How to Beat Procrastination

CFA General
#1

Year after year, candidates finish their exams and come back to say if there’s one thing they would change is to start studying earlier.

Yet, people seem to always have excuses to start after the Christmas, after Chinese New Year, after Valentine’s Day, after Easter…

If you ask me when is the best time to start? My answer is always NOW!

The reason being there is nothing more devastating in June when you’ve realized you have hours before the exam only to remember how much time you have wasted “planning” to start your studying instead of ACTUALLY studying.

So how to actually beat procrastination?

My solution is quite simple, start now, read 2 pages and stop.

I am sure anyone can find time to read 2 pages right? it doesn’t matter if it’s Christmas or New Years, we can all find time to read 2 pages.

This is the thing, a lot of people build up this HUGE burden like if they open their books, the monster will come out and it will suck your life. Do not start by thinking you are going to commit to 30 hours of studying a week, start by thinking you are just going to browse the topics, and read a few pages from here and there.

And i am sure, even if you PLAN to only read 2 pages at a time, you probably will end up reading more because you will find very inefficient to read just 2 pages. In probably a week, you will slowly ease into it and be reading 30 pages a day.

My point is, do not think of the best time to start, the best strategy to study, the best topic to read first, the best fastest way to read…

JUST START.

NOW!

BEST OF LUCK

NANA

#2

^ LOL

#3

I like this +1

#4

Why? Her ideas are good lah blush.

#5

Thank you?

#6

There’s a great book on beating procrastination called “The Now Habit.” Highly recommended.

I still have it on my bookshelf.

#7

It’s all about discipline. Either someone has it or not.

#8

The candidates don’t have time to read the book now, please summarize!

:slight_smile:

#9

I’ll let you know when I get around to it…

More seriously, it’s a good book, because it’s one of the few books on procrastination that doesn’t simply sum up to “just do it.” Rather it gets into why people tend to procrastinate, which boils down to:

  1. Perfectionism - feeling inadequate because they don’t want to produce a non-perfect product (ironically, this is the same thing that drives workaholics). So to get started, you have to give yourself permission to do an imperfect job (which doesn’t have to be the final job, since you can polish many things later).

  2. Feeling that once the task is started, it will never end or will take too long. Here you give yourself permission to stop after a time - say 30 minutes - if you need to. More often than not, once you get started, it’s easier to keep doing stuff, so knowing you can stop later helps.

  3. Feeling that you’ll never have time to enjoy your life. What it recommends as a strategy is something like a “reverse calendar,” where you schedule everything you want to do first, and then stick work in the unused portions, so that you know that you have enjoyable, fun things happening later in the day. Many people procrastinate because they feel if they don’t enjoy the moment now, they won’t be able to enjoy it later (ironically, procrastination itself tends to reinforce that view).

There are a few other things that I can’t remember right now, but I found it really useful. If you want more of a synopsis, there’s always the option of Amazon.

#10

I think a more valuable book for most here is “How to break into finance from IT”.

#11

The most obvious path is desk quant developper ?

I started level 2 with FRA, is it me or it is almost the same stuff than in level 1 with a few more bells and whistles ?

#12

i will read 2 pages…then fall asleep…best sleep aid…ever…lol

#13

Your 3 points are very similar to what i said earlier.

I agree a lot of people here spent too much time trying to strategize and plan for a perfect study schedule, which is good if you spent 5min on it, but if you spent 5 days, 2 weeks, to come here and ask for suggestions and then follow up questions, and revise your study plan before you even start… then you are eating away valuable time.

As well people always think they aren’t going to take breaks once they start, “because i am going away during Christmas, i am going to start after the holidays”, but in fact, what’s stopping them from starting in November and take a break over Christmas???

#14

Now habit seems very right. I used to read most cfa topics on PDFs at work. I was a remote research analyst and my work involved being glued to the seat. So instead of facebook and news etc I just read PDFs after PDFs. I think that helped a lot.

#15

My strategy of beating procrastination mirrors Dan Ariely’s prescription (if I am not mistaken, it is in his “Predictably Irrational”). Basically, it boils down to associating studies with something more enjoyable (in my case, watching animes). I stockpile a nice stack of anime discs (and continue purchasing new animes when they start getting depleted). Every night before watching any of those, I will make it a point to go through the syllabus and write some notes on my readings before actually touching any of the anime discs. I also make it a point to watch an episode or two right after studying just to reinforce the association of studying with something pleasurable. It is rather crude Pavlovian method but I did manage to break out of my procrastination streak as of early December this year.

#16

Just imagine you are sitting there waiting for your results and feed off that adrenaline. Not to mention your fear of failure.

#17

I guess it works at first when you want to begin to study, but you can’t get hooked on the anime and then watch the whole series (especially if it’s long), instead of studying longer and harder.

#18

I know that feeling bro. I have been procrastinating past my L1. Nana, you have hit the nail on the head :slight_smile:

#19

I want to kill myself for not studying. What am I doing? Wth am I procrastinating?

#20

Lmao. I can imagine how you must have felt sitting there, assuming this lol was not for Nana but for the first comment that followed.