4 Bad Habits You Have To Quit If You Want To Finish Your Paper

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Ever wondered why you’re having SUCH a hard time finishing an academic paper? It could be due to the stress it engenders, or it could be about distractions. I can’t tell you what it is, but I can tell you what not to do. Here are some habits you should quit doing in order to effectively accomplish a writing task:

1. Stop pitying yourself.

While it is true that paperwork makes a student’s life a living hell, you need to accept the fact that teachers give you these tasks not to torture you, but to help you develop your critical thinking and writing skills. Keep in mind that pitying yourself diminishes your motivation to finish a task. If you think your paperwork is too much for you to handle, think about those who are in graduate school right now; put yourself in their shoes. This might help mitigate the stress as you realize how luck you are to only have ¼ of the workload that they have.

2. Enough with the rants on Twitter.

We all hate when teachers demand us to write a lengthy paper, despite the fact that we could sufficiently sum up our thoughts in less than three paragraphs. The effort it takes to add on more words to an essay can be tiresome. It can have this brain-exploding kind of after effect, which often compels people to let out all of their frustrations on Twitter. However, as much as it mgiht feel good in the moment to do this, it only ends up wasting your time and diminishing from your productivity. Rather than posting rants on Twitter, look for some articles that relate to your topic, which might give you more ideas and thus more material for your paper.

3. Stop constantly monitoring your progress.

Writing a paper takes a lot of time, and especially with the constant revisions that need to take place. If something sounds off, we tend to revise it, but it’s importnat not to freak out every time you realize how many you’ve just excised from your draft. During these times, it’s important to learn how to chill out and breathe. Just keep on writing and you’ll be surprised to see how much progress you’ve made. Ceaselessly monitoring your progess will only add to your anxiety.

4. Stop depriving yourself of sleep.

A lack of sleep is the best way to lose it — the best way to ignite The System-Destructor. Pushing yourself to the limit only makes things worse. A lack of sleep will cost you not only your energy, but also your capacity to think rationally. Staying up all night is never good, and especially when you’re already stressed out. Always remember that all tasks are easier when you’re at your best health and mental state. So cut yourself some slack and get the sleep you need!