The reverse procrastination method is what I used to get through my college classes (for the most part). In this post, I will explain the process and give some examples of how you implement this in your life today.
The method is painfully simple.
Do the thing you have to do now.
No making excuses, no waiting. Do it immediately.
Let me illustrate this. If I got an assignment like an essay to do, my rational self would add this to my schedule (maybe a week from the due date). I would add it to my to-do list on the scheduled day and attempt to work on it. There are a few reasons this pseudo-rational method didn’t work for me:
- I will procrastinate until the last day even if it’s on my schedule.
- I will stress out until the last day.
The second reason is the very thing that led me to change my ways. I would be constantly stressed about an upcoming exam or an assignment, making my weeks way harder than they needed to be. I started doing the opposite of this—hence ‘reverse procrastination. Instead of waiting till the last minute, I started immediately. When given an essay prompt, I made it my goal to write a rough first draft on the day of.
This helped me in many ways.
- I produced higher-quality work I had more time to edit my work, study for exams, and deepen my research.
- I was less stressed overall Knowing that my assignments were ready helped my stress levels to go down which translated to me being able to enjoy myself without feeling guilty.
- I was more productive Finishing a task that I had to do served as motivation for me to accomplish more during the day.
Suzie Key Tima 
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