To stop procrastinating on studying, make the first study session tiny and specific, give it a time and a place, and remove your phone before you start. "Revise biology" is too vague to begin, so turn it into a step you could finish in two minutes, such as "open chapter 4 and answer the first practice question". Start at a set time, work for five minutes, and let yourself stop if you want to. Study in short sessions spread over several days, and test yourself rather than rereading, because those two methods help you remember more for the same effort. If you've already fallen behind, forgive yourself and start with today's step rather than trying to catch up all at once.
Why studying is so easy to put off
Studying has almost everything that makes a task easy to avoid. In Piers Steel's review of procrastination research, people put tasks off most when the task felt unpleasant, when they doubted they could do it well and when the reward was far away (Steel, 2007). Studying often scores badly on all three. The material can be dull or confusing, you may not be sure you'll understand it, and the exam that makes it worthwhile is weeks away. Your phone, on the other hand, offers something pleasant right now.
Studying is also hard to define. Homework has a clear end, but "studying for finals" doesn't. When a task has no obvious first step and no obvious finish, it's easy to keep postponing it.
What procrastination does to grades and stress
Putting off studying can feel better in the short term, and research backs that up. In a well-known study of university students, the ones who procrastinated reported less stress and fewer symptoms of illness early in the term. By the end of the term, they reported more stress and illness than the others, and they had lower grades (Tice and Baumeister, 1997). A meta-analysis of 33 studies found that procrastination was linked to lower academic performance overall (Kim and Seo, 2015). The relief of waiting is real, but it's borrowed from later in the term.
How to start studying when you don't want to
1. Turn "study" into a two-minute step
Write down one action you could finish in about two minutes. It should start with a verb and describe something you can picture yourself doing. "Study for chemistry" becomes "open the problem set and read question 1". The two-minute rule guide explains why this works.
2. Give it a time and a place
Decide exactly when and where: "At 4:30, at the library desk, I'll open the problem set and read question 1." This kind of if-then plan makes people much more likely to follow through, according to a meta-analysis of 94 studies (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006).
3. Put your phone somewhere else
Leaving your phone on the desk means you'll keep deciding not to pick it up, and each of those decisions takes effort. Put it in a bag or another room before you start. If you need it for study materials, turn on airplane mode or use a blocker for the session.
4. Work in short blocks
Set a timer for a short block and stop when it rings. Five minutes is enough for a first session if you've been avoiding a subject. Once starting feels easier, move to longer blocks, such as the 25-minute sessions of the Pomodoro Technique (Cirillo, 2018). The free Pomodoro timer on this site runs in your browser and has a 2-minute warm-up for days when starting is hard. The timer gives the session a clear end, which makes it easier to begin.
5. Test yourself instead of rereading
How you study affects how much you remember. A review of ten common study techniques rated practice testing and spacing sessions out over time as the most useful, and rated rereading and highlighting as much less useful (Dunlosky et al., 2013). Practice questions also give each session a clear task, which makes them easier to start than "go over my notes".
6. Spread your sessions out
Four 20-minute sessions across a week help you remember more than one 80-minute session the night before. Smaller sessions are also easier to start, so spacing helps with procrastination as well as with memory.
7. Forgive yourself and start from today
If you've already fallen behind, guilt makes studying feel worse and makes you more likely to keep avoiding it. In a study of first-year students, those who forgave themselves for procrastinating before a midterm procrastinated less before the next exam (Wohl et al., 2010). Don't try to make up all the lost time in one night. Do today's step, then tomorrow's.
First steps for common study tasks
| The study task you're putting off | A two-minute first step |
|---|---|
| Revise for a maths exam | Open last year's paper and read question 1. |
| Write an essay | Open a blank document and type the essay question at the top. |
| Learn vocabulary for a language test | Open the word list and cover the translations for the first five words. |
| Read a textbook chapter | Read the chapter's headings and its summary at the end. |
| Study for a history exam | Write down three dates from the topic without looking at your notes. |
| Finish a lab report | Open the report and fill in the title and date. |
| Do a problem set | Copy the first problem onto paper. |
| Start a dissertation chapter | Open the chapter file and write one rough sentence about what it argues. |
| Make revision flashcards | Make one flashcard for the first key term in your notes. |
| Prepare a presentation | Create the first slide with the title and your name. |
If you're stuck for a first step, the free first-step tool splits your assignment into parts and writes one for you.
If the exam is soon
When the exam is days away, the urge to avoid studying often gets stronger, because thinking about it is stressful. Start by writing down the topics the exam covers, which takes two minutes and turns a vague worry into a list. Then pick the topic you're most likely to be asked about and do practice questions on it first. Sleep still matters: studying through the night before an exam usually costs more in focus than it gains in material covered.
How Startr helps you study
Startr turns the subject you're avoiding into a two-minute first step, in one sentence that starts with a verb. If the step still feels too big, a "Make it smaller" button shrinks it. You choose a time and a place, and at that time Startr counts you down from three and starts a five-minute timer. A short check at night asks how it went, and the next day's step builds on what you did.
Questions people ask
Why do I procrastinate on studying even when I care about my grades?
Caring about grades can make it worse, because it raises the stakes of each study session. Studying is also unpleasant in the moment while the reward is far away, and that combination is one of the strongest predictors of procrastination.
How long should I study at a time?
If you've been avoiding a subject, start with five minutes so that beginning is easy. Once you're starting regularly, sessions of 25 to 50 minutes with short breaks work well for most people.
Is it too late to start studying?
It's rarely too late to improve your result. Focus on the topics most likely to come up, use practice questions, and sleep before the exam.
How do I stop procrastinating on homework?
Homework has a clear end, which helps. Start with the first question rather than the whole assignment, do it at a set time each day, and keep your phone out of reach until the first question is done.
Related guides
- How to stop procrastinating: eight methods backed by research.
- Task paralysis: why you sometimes can't start at all, and how to get unstuck.
- Why do I procrastinate? Six common reasons and what helps with each one.
- How to get motivated: why motivation often comes after you start, with two-minute ways into studying.
- ADHD and procrastination: why starting is harder with ADHD and what helps.
Startr is a procrastination app that works well for studying. You type the subject or assignment you keep putting off, it writes a first step that takes two minutes, you pick a time and a place, and at that time it counts you down and starts a 5-minute timer. There's no sign-up, and the web app works on any phone or computer.
Get my first stepSources
- Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 65–94. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.65
- Tice, D. M. & Baumeister, R. F. (1997). Longitudinal study of procrastination, performance, stress, and health: The costs and benefits of dawdling. Psychological Science, 8(6), 454–458. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00460.x
- Kim, K. R. & Seo, E. H. (2015). The relationship between procrastination and academic performance: A meta-analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 82, 26–33. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2015.02.038
- Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J. & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58. doi:10.1177/1529100612453266
- Gollwitzer, P. M. & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69–119. doi:10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1
- Wohl, M. J. A., Pychyl, T. A. & Bennett, S. H. (2010). I forgive myself, now I can study: How self-forgiveness for procrastinating can reduce future procrastination. Personality and Individual Differences, 48(7), 803–808. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.01.029
- Cirillo, F. (2018). The Pomodoro Technique: The Life-Changing Time-Management System. Currency.