Recognize Procrastination
Beat procrastination with a solid schedule, tackle tasks in small steps, and overcome excuses.
You know you have to study tonight but you feel a little tired.
You tell yourself you have all week to get it done so you watch a movie instead.
The end of the week comes and, no surprise, you are behind.
You procrastinated.
You are at NGT Academy to fulfill a goal to become a Network Engineer or start your Cyber Security career.
This means you need to be self-disciplined.
Setting a schedule helps.
Take the time to review the Study Guide. It will tell you what the estimated completion time is based on study hours.
Then create a schedule that you can stick to so that you finish the program.
Life does get in the way sometimes, that is a reality. Sometimes we get in our own way.
Learn to recognize when you are procrastinating so that you don’t fall prey to the lies we tell ourselves that get in the way of your success.
Here are some examples:
- I don’t have time. Everyone has 24 hours and it’s up to you to maximize your time designated to what’s really important to us. Setting a schedule helps.
- I’ll do it tomorrow. If you do it tomorrow you will have twice as much to do.
- I’m good at multitasking. Multi tasking means you do not have enough attention given to studying or to class content and you absorb less information. It’s easy to get sidetracked and distracted.
- It’s too hard. You are either thinking internally that you are afraid of failing or you are comparing yourself to Harry Superstar and coming up short.
- My efforts won’t pay off. You will never know until you challenge yourself.
A lot of procrastination tendencies can stem from a lack of motivation, being afraid to fail, or a fear of not understanding.
Even those that don’t tend to procrastinate can find themselves dragging their feet a little.
More enjoyable tasks are typically tackled first with the rest shuffled to the bottom.
Despite this reluctance, you will find that, as an individual passionate about IT, your interest will be captured by what you are studying and you will wonder why you felt a need to put it off.
Every time you hear yourself thinking about procrastinating...
- Yes it’s going to be difficult so I need to make sure I get the study hours in.
- This is my goal and how I reach it is up to me.
If you are still finding yourself procrastinating, “Getting Things Done” author David Allen suggests trying a simple rule that he calls the “2-Minute Rule”.
In simple terms, set yourself up for success by making mini goals. Sometimes when the ultimate goal seems too far out it is harder to stay within the positive mindset zone and you lose momentum.
Instead of thinking of the full two hours that you need to study, divide it into smaller measures.
If you are feeling tired and you just want to relax and watch a movie tonight, set a self-rule.
I must study ½ hour before you can watch that movie.
You may surprise yourself, be really interested, and find yourself back on goal.