Help! I'm procrastinating!
So I've found a new cool and fun way to procrastinate on assignments. It's eBay and online shopping *hangs head in shame*
It's not just buying things, but just looking through ebay and checking on my saved searches, and trying to find similar items elsewhere - I'm sinking so much time into it. It's obviously not good for my bank account either.
Does anyone relate and have any advice on how to stop it?
Comments
For habits - whether you want to break them or make them - I find keeping a tracker to be a useful technique. Have you ever tried that?
Self talk could be useful here too - when you log on you could ask yourself if this what you want to spend your time doing.
Have you found anything to be helpful for you yet?
@Ben-RO I do have an acorns account but i barely touch it aha. Usually I'm quite good fiscally (I buy those reeeal cheap things that are like $1) and I don't have a lot of outgoing expenses and I've stopped going out on weekends and stuff, so I actually have a lot of disposable income. Thank you for reminding me about acorns though, I should start putting money in. I also like the idea of setting a limit, I might try that.
@May_ I knooow its the browsing thats the time wasting part!! I might start tracking but I'm not really sure how i would go about it...
Oooh so the primary concern is time management/task stuff @ivory?
Okay, well @N1ghtW1ng showed me this app that helps me when i get a bit procrastinaty (this should be a real word). I'm also a big fan of the Pomodoro technique which a quick google will tell you all you need to know about it I find it particularly interesting because the 20 minute busy sessions line up quite well with how long some researchers reckon the human brain is good at focusing on a single task.
There's two ways to look at procrastination, one way is to think about the thing you shouldn't be doing and trying to stop yourself doing the thing, the other way is to think about how to get into the task you want/need to be doing that the procrastination monkey in your brain is taking you away from.
This comic/blog also.
what about setting yourself an asisgnment goal and have the online shopping as a reward?
so say complete assignment 1 or do section A or assignment 1 and then half an hour of online shopping then do the next part or next assignment @ivory
@scared01 that's a good suggestion - I like using that for myself. I guess it is about setting up rewards that you really want to do - and if it is having a browse online every now and then that you find relaxing, then that is okay 🙂
the web locking thing seems like a good idea @May_ and @Ben-RO i also use the podmoro technique a lot ^^
heheh @scared01 guess who just (pretty much ) finished an assignment (งツ)ว
i think the main thing as well is stop buying stuff i dont really need. usually im really good with restricting impulse buys but it seems when i have an assignment i struggle a lot with it. i think my thinking is like, well im having a tough time so i should do something nice for myself like this episode actually ruined my life
however its not so bad i got paid from literally four different sources over the past two days so i have been able to put a lot into savings ahahaha
woo hoo @ivory GO YOU!
haha i bet that took alot of concentration and most of that to not go onto the internet 
yes impulse buying is terrible to deal with im gulty for it too, just keep away from it wen you feel like impulse buying
Ohhh i have encountered this issue in the past @ivory! It can be quite the distraction/bad habit/ addiction!
Not sure if this helps but here's some things that worked for me:
- Make a budget including some savings
- Put the savings somewhere else like an Acorns account, or something else that takes a few days to access.
- Have a cooling off period
- Write a list of things you want/need and reasons why and don't buy stuff just for the sake of having stuff
- Give yourself a bit of time to shop but put a limit on it (if it's fun and you're comfortable with what you're spending) - you can kind of use it as a reward activity for other stuff you get done.
Tried any of this or something else?
