Procrastinators. Those little creatures who keep distracting me from getting any work done. They must be relatives of these so-called calories who sew your clothes tighter overnight. Only procrastinators work over day too. I have always had problems with them. But since the university is closed more and more of them started living in my apartment. They drag me away from my desk. They especially drag me to the fridge where the calories are waiting. And when the sun is shining outside, they seem to exponentially grow.
All jokes aside, I have always been procrastinating when it comes to my study. It is like getting up in the early morning hours to go on vacation but not getting out of bed on a regular day. With every module and every assignment, I am chronically late. Reading scientific articles and referencing them correctly is just not quite as motivating as loading your suitcase in the car.
Okay but why do I even study then? I really like learning about new topics and how it is related to the real world. However, studying also means learning about topics to pass the following exam. And I do not like this kind of learning. An approaching deadline makes me postpone the reading and summarizing instead of getting a deeper understanding of a subject matter.
So far, I had the chance to try a variety of approaches to overcome this problem. Break it down into smaller steps. Make a to do list for every day. Work in intervals. Still, there is always too much reading material left at the end of the module. Now that I have finished the last courses, I have only my Master thesis left. A project without any deadlines. I am able to make my own planning. Sounds great. If only these little procrastinators had not moved in again. Being home all the time now also means being next to everything that is more fun than conducting research. It starts dawning on me that the set deadlines were not the only problem. The real procrastinators that keep me from working are funny animal videos, addictive smartphone games, various tv shows and, of course, my lack of self-discipline.
