procrastinate. These students, of course, aren't perfect, and they still occasionally put off work for no good reason. But overall their strategies made them significantly more effective at following a study plan then their peers—and this made all the difference.
What follows are five anti-procrastination battle plans drawn directly from my straight-A interviews. These techniques are not theoretical; they are exhaustively used by real students to beat down procrastination again and again. Trust them. Put them into practice immediately. Make them into a habit. The effect will be immediate. You may never fully rid yourself of the urge to procrastinate, and that's okay. But with the right strategies in place, you can rid yourself of the fear that you'll always give in to that urge.
Procrastination Battle Plan #1: Keep a work progress journal
Think about the last time that you procrastinated on something important. You can probably recall some of the wishy-washy excuses your mind concocted for delaying the work. Something along the lines of "I don't have all the materials here with me now, but if I waited until tomorrow, I could get started right away with
everything I need," or"It's getting late, and my
