Why are you procrastinating?

Procrastination on your dissertation usually means one of two things- either you don’t know HOW to do whatever you need to do next OR the payoff for doing it isn’t big enough. In the first case, procrastinating because you don’t know what to do next can be resolved, usually, by talking about your dissertation to someone else. Contact your advisor or committee for guidance. If that’s not possible (or is too scary!), contact a colleague or another student. Ask if you can use them as a sounding board. You can also try to explain your project to a layperson and see if that helps you get clear on what to do next. Remember, if you know where you need to go, you can usually find someone to help you get there. In the second case, procrastinating because the payoff isn’t worth the effort: you have two choices. Either make the task smaller or make the payoff bigger. Use rewards liberally.

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