One of the most important ways to develop your study skills is to improve your ability to plan, since it plays a part in many other study skills. Whether you are completing assignments, preparing for tests, getting organized, or managing your time, the better you plan, the more productive you will be. When it comes to projects, the need to plan is paramount, because without a plan, you can become overwhelmed. Depending on the subject matter, the type of project, and the amount of time and work it entails, you may well find yourself tempted to procrastinate. I am sure I am not the first person to tell you that the longer you put off a project, the harder it will be to complete it to the best of your ability, because of the pressure you will be putting on yourself and the time crunch you will face. Even if you find that you are someone who can work well under pressure, you will probably also be relieved whenever you are able to lessen or avoid it, and one of the best ways to do that is to plan your project approach.
One of the biggest reasons so many students procrastinate is that when they are assigned a project, they have no idea how they will even begin to work on it, let alone finish it by the due date. While many teachers recognize this and have devised ways to assist students with project planning, such as providing detailed directions and/or intermediate due dates, many others assign a project with general directions and/or a single due date, often a date that may feel far off when the project is first assigned, but really isn’t that far off at all. It wouldn’t surprise me to know that each of these scenarios has happened to you, and that you have procrastinated at least once, if not a few times, or maybe even many, many times, throughout the course of your studies. If you are anything like me, I’m sure you have told yourself when a project is assigned that this time, you will not procrastinate, only to end up doing just that. Time and again, you may have wondered why you can’t seem to avoid procrastinating, and you may well feel that no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to stop. While I can’t promise that you will never procrastinate again, I do have some suggestions that may help you do it less often or less completely, so that even when you do find that you are under pressure and have no idea how you will possibly accomplish all that you need to in the time you have available, you can keep from becoming so overwhelmed that you end up accomplishing way less than you should.
While teachers have become more willing to assist students with project planning, many of them only provide suggestions or assign timelines that relate directly to their individual projects. While that is a great thing, since it is meant to help you not only complete the project, but also develop your study skills, it is only one of many things you should consider when trying to complete the project in a timely manner. That is why my best piece of advice when it comes to projects is that in addition to a plan to complete a single project – whether provided by your teacher or not – you also need to plan how you will approach whatever projects you are assigned. No matter how much or how little guidance a teacher provides you, it is still up to you to determine exactly what you will do and when and how you will do it, and that is where figuring out what works for you and following through on that plan comes in. Most of you have teachers who work together and have some sort of team concept or common planning time, so they are aware that you have a lot to do for all your classes, not just theirs. As helpful as this often is when it comes to their scheduling of tests or of final due dates for projects, it is not as helpful when it comes to project timelines and plans, since they each expect you to find the time to work on their projects while you are also doing your other work in their classes, as well as in all your other classes. Along with not knowing how you will begin a project or finish it on time, not knowing how you will balance completing the project with everything else you need to do is the other reason you may well be tempted to procrastinate, which is why it is so important that you plan your project approach.
There is a lot that can go into your individual project approach, depending on how far you’ve come with your study skills and what your learning style, strengths, weaknesses, and challenges are, but the most important thing to include, because it relates directly to the goal of lessening or avoiding procrastination, is figuring out how you will manage your time. Many teachers will make a point of telling you that you should start on your project right away, but then leave it to you to figure out what that means. Will you make time for it every night, only on certain nights, and/or on weekends? Will you make sure to put in extra time whenever you realize you are falling behind on your goals, or when you know intermediate due dates are approaching? Whatever your answers are to these questions, make sure to write them down, so you don’t forget to follow through! Whether in your assignment book, on your device, on sticky notes in your room, on the assignment sheet for the project, all of the above, or somewhere else entirely, writing down the plan you’ve made, referring to it throughout the assigned time of the project, and checking off parts of the project that you’ve completed along the way are all important steps you can take to increase your chances of doing well on the project while decreasing the amount of pressure you feel.
When you first start to develop a project approach, it may seem daunting, but the more you do it, and the more you see positive results, the bigger the difference it will make over time. There are many more things to consider than how you will manage your time, and in my next post, I will go into more detail about them. Each individual project you are assigned will have unique expectations, but they will all encourage you to use your study skills. The more able you are to apply study skills to project completion, the less you will procrastinate, and the less you procrastinate, the more success you will see.