

where it fits into your day. And

16:57

if it's a little bit boring, as in, you're showing

17:00

up to the same thing every day, I think

17:02

that's not a bad thing.

17:03

Okay. So it's a case of figuring out what

17:05

works best for you, and like you say everyone, it's going

17:07

to be unique for everyone. I just want to

17:09

circle back to something you said about sort of

17:11

cramming and this idea that, especially

17:14

with students, there tends to be that tendency

17:16

to cram. And you also mentioned

17:18

something about potentially giving yourself a break.

17:20

How important is it to also

17:23

take breaks, and how does that

17:25

feed into procrastination?

17:27

Do you have any thoughts on that?

17:29

I think it's vital. Taking a break is

17:31

so important for your brain to digest

17:33

the information that you're trying to remember. And

17:36

the brilliant thing about our brains is, the more

17:38

you repeat and go over stuff, the

17:40

more it's going to remember and retain that information.

17:43

So if you give yourself a really good run-

17:45

up time for an exam and you do a little

17:47

bit each day and then you are covering that material

17:50

over and over again in little bites, then

17:52

you are going to retain that much better. If you are

17:54

trying to cram what you're trying to do there is keep

17:56

all of this brand new information in

17:59

these sort of frontal parts of your brain where we have our

18:01

short- term sort of memory, it doesn't

18:03

have really enough time to sink into

18:05

that nice long- term memory. It's still too fresh.

18:08

So I would always say, the

18:10

longer run- up you can get, the better, so you

18:12

can cover the material over and over again.

18:15

And taking breaks too, like your brain needs

18:17

the break to be able to like, " Oh,

18:19

that idea just clicks together." You always have your best

18:21

ideas when you're in the shower, when you're on a walk,

18:24

that's because your brain is in a different zone to when you're

18:26

focusing on, " I need to learn this information."

18:28

It allows those connections to sort of, " Oh,

18:31

that fits with that, that fits with that," and things just

18:33

click and start to make sense. So, breaks

18:36

are vital, and if you don't take breaks, those

18:38

emotional centers will be screaming. So

18:40

when you come to do work, procrastination

18:42

is probably going to happen more often

18:45

if you haven't given yourself any time off.

18:47

Okay, so what I'm hearing you say is that, as

18:49

part of your planning, you ought to factor

18:52

in some breaks there as well.

18:53

Plan your breaks like your study, I'd say, because

18:55

it's so easy to be like, " Oh, I've got to do this task

18:57

today, this task," and then you don't put in any

19:00

time to break and you'll have some empty

19:02

gaps in your schedule. But then the empty gaps that

19:04

can all of a sudden run into, " Oh, I have to do this, or

19:06

I could keep working and I could..." Guilt- free

19:08

breaks, you want to put them in there, and you go, " Ah, this

19:10

is my two hours where I'm going to just chill and

19:12

no pressure." During university, I would do that.

19:14

I would work really early in the morning. I would

19:16

finish by half three, four, and I wouldn't think

19:18

about work. I think if you

19:21

have it, you do it, you let your brain relax,

19:24

let all that sink in, and go from there. So

19:26

yeah, definitely schedule breaks.

19:28

Yeah, so with ACCA, we

19:30

have students that will book their exams,

19:32

and generally they'll have a 12 to 13-

19:34

week window, and within that 12 to 13-

19:37

week window, we often tell our students

19:39

that they ought to have some time for planning,

19:42

and then studying, and then practice.

19:44

Granted, there's an overlap between the studying

19:46

and the practice, but does that generally

19:48

fit in with the recommendations

19:51

and advice that you've been giving us through this conversation

19:53

today, Julia?

19:54

Yeah, I think that is really good, the planning

19:56

that takes out that drama because you know what

19:59

you're going to do, and I actually really enjoy

20:01

the planning. I sit with a cup of tea and

20:03

I'm like, " Oh, let's map out my weeks." And

20:05

yeah, I really enjoy that. So if you're planning in advance,

20:07

that means when you show up to do the studying,

20:10

you know exactly what you need to

20:12

do. And then, with the studying, you

20:14

have these little, tiny mini- goals almost

20:16

to tick off as you go along, which is a really nice thing

20:18

for your brain to have. I think when we

20:20

procrastinate sometimes as well, it's because we don't

20:22

have a big reward

20:25

when we go to do say a study session,

20:27

but if you have today I'm going to do

20:29

syllabus, section one A, B,

20:32

or whatever it is, then you have a nice

20:34

thing to tick off, you've got something like I've completed

20:36

that rather than just like, " Oh, I need to revise

20:39

again today." You don't have any element of reward

20:41

or satisfaction with that. So I think having the studying

20:43

has broken down into little bits that's really

20:46

helpful for giving you a little bit of motivation.

20:48

And then, with the practice, the brain

20:50

loves repetition for remembering stuff,

20:52

so practicing things over and over again, that

20:55

it really sink into your memory when it comes

20:57

to the exam. You'll be able to hopefully retain

21:00

that information and get it out.

21:01

That sounds great. And actually, just something I want to

21:03

call out as well is, the ACCA do have a

21:05

digital tool. It's a planning tool

21:08

called Compass, and we're often encouraging students

21:10

to do that. So it's really nice that you've called out

21:12

that we should have mini

21:14

subtasks that students can tick off, and our Compass

21:17

planner allows students to do that

21:19

as well. So just to think

21:21

about, you mentioned good habits earlier as well.

21:23

Are there any tips about students being able

21:25

to form good habits and

21:27

good study habits in general as well?

21:29

Yeah, I'd say the things we've spoken about, showing

21:32

up at the same time every day, that's something which is good because

21:35

it becomes part of your routine. I'd

21:37

say something we don't really consider when

21:39

we are forming new habits is

21:41

our environment. What is around

21:43

us? And that is something that

21:45

I found personally in my life. If

21:48

I go back to my family home

21:50

and I try to get up early in the morning, I find it so

21:52

difficult because I'm in my teenage bedroom,

21:55

where I'm used to sleeping in until 11: 00, 12:00.

21:57

It's funny, when I'm at my normal house, I can get up

21:59

early and work, but I think just think about

22:01

what's around you. What have you done in this space

22:04

before? Is this the desk where you always procrastinate?

22:07

Why didn't we try and work somewhere else? Or am

22:09

I trying to work on the couch, where I

22:11

normally chill? Your brain's not going to be in the

22:13

right space, so think of your environment. And another

22:15

great thing I like is to have almost like

22:17

a specific cue

22:20

that can help you revise. So something,

22:22

for example, like a candle you

22:24

only light when you do your revision,

22:27

that will give you almost like an initiator

22:29

of it's time to revise. Your brain

22:31

will sort of be capturing that information

22:33

of... Maybe it's the candle itself or the smell

22:36

that it has, that it's like, " Oh, I

22:38

know when this happens. This is when I work." So

22:40

giving yourself something like that or a playlist,

22:43

something like that, that you only have on

22:45

when you study, that can really

22:47

help to craft an environment where

22:49

you feel like, " Yes, I'm ready to go and get

22:51

in the zone."

22:52

I like that, giving yourself a little trigger

22:55

for your brain to actually get

22:57

into that zone.

22:58

Yeah, because triggered all the time, everything

23:00

we do is normally triggered by

23:03

something, " Oh, I want to eat that food, that's because I'm hungry."

23:05

We have all of these triggers, so create

23:07

a trigger for you to want to study. I think

23:09

that's a good little tip that I've used

23:11

throughout my whole time at university

23:14

and beyond really.

23:15

Yeah. And you also mentioned, if this

23:17

is the place where you study and you often procrastinate,

23:19

we consider that. I'm just thinking

23:21

about students studying on their laptops,

23:24

and laptops nowadays have YouTube

23:26

and they have Netflix, and what

23:28

can students be doing to avoid clicking into

23:31

some of these applications? So

23:33

they're actually just thinking about the studying, and

23:35

I mean, I don't know if we have an answer for that,

23:37

but do you have any tips or thoughts?

23:39

Well, a good thing to do if

23:41

you're able to study without the internet,

23:44

you're able to get your bits and bobs out, you

23:46

can just cut the internet.

23:48

I mean, that's quite a hard one, but I know

23:50

some people actually have those timers you

23:52

have for when you go on holiday, you put your lights on

23:54

a timer. Some people have that for their internet router, and

23:57

it switches their internet off for an hour,

23:59

and then it'll come back on automatically. But if you have

24:01

a steady time, it would then cut your router

24:03

off. So you can actually be like, that's

24:06

a very, we call it like we're trying to block out

24:08

the distraction. We're trying to completely block it.

24:10

That's one way, as well, to manage your procrastination. If you know it's

24:13

your phone, put that phone in a drawer

24:16

and do not let yourself touch it, and

24:18

build in procrastination breaks if you need

24:21

to. So if you're like, " Oh, I just really want to check Instagram,"

24:24

you can be like, " Right, okay, well, I'll have a five- minute

24:26

Instagram check after I've done this

24:28

thing. So when that urge comes, you

24:30

know you have that built in. You're not completely

24:33

abstaining, but you're

24:35

not going to do it and break your flow when you're working.

24:37

And that's really great. And I did not

24:39

know about this thing that you can turn off your

24:41

internet. I think I might need to consider

24:43

doing that. But thank you so

24:45

much for the conversation, and just want to wrap up

24:47

by asking you. You've said some great tips

24:50

and tricks to manage procrastination, but

24:52

do you have three strategies for kicking

24:55

procrastination if you were to summarize them?

24:57

Yes. I would say, if you're sat

24:59

there and you feel like you want to procrastinate,

25:02

these were three things that I would do. The first

25:04

is something I call a pop- up list. So when

25:06

I'm working, I have a piece of paper next to me, and

25:08

if a thought pops into my head, it's

25:11

normally very random. It'll be like, " What time is it in

25:13

New York right now?" That is my brain trying to procrastinate. It's my brain trying

25:15

to get

25:17

me out of this thing that I find not comfortable

25:19

and start Googling, " Oh, what's the weather like in

25:21

Spain?" So I will just write it on the list.

25:24

And it's so funny, when you look at that list,

25:27

you realize how many random things

25:29

your brain throws at you. I would say most of them

25:31

are nonsense, but it also captures the things

25:34

that are important as well. I don't know about you, but

25:36

sometimes when I go to work and it's hard, I will

25:38

remember something important. I haven't rang the dentist

25:40

back and I needed to book that appointment, but then

25:42

you've written it down so you can sort of go, " Forget about

25:45

it. I'll do it later." So pop- up list, I'd say, is number

25:47

one. Two is a timer. So

25:49

if you are struggling to work, I

25:51

would say start yourself off with 20-

25:54

minute timer with a five- minute break.

25:56

It's called the Pomodoro Technique. But I

25:58

find that to be super helpful because then

26:01

if you want to procrastinate, you're like, " Well, I can in that five-

26:03

minute break, I can do whatever I want in that five- minute break of

26:05

mine." But for these 20 minutes, I

26:07

am going to focus. It just

26:10

eases you into your work

26:12

and also prevents you from feeling

26:15

this desperate need to stop because you know

26:18

you have got a time to stop. So I say

26:20

that.And the third thing I would say is, be

26:22

curious about procrastination. We're all

26:25

going to do it at some point. Why

26:27

do you want to procrastinate on this thing? What

26:29

is it about it? Is it that it's too hard?

26:32

Well, if it's too hard, what is it about it that's hard?

26:34

Is it this? I just don't understand this one tiny

26:36

bit. Forget the study session for today,

26:38

that is what you're going to do. So if it's too hard,

26:40

is it that it means a lot to you? Well, that's

26:43

a good thing, really, in a way. So I think with procrastination,

26:46

don't just see it as a sign of, " Oh, I'm

26:48

going to stop and fall into it," and go, "

26:50

Oh, I'm not going to do it." Ask why, "

26:53

Why am I procrastinating?" And a lot of the time,

26:55

it's actually a sign that you're pushing

26:57

yourself out of your comfort zone and you're doing

26:59

something that, in the long run, will

27:01

really, really help you. So that's something that I

27:03

always try my very best to do

27:06

in that moment where I just want to throw

27:08

in the towel.

27:09

That's it from this episode of On Your Marks.

27:11

Thank you, Julia, for chatting with me today.

27:14

For more information about ACCA exams,

27:17

you can go to www.accaglobal. com/

27:21

exams. See you next time. I'm

27:23

Krutika Adatia, and this has

27:25

been On Your Marks.