When was the last time you lay in bed at night, reviewed the past day, and thought: “Today I was really good!” Or to put it another way: When was the last time you were completely satisfied with yourself?
Many students cannot answer this question.
I often couldn’t do it myself in the past. There were times when I didn’t know when I was last satisfied.
Why? Because I made big plans at first, but soon got distracted and wasted my time on stupid little things. I planned a lot but then did nothing. I was a dreamer, an inactive dreamer.
And this combination is dangerous.
It makes thousands of students unhappy because it sets a mean dynamic in motion: First, you imagine the most beautiful future scenarios, but because you don’t act and stay in your dreams, you don’t get any closer to this state. This makes you unhappy and to cover up this feeling you take refuge in the next dream and so on.
Do you know that, too?
Then I have two pieces of good news for you. First, you are not alone and you are not an idiot just because you have a little imagination. Second: I can help you with your problem and all you need to do is add a little word to your inner speech patterns.
Why “I’ll do that tomorrow.” is Poison for You
Today wasn’t your day, but tomorrow everything will be better. Tomorrow you will finally tackle your tasks. You’re off to a great start tomorrow. Right? Not correct. Tomorrow you will achieve just as little as today. And do you know why? Because you will hand over your responsibilities one more time and put off working on your dreams again. Even employing an essay writing service is much better, because actual work is being completed.
This problem begins in your mind: as soon as you make a commitment for the future but don’t take immediate action, you’re signaling to your brain, “It’s okay, we don’t have to do anything.” Once you start leaving important things undone, although you should check them off now, you are initiating a dangerous development: your subconscious now assumes that this scam will get through more often.
And that will break your neck in the long run.
When you convince yourself that tomorrow will be a nicer, more productive, or better day and use that as a reason to sit idle, you’re establishing one of the most insidious excuses college students struggle with. You create a foundation that you can use to fool yourself every day.
But there is a simple remedy.
This Little Word Gives Wings to Your Studies
A simple but powerful strategy against this particular form of procrastination is to change your thought patterns. To be precise, you change the language of your thoughts and focus on your future mindset. An inconspicuous little word can help you enormously:
Now.
With the word “now” you create a direct temporal reference between your goals and the associated, concrete tasks. You no longer stay on the mental level of desire, but pull your dreams into the here and now – to work towards this state now:
- You’re not going to study for the exam tomorrow so you can pass with a good grade, you’re going to study now.
- You don’t go to the gym tomorrow to get healthier and fitter, you go now.
- You don’t write your application tomorrow, but now.
- You don’t read the chapter from the book tomorrow, you read it now.
- You don’t work on your thesis tomorrow, you work now.
Once you establish this mindset, your dreams are no longer dreams. They become goals. And you immediately assign concrete action steps to these goals, which you can do now.
Later is Not an Option
This future attitude means that there is no other option for you than to act immediately. Never assume that your work will be better tomorrow than it is today. First, you don’t know, and second, there’s a much higher chance you’ll be even more unmotivated tomorrow because you’ll resent past procrastination.
Do today what needs to be done today.
Force yourself to forget morning as an alternative. Only today matters. Because then you have your future self free and have time tomorrow to enjoy your successes of today or to take another step in the direction of your goals.
Conclusion
Don’t limit yourself to dreaming of a beautiful future. Take action and make your dreams come true. Add power and momentum to your desires by using the word “now.” In this way, you will give your student life new impetus and you will overcome your listlessness.
Therefore: Be active, act quickly, and think less.
By that, I don’t mean that you should act without thinking and start working on one project after the other without a plan. Thinking is important – especially when it comes to the content of your studies. But as soon as your thoughts become sluggish and prevent you from taking action, you have to steam them up.
The little magic word “now” will help you. One final question: What are you going to do now?