• Break down unpleasant or overwhelming jobs into small manageable parts and schedule a limited time to work on them.
  
• Remember, five minutes of work done is five minutes closer to finishing – don’t get caught thinking all or nothing. Partial completion can be satisfying.
  
• Be planful – use an hourly schedule and a prioritized to-do list. Look at them as tools to make your life run more smoothly and not as a trap or something else to feel anxious about or to avoid.
  
• Reward yourself! Schedule in some relaxation time, some time to be with friends and family or to do something fun.
  
• Ask your self this – Is it harder to do it now or to do it later and deal with the accumulated consequences?
  
• There’s no perfect decision. Making any decision is better than not making one at all. To deliberate indefinitely is to set yourself up for failure. Make a decision and act on it, you can always change you mind if you need to.
  
• The sooner you start, the more quickly you can get it done.
  
• It’s better to try and fail than to not try at all. Have the courage to make mistakes and take risks.
  
• Set realistic, concrete, obtainable goals and reward yourself when you reach them.
  
• Activity precedes motivation. Get something started and the motivation will come with starting the task.
  
• Pay attention to your work inhibiting thoughts and turn them into work oriented ones (e.g. I don’t feel like doing this right now, but once I get started it will go fast and then I can do what I want).

Adapted from: Pauk, Walter. How to study in college. Boston: Houghton Mifflin