what to do when your stuck on homework

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By submitting my email address. i certify that i am 13 years of age or older, agree to recieve marketing email messages from the princeton review, and agree to terms of use., 8 easy ways to finish your homework faster.

How many times have you found yourself still staring at your textbook around midnight (or later!) even when you started your homework hours earlier? Those lost hours could be explained by Parkinson’s Law, which states, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” In other words, if you give yourself all night to memorize those geometry formulas for your quiz tomorrow, you’ll inevitably find that a 30 minute task has somehow filled your entire evening.

We know that you have more homework than ever. But even with lots and lots to do, a few tweaks to your study routine could help you spend less time getting more accomplished. Here are 8 steps to make Parkinson’s Law work to your advantage:

1. Make a list

This should be a list of everything that has to be done that evening. And we mean, everything—from re-reading notes from this morning’s history class to quizzing yourself on Spanish vocabulary.

2. Estimate the time needed for each item on your list

You can be a little ruthless here. However long you think a task will take, try shaving off 5 or 10 minutes. But, be realistic. You won’t magically become a speed reader.

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3. Gather all your gear

Collect EVERYTHING you will need for the homework you are working on (like your laptop for writing assignments and pencils for problem sets). Getting up for supplies takes you off course and makes it that much harder to get back to your homework.

The constant blings and beeps from your devices can make it impossible to focus on what you are working on. Switch off or silence your phones and tablets, or leave them in another room until it’s time to take a tech break.

5. Time yourself

Noting how much time something actually takes will help you estimate better and plan your next study session.

6. Stay on task

If you’re fact checking online, it can be so easy to surf on over to a completely unrelated site. A better strategy is to note what information you need to find online, and do it all at once at the end of the study session.

7. Take plenty of breaks

Most of us need a break between subjects or to break up long stretches of studying. Active breaks are a great way to keep your energy up. Tech breaks can be an awesome way to combat the fear of missing out that might strike while you are buried in your work, but they also tend to stretch much longer than originally intended. Stick to a break schedule of 10 minutes or so.

8. Reward yourself!

Finish early? If you had allocated 30 minutes for reading a biology chapter and it only took 20, you can apply those extra 10 minutes to a short break—or just move on to your next task. If you stay on track, you might breeze through your work quickly enough to catch up on some Netflix.

Our best piece of advice? Keep at it. The more you use this system, the easier it will become. You’ll be surprised by how much time you can shave off homework just by focusing and committing to a distraction-free study plan.

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How Classes Work

Course catalog, class schedule, recommendations, prospective students & parents handbook, current students & parents handbook, general information, the homework, more information, information for parents.

Need help finding the right class? Have a question about how classes work?

When You Get Stuck

Please be sure to read over the It Will Be Hard page first. There, we've outlined our philosophy for why we've made the courses so challenging, and we've listed a couple of strategies for success.

This page is for the student that has gotten stuck. Getting stuck is no fun. Below, you'll find advice for where to seek out more ideas and strategies when you've run out. We also have a special note for teachers and families in the How To Be A Good Tutor section below.

There are two powerful techniques in particular mentioned in that article: asking for help and taking a break . It's often a good idea to take a break both before asking for help and after asking for help. This could mean moving on to a different problem or taking a break from the homework altogether for a brief time. Returning to a problem later with a fresh mind, as well as with any advice or guidance received after asking for help, can make a huge difference.

Your class message board is the best place to ask questions during the course. The section below on How To Ask A Good Question outlines some ways to ask specific and direct questions that will help you get un-stuck as soon as possible.

One final strategy for AoPS courses is to start the homework early . Unlike some assignments that you may be accustomed to, our homework is not designed to be completed in one sitting, in one evening, or even in one day. Start the homework early and allow time to think through problems, take breaks, and ask questions. This is essential for true learning to occur (and ultimately for success in the course). Most courses also have a My Goals tab on the course homepage to help you set up a schedule for completing work between classes. You can request an extension if you need another couple of days to work on a writing problem.

It may help to consider some of the following things if you're stuck.

What makes the problem hard? A good first step may be to do something that gets rid of the thing that makes it hard.
What information haven't you used yet? When you're stuck, incorporating unused information is often the key to getting unstuck.
Can you simplify the problem? Explore the problem with smaller numbers or a simpler version of the problem and see if a pattern emerges.
Can you work backwards? Start from the goal and ask yourself what you need to get there.
Does this remind you of anything? If this problem resembles one you've seen before, a similar approach may help here.
What does the problem have to do with this week's class? This is cheating a bit, since the problems you'll meet in the real world won't tell you which week they are in, but your homework problems are often related to that week's material.

Most often, we ask others questions to get answers. But at AoPS, we won't just tell you what the next step is or what you need to do in order to get a perfect score. Instead, we'll help you understand the material and ask questions that help you develop your own critical thinking skills. This will allow you to solve the problem on your own.

Some students may find this frustrating because the homework is due that day, and they just want to be told what to do. Please understand that you will not learn as much this way, and we will not just give you the answer or solution.

Moderate Level Question-Asking: Be Specific

Statements like "Please help" or "I'm stuck" are very hard to answer. After all, there aren't any details there! These statements will generally get a response of "What do you need help with?" or "What are you stuck on?" or "What don't you understand?"

In order to get help, think carefully about what you're are stuck on and try to tell us about it in your question. Some examples are:

"I don't understand what the question means when it says ____." "Can someone explain how (some property) applies to this problem?"

Expert Level Question-Asking: Providing Background

In addition to asking specific questions, great questions include some background. If we know about what you have already tried or how you're thinking about the problem, it will help us give better, more relevant tips. Expert-level questions look like this:

"I tried (some approach), but now I'm stuck. Can someone give me a hint?" "It seems like we can use (some property) on this problem. I can tell how it applies ____ but I'm stuck on how it works with ____. Any tips?"

Knowing what you are having trouble with is an important skill to develop. To help us assist you in the best way, try to figure out specifically what is stopping you from moving forward. Try to make your question as specific as possible. We are here to help you, but we need some information to directly respond to your inquiry.

Getting Started

Regarding homework questions, AoPS has a general policy that students should get the discussion started. If you tell us you have no idea how to start, we will prompt you to come up with an idea to get the ball rolling. It doesn't even have to be a good idea, but looking at a problem and coming up with ideas is an important problem-solving skill that we want you to practice. After you get in the habit of coming up with ideas, then you can sort out the good ones.

Below are some general guidelines we use when helping students in our classes, and we welcome you to incorporate any of these when helping your student.

We wish to be a guide, a coach, a facilitator of practice, and not an omniscient being who fills passive minds with facts and formulas. In this spirit, you'll notice that most of the examples given below are questions aimed at getting the students do the "heavy lifting" and deep thinking, rather than statements that provide an answer or give away the "right" next step.

Listen to the student. Your goal is to help the student discover the answer in their own way. A good tutor begins by finding out exactly how the student is thinking about the problem. When a student tells us, "I don't know how to solve this problem," we always respond with something like, "Where did you start? What did you try? Where did you get stuck?"

Point out any misconceptions or broken assumptions. "Explain this part to me a little more." "Does this part work for odd numbers, too?" "Let's try to draw a picture of this part." "How does this step compare to the problems from the book?"

Help the student find strategies that will help him or her explore the current set of ideas. "How about we try some small cases of this?" "Is there anything useful you can add to this diagram?" "Are there any assumptions in the problem you haven't used?" "Did you try a simpler version of the problem?"

Help the student track down new ideas. "How about putting this problem down for a while and going back to the textbook?" "Did you solve any similar problems in class? Look back over the transcript again."

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How to Do Homework: 15 Expert Tips and Tricks

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Everyone struggles with homework sometimes, but if getting your homework done has become a chronic issue for you, then you may need a little extra help. That’s why we’ve written this article all about how to do homework. Once you’re finished reading it, you’ll know how to do homework (and have tons of new ways to motivate yourself to do homework)!

We’ve broken this article down into a few major sections. You’ll find:

A diagnostic test to help you figure out why you’re struggling with homework
A discussion of the four major homework problems students face, along with expert tips for addressing them
A bonus section with tips for how to do homework fast

By the end of this article, you’ll be prepared to tackle whatever homework assignments your teachers throw at you .

So let’s get started!

How to Do Homework: Figure Out Your Struggles

Sometimes it feels like everything is standing between you and getting your homework done. But the truth is, most people only have one or two major roadblocks that are keeping them from getting their homework done well and on time.

The best way to figure out how to get motivated to do homework starts with pinpointing the issues that are affecting your ability to get your assignments done. That’s why we’ve developed a short quiz to help you identify the areas where you’re struggling.

Take the quiz below and record your answers on your phone or on a scrap piece of paper. Keep in mind there are no wrong answers!

1. You’ve just been assigned an essay in your English class that’s due at the end of the week. What’s the first thing you do?

A. Keep it in mind, even though you won’t start it until the day before it’s due B. Open up your planner. You’ve got to figure out when you’ll write your paper since you have band practice, a speech tournament, and your little sister’s dance recital this week, too. C. Groan out loud. Another essay? You could barely get yourself to write the last one! D. Start thinking about your essay topic, which makes you think about your art project that’s due the same day, which reminds you that your favorite artist might have just posted to Instagram...so you better check your feed right now.

2. Your mom asked you to pick up your room before she gets home from work. You’ve just gotten home from school. You decide you’ll tackle your chores:

A. Five minutes before your mom walks through the front door. As long as it gets done, who cares when you start? B. As soon as you get home from your shift at the local grocery store. C. After you give yourself a 15-minute pep talk about how you need to get to work. D. You won’t get it done. Between texts from your friends, trying to watch your favorite Netflix show, and playing with your dog, you just lost track of time!

3. You’ve signed up to wash dogs at the Humane Society to help earn money for your senior class trip. You:

A. Show up ten minutes late. You put off leaving your house until the last minute, then got stuck in unexpected traffic on the way to the shelter. B. Have to call and cancel at the last minute. You forgot you’d already agreed to babysit your cousin and bake cupcakes for tomorrow’s bake sale. C. Actually arrive fifteen minutes early with extra brushes and bandanas you picked up at the store. You’re passionate about animals, so you’re excited to help out! D. Show up on time, but only get three dogs washed. You couldn’t help it: you just kept getting distracted by how cute they were!

4. You have an hour of downtime, so you decide you’re going to watch an episode of The Great British Baking Show. You:

A. Scroll through your social media feeds for twenty minutes before hitting play, which means you’re not able to finish the whole episode. Ugh! You really wanted to see who was sent home! B. Watch fifteen minutes until you remember you’re supposed to pick up your sister from band practice before heading to your part-time job. No GBBO for you! C. You finish one episode, then decide to watch another even though you’ve got SAT studying to do. It’s just more fun to watch people make scones. D. Start the episode, but only catch bits and pieces of it because you’re reading Twitter, cleaning out your backpack, and eating a snack at the same time.

5. Your teacher asks you to stay after class because you’ve missed turning in two homework assignments in a row. When she asks you what’s wrong, you say:

A. You planned to do your assignments during lunch, but you ran out of time. You decided it would be better to turn in nothing at all than submit unfinished work. B. You really wanted to get the assignments done, but between your extracurriculars, family commitments, and your part-time job, your homework fell through the cracks. C. You have a hard time psyching yourself to tackle the assignments. You just can’t seem to find the motivation to work on them once you get home. D. You tried to do them, but you had a hard time focusing. By the time you realized you hadn’t gotten anything done, it was already time to turn them in.

Like we said earlier, there are no right or wrong answers to this quiz (though your results will be better if you answered as honestly as possible). Here’s how your answers break down:

If your answers were mostly As, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is procrastination.
If your answers were mostly Bs, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is time management.
If your answers were mostly Cs, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is motivation.
If your answers were mostly Ds, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is getting distracted.

Now that you’ve identified why you’re having a hard time getting your homework done, we can help you figure out how to fix it! Scroll down to find your core problem area to learn more about how you can start to address it.

And one more thing: you’re really struggling with homework, it’s a good idea to read through every section below. You may find some additional tips that will help make homework less intimidating.

How to Do Homework When You’re a Procrastinator

Merriam Webster defines “procrastinate” as “to put off intentionally and habitually.” In other words, procrastination is when you choose to do something at the last minute on a regular basis. If you’ve ever found yourself pulling an all-nighter, trying to finish an assignment between periods, or sprinting to turn in a paper minutes before a deadline, you’ve experienced the effects of procrastination.

If you’re a chronic procrastinator, you’re in good company. In fact, one study found that 70% to 95% of undergraduate students procrastinate when it comes to doing their homework. Unfortunately, procrastination can negatively impact your grades. Researchers have found that procrastination can lower your grade on an assignment by as much as five points ...which might not sound serious until you realize that can mean the difference between a B- and a C+.

Procrastination can also negatively affect your health by increasing your stress levels , which can lead to other health conditions like insomnia, a weakened immune system, and even heart conditions. Getting a handle on procrastination can not only improve your grades, it can make you feel better, too!

The big thing to understand about procrastination is that it’s not the result of laziness. Laziness is defined as being “disinclined to activity or exertion.” In other words, being lazy is all about doing nothing. But a s this Psychology Today article explains , procrastinators don’t put things off because they don’t want to work. Instead, procrastinators tend to postpone tasks they don’t want to do in favor of tasks that they perceive as either more important or more fun. Put another way, procrastinators want to do things...as long as it’s not their homework!

3 Tips f or Conquering Procrastination

Because putting off doing homework is a common problem, there are lots of good tactics for addressing procrastination. Keep reading for our three expert tips that will get your homework habits back on track in no time.

#1: Create a Reward System

Like we mentioned earlier, procrastination happens when you prioritize other activities over getting your homework done. Many times, this happens because homework...well, just isn’t enjoyable. But you can add some fun back into the process by rewarding yourself for getting your work done.

Here’s what we mean: let’s say you decide that every time you get your homework done before the day it’s due, you’ll give yourself a point. For every five points you earn, you’ll treat yourself to your favorite dessert: a chocolate cupcake! Now you have an extra (delicious!) incentive to motivate you to leave procrastination in the dust.

If you’re not into cupcakes, don’t worry. Your reward can be anything that motivates you . Maybe it’s hanging out with your best friend or an extra ten minutes of video game time. As long as you’re choosing something that makes homework worth doing, you’ll be successful.

#2: Have a Homework Accountability Partner

If you’re having trouble getting yourself to start your homework ahead of time, it may be a good idea to call in reinforcements . Find a friend or classmate you can trust and explain to them that you’re trying to change your homework habits. Ask them if they’d be willing to text you to make sure you’re doing your homework and check in with you once a week to see if you’re meeting your anti-procrastination goals.

Sharing your goals can make them feel more real, and an accountability partner can help hold you responsible for your decisions. For example, let’s say you’re tempted to put off your science lab write-up until the morning before it’s due. But you know that your accountability partner is going to text you about it tomorrow...and you don’t want to fess up that you haven’t started your assignment. A homework accountability partner can give you the extra support and incentive you need to keep your homework habits on track.

#3: Create Your Own Due Dates

If you’re a life-long procrastinator, you might find that changing the habit is harder than you expected. In that case, you might try using procrastination to your advantage! If you just can’t seem to stop doing your work at the last minute, try setting your own due dates for assignments that range from a day to a week before the assignment is actually due.

Here’s what we mean. Let’s say you have a math worksheet that’s been assigned on Tuesday and is due on Friday. In your planner, you can write down the due date as Thursday instead. You may still put off your homework assignment until the last minute...but in this case, the “last minute” is a day before the assignment’s real due date . This little hack can trick your procrastination-addicted brain into planning ahead!

If you feel like Kevin Hart in this meme, then our tips for doing homework when you're busy are for you.

How to Do Homework When You’re too Busy

If you’re aiming to go to a top-tier college , you’re going to have a full plate. Because college admissions is getting more competitive, it’s important that you’re maintaining your grades , studying hard for your standardized tests , and participating in extracurriculars so your application stands out. A packed schedule can get even more hectic once you add family obligations or a part-time job to the mix.

If you feel like you’re being pulled in a million directions at once, you’re not alone. Recent research has found that stress—and more severe stress-related conditions like anxiety and depression— are a major problem for high school students . In fact, one study from the American Psychological Association found that during the school year, students’ stress levels are higher than those of the adults around them.

For students, homework is a major contributor to their overall stress levels . Many high schoolers have multiple hours of homework every night , and figuring out how to fit it into an already-packed schedule can seem impossible.

3 Tips for Fitting Homework Into Your Busy Schedule

While it might feel like you have literally no time left in your schedule, there are still ways to make sure you’re able to get your homework done and meet your other commitments. Here are our expert homework tips for even the busiest of students.

#1: Make a Prioritized To-Do List

You probably already have a to-do list to keep yourself on track. The next step is to prioritize the items on your to-do list so you can see what items need your attention right away.

Here’s how it works: at the beginning of each day, sit down and make a list of all the items you need to get done before you go to bed. This includes your homework, but it should also take into account any practices, chores, events, or job shifts you may have. Once you get everything listed out, it’s time to prioritize them using the labels A, B, and C. Here’s what those labels mean:

A Tasks : tasks that have to get done—like showing up at work or turning in an assignment—get an A.
B Tasks : these are tasks that you would like to get done by the end of the day but aren’t as time sensitive. For example, studying for a test you have next week could be a B-level task. It’s still important, but it doesn’t have to be done right away.
C Tasks: these are tasks that aren’t very important and/or have no real consequences if you don’t get them done immediately. For instance, if you’re hoping to clean out your closet but it’s not an assigned chore from your parents, you could label that to-do item with a C.

Prioritizing your to-do list helps you visualize which items need your immediate attention, and which items you can leave for later. A prioritized to-do list ensures that you’re spending your time efficiently and effectively, which helps you make room in your schedule for homework. So even though you might really want to start making decorations for Homecoming (a B task), you’ll know that finishing your reading log (an A task) is more important.

#2: Use a Planner With Time Labels

Your planner is probably packed with notes, events, and assignments already. (And if you’re not using a planner, it’s time to start!) But planners can do more for you than just remind you when an assignment is due. If you’re using a planner with time labels, it can help you visualize how you need to spend your day.

A planner with time labels breaks your day down into chunks, and you assign tasks to each chunk of time. For example, you can make a note of your class schedule with assignments, block out time to study, and make sure you know when you need to be at practice. Once you know which tasks take priority, you can add them to any empty spaces in your day.

Planning out how you spend your time not only helps you use it wisely, it can help you feel less overwhelmed, too . We’re big fans of planners that include a task list ( like this one ) or have room for notes ( like this one ).

#3: Set Reminders on Your Phone

If you need a little extra nudge to make sure you’re getting your homework done on time, it’s a good idea to set some reminders on your phone. You don’t need a fancy app, either. You can use your alarm app to have it go off at specific times throughout the day to remind you to do your homework. This works especially well if you have a set homework time scheduled. So if you’ve decided you’re doing homework at 6:00 pm, you can set an alarm to remind you to bust out your books and get to work.

If you use your phone as your planner, you may have the option to add alerts, emails, or notifications to scheduled events . Many calendar apps, including the one that comes with your phone, have built-in reminders that you can customize to meet your needs. So if you block off time to do your homework from 4:30 to 6:00 pm, you can set a reminder that will pop up on your phone when it’s time to get started.

This dog isn't judging your lack of motivation...but your teacher might. Keep reading for tips to help you motivate yourself to do your homework.

How to Do Homework When You’re Unmotivated

At first glance, it may seem like procrastination and being unmotivated are the same thing. After all, both of these issues usually result in you putting off your homework until the very last minute.

But there’s one key difference: many procrastinators are working, they’re just prioritizing work differently. They know they’re going to start their homework...they’re just going to do it later.

Conversely, people who are unmotivated to do homework just can’t find the willpower to tackle their assignments. Procrastinators know they’ll at least attempt the homework at the last minute, whereas people who are unmotivated struggle with convincing themselves to do it at a ll. For procrastinators, the stress comes from the inevitable time crunch. For unmotivated people, the stress comes from trying to convince themselves to do something they don’t want to do in the first place.

Here are some common reasons students are unmotivated in doing homework :

Assignments are too easy, too hard, or seemingly pointless
Students aren’t interested in (or passionate about) the subject matter
Students are intimidated by the work and/or feels like they don’t understand the assignment
Homework isn’t fun, and students would rather spend their time on things that they enjoy

To sum it up: people who lack motivation to do their homework are more likely to not do it at all, or to spend more time worrying about doing their homework than...well, actually doing it.

3 Tips for How to Get Motivated to Do Homework

The key to getting homework done when you’re unmotivated is to figure out what does motivate you, then apply those things to homework. It sounds tricky...but it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it! Here are our three expert tips for motivating yourself to do your homework.

#1: Use Incremental Incentives

When you’re not motivated, it’s important to give yourself small rewards to stay focused on finishing the task at hand. The trick is to keep the incentives small and to reward yourself often. For example, maybe you’re reading a good book in your free time. For every ten minutes you spend on your homework, you get to read five pages of your book. Like we mentioned earlier, make sure you’re choosing a reward that works for you!

So why does this technique work? Using small rewards more often allows you to experience small wins for getting your work done. Every time you make it to one of your tiny reward points, you get to celebrate your success, which gives your brain a boost of dopamine . Dopamine helps you stay motivated and also creates a feeling of satisfaction when you complete your homework !

#2: Form a Homework Group

If you’re having trouble motivating yourself, it’s okay to turn to others for support. Creating a homework group can help with this. Bring together a group of your friends or classmates, and pick one time a week where you meet and work on homework together. You don’t have to be in the same class, or even taking the same subjects— the goal is to encourage one another to start (and finish!) your assignments.

Another added benefit of a homework group is that you can help one another if you’re struggling to understand the material covered in your classes. This is especially helpful if your lack of motivation comes from being intimidated by your assignments. Asking your friends for help may feel less scary than talking to your teacher...and once you get a handle on the material, your homework may become less frightening, too.

#3: Change Up Your Environment

If you find that you’re totally unmotivated, it may help if you find a new place to do your homework. For example, if you’ve been struggling to get your homework done at home, try spending an extra hour in the library after school instead. The change of scenery can limit your distractions and give you the energy you need to get your work done.

If you’re stuck doing homework at home, you can still use this tip. For instance, maybe you’ve always done your homework sitting on your bed. Try relocating somewhere else, like your kitchen table, for a few weeks. You may find that setting up a new “homework spot” in your house gives you a motivational lift and helps you get your work done.

Social media can be a huge problem when it comes to doing homework. We have advice for helping you unplug and regain focus.

How to Do Homework When You’re Easily Distracted

We live in an always-on world, and there are tons of things clamoring for our attention. From friends and family to pop culture and social media, it seems like there’s always something (or someone!) distracting us from the things we need to do.

The 24/7 world we live in has affected our ability to focus on tasks for prolonged periods of time. Research has shown that over the past decade, an average person’s attention span has gone from 12 seconds to eight seconds . And when we do lose focus, i t takes people a long time to get back on task . One study found that it can take as long as 23 minutes to get back to work once we’ve been distracte d. No wonder it can take hours to get your homework done!

3 Tips to Improve Your Focus

If you have a hard time focusing when you’re doing your homework, it’s a good idea to try and eliminate as many distractions as possible. Here are three expert tips for blocking out the noise so you can focus on getting your homework done.

#1: Create a Distraction-Free Environment

Pick a place where you’ll do your homework every day, and make it as distraction-free as possible. Try to find a location where there won’t be tons of noise, and limit your access to screens while you’re doing your homework. Put together a focus-oriented playlist (or choose one on your favorite streaming service), and put your headphones on while you work.

You may find that other people, like your friends and family, are your biggest distraction. If that’s the case, try setting up some homework boundaries. Let them know when you’ll be working on homework every day, and ask them if they’ll help you keep a quiet environment. They’ll be happy to lend a hand!

#2: Limit Your Access to Technology

We know, we know...this tip isn’t fun, but it does work. For homework that doesn’t require a computer, like handouts or worksheets, it’s best to put all your technology away . Turn off your television, put your phone and laptop in your backpack, and silence notifications on any wearable tech you may be sporting. If you listen to music while you work, that’s fine...but make sure you have a playlist set up so you’re not shuffling through songs once you get started on your homework.

If your homework requires your laptop or tablet, it can be harder to limit your access to distractions. But it’s not impossible! T here are apps you can download that will block certain websites while you’re working so that you’re not tempted to scroll through Twitter or check your Facebook feed. Silence notifications and text messages on your computer, and don’t open your email account unless you absolutely have to. And if you don’t need access to the internet to complete your assignments, turn off your WiFi. Cutting out the online chatter is a great way to make sure you’re getting your homework done.

#3: Set a Timer (the Pomodoro Technique)

Have you ever heard of the Pomodoro technique ? It’s a productivity hack that uses a timer to help you focus!

Here’s how it works: first, set a timer for 25 minutes. This is going to be your work time. During this 25 minutes, all you can do is work on whatever homework assignment you have in front of you. No email, no text messaging, no phone calls—just homework. When that timer goes off, you get to take a 5 minute break. Every time you go through one of these cycles, it’s called a “pomodoro.” For every four pomodoros you complete, you can take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.

The pomodoro technique works through a combination of boundary setting and rewards. First, it gives you a finite amount of time to focus, so you know that you only have to work really hard for 25 minutes. Once you’ve done that, you’re rewarded with a short break where you can do whatever you want. Additionally, tracking how many pomodoros you complete can help you see how long you’re really working on your homework. (Once you start using our focus tips, you may find it doesn’t take as long as you thought!)

Two Bonus Tips for How to Do Homework Fast

Even if you’re doing everything right, there will be times when you just need to get your homework done as fast as possible. (Why do teachers always have projects due in the same week? The world may never know.)

The problem with speeding through homework is that it’s easy to make mistakes. While turning in an assignment is always better than not submitting anything at all, you want to make sure that you’re not compromising quality for speed. Simply put, the goal is to get your homework done quickly and still make a good grade on the assignment!

Here are our two bonus tips for getting a decent grade on your homework assignments , even when you’re in a time crunch.

#1: Do the Easy Parts First

This is especially true if you’re working on a handout with multiple questions. Before you start working on the assignment, read through all the questions and problems. As you do, make a mark beside the questions you think are “easy” to answer .

Once you’ve finished going through the whole assignment, you can answer these questions first. Getting the easy questions out of the way as quickly as possible lets you spend more time on the trickier portions of your homework, which will maximize your assignment grade.

(Quick note: this is also a good strategy to use on timed assignments and tests, like the SAT and the ACT !)

#2: Pay Attention in Class

Homework gets a lot easier when you’re actively learning the material. Teachers aren’t giving you homework because they’re mean or trying to ruin your weekend... it’s because they want you to really understand the course material. Homework is designed to reinforce what you’re already learning in class so you’ll be ready to tackle harder concepts later.

When you pay attention in class, ask questions, and take good notes, you’re absorbing the information you’ll need to succeed on your homework assignments. (You’re stuck in class anyway, so you might as well make the most of it!) Not only will paying attention in class make your homework less confusing, it will also help it go much faster, too.

What’s Next?

If you’re looking to improve your productivity beyond homework, a good place to begin is with time management. After all, we only have so much time in a day...so it’s important to get the most out of it! To get you started, check out this list of the 12 best time management techniques that you can start using today.

You may have read this article because homework struggles have been affecting your GPA. Now that you’re on the path to homework success, it’s time to start being proactive about raising your grades. This article teaches you everything you need to know about raising your GPA so you can

Now you know how to get motivated to do homework...but what about your study habits? Studying is just as critical to getting good grades, and ultimately getting into a good college . We can teach you how to study bette r in high school. (We’ve also got tons of resources to help you study for your ACT and SAT exams , too!)

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Published on September 15, 2022
September 15, 2022

How to Focus on Homework and Actually Get Things Done: 12 Hacks for Busy Students

A teen using his laptop and learning how to focus on homework

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Chances are, you’ve had some days when you felt overwhelmed after a long day at school. You couldn’t imagine doing anything other than plopping down in front of the television, let alone finding out how to focus on your homework.

How can you overcome the resistance and get it done? How do you get your mind to include this task in your day as well?

With just a few adjustments, you will be able to expand your capacity to concentrate.

Why Can’t I Focus on My Homework?

Countless factors constantly fight for your attention : social media, people, overthinking, and anxiety. All of this can make you feel as though you have little control over your mind.

If you want to start to focus better on your homework, you’ll need to set your mind up for success. Remove all distractions .

Here are two key principles that can help you be more successful in your studies:

1. Identify the distractions in your surroundings

What are the things in your daily life that take your mind away from your studies? Clearly identifying these distractions can help you understand both the problem and what causes it.

Among our environmental distractions, digital distractions are one of the worst kinds, and according to a number of studies , their effect is on the rise in the classroom.

If you’re looking to gain more concentration and, thus, form better study habits, question your online behavior first and foremost.

2. Limit the use of technology to find focus

What’s the role of social media in your daily life? Have you ever sat down to calculate how social media distracts you from doing the things you should be doing?

When you are wondering how to focus on homework long after you’ve put your phone away, you’re still thinking about the last posts you saw on Instagram. The sound of new notifications can be enough to reroute our attention from the task at hand.

And then comes the information overload, the fear of missing out, and the all-too-common signs of addictive behavior. Technology is affecting your mind more than ever, and it’s taking your focus away.

A teenager learning how to focus on homework

How to Focus on Homework: 12 Things You Can Do to Be More Indistractible

Here are 12 tips on how to stay focused while completing your homework, taught by superbrain coach Jim Kwik and habit transformation expert Nir Eyal .

Make a routine
Set up a study-friendly environment
Avoid heavy meals
Organize your study notes
Tell others to stay away
Listen to study music
Set deadlines
Take brain breaks
Use discomfort as motivation for productivity
Use time blocking
Let go of thoughts that distract you
Reimagine your task

Let’s look at each study hack in more detail.

1. Make a routine

Routines help you be productive without exerting as much effort. When you have homework to do, a study routine can be the reason you actually sit down, set enough time aside, concentrate, and stay focused until you complete the project.

This process doesn’t need to be complicated: just tell yourself that you will sit at your desk at home once you’re back from school. Put your phone on silent, make an outline of the work that needs to get done, and simply begin with what’s most important.

2. Set up a study-friendly environment

A place for everything and everything in its place. That applies to studying, too.

Lying in bed with your notebook is considered a distraction, as is being in the living room with your laptop while others are doing their activities.

You need an isolated place when you decide to focus on your homework. Make it feel comfortable, keep it organized, keep it clean, and consider putting up some motivational posters or positive affirmations .

3. Avoid heavy meals

It’s not advisable to have a big meal beforehand. Big meals can ruin your focus and make you feel sluggish and lazy because it takes a big amount of time and energy for your body to digest. A snack is okay.

There are also some foods , though, that are just plain bad for your productivity. For example, soda, candy, and fried foods are all full of sugar and have no nutritional value. They make your insulin spike up, but then it crashes very fast, which makes you feel depleted of energy.

4. Organize your study notes

Prioritize your work. Keep lists and place the most important items on top. Then work on the items that you should get done first.

It helps to outline what you need to do, breaking it down into smaller, more manageable steps. Use colors to highlight the essentials .

This makes it all look much simpler and you’re more likely to actually get started. The brain loves organization and it won’t be so likely to procrastinate when it knows you have a structure set in place.

5. Tell others to stay away

Don’t be afraid to let others know that you’re studying and require some time and space to get your work done. Decide on fixed hours for studying and tell your friends and family members that you won’t be available during that time of the day.

If others respect your study time, you’ll be more inclined to respect it as well.

6. Listen to study music

There are many tracks out there designed to help your mind focus. Whether you use binaural beats or just instrumental music, the right sounds can really help to tune your brain into a productive frequency.

This meditation is also great to listen to; it puts your mind in a clear, concise, and ready-to-take-on-the-world mode:

7. Set deadlines

Even if your teacher has already given you deadlines for each assignment, set new ones yourself at earlier dates.

This helps you build discipline, learn how to focus on studying, and prioritize every day.

8. Take brain breaks

Frequent breaks actually increase your productivity and focus. You’ll see that after each study session, the brain needs to be engaged with something different — you need to activate other parts of your brain before going back to your studies so that you can reach top performance.

You can also use the Superbrain Yoga Technique. In the Superbrain Quest, Jim talks about implementing it during your breaks. It goes as follows:

Massage the left lobe of your ear with your right hand, and the right one with your left hand
Inhale and squat down
Exhale and come back up while continuing massaging your opposite ear with the opposite hand
Keep going for a few minutes

As your body moves, your brain grooves. — Jim Kwik, trainer of Mindvalley’s Superbrain Quest

9. Use discomfort as motivation for productivity

The brain is wired to protect us from danger, and our ancestors needed this function of the psyche to survive. Discomfort is associated with danger, and whenever they felt it, they knew it was time to run away or protect themselves in one way or another.

In today’s world, danger isn’t so imminent. However, discomfort is, and the brain still works to protect us in the same way.

So why not use it to your advantage?

Once you have this mindset shift, you can see the discomfort that comes with doing your homework as fuel for moving forward, from pain to pleasure. So instead of procrastinating and avoiding the discomfort, just use it as motivation to get things done.

And maybe you can even save yourself a fun activity to do later in the day, so you have something to look forward to.

10. Use time blocking

You can use time blocking and set a specific amount of time for parts of your homework that needs to be done. For example, you block 30 minutes of reading, then another 30 minutes of writing down highlights from the text.

This method will give you more structure and support you when you need to focus on school work, as you will have a dedicated structured time to do so.

11. Let go of thoughts that distract you

When you need more concentration, but your thoughts keep getting in the way, here’s a fun visualization exercise you can use:

Before you start working on your homework, close down your eyes and imagine a flowing river in front of you.
Now, place every thought on a leaf and let it run down the river while watching it move away from you.

Do this repeatedly for 5-10 minutes and see how your mind becomes clearer, more productive, and more inspired.

12. Reimagine your task

How can you make the process of doing your homework more fun? Is there any way you can think of to make it more exciting and engaging?

As you introduce play and fun into any task, your capacity to stay focused will increase. So just try out different methods to engage more in your homework.

For example, what if you made a trivia quest about your history lesson homework? Or what about riddles to make you remember all the characters from the novel you have to read?

Once you play around with these kinds of games, you might find that focusing on your homework isn’t as boring as you thought it would be.

Unleash the Power of Your Focus

Discovering how to focus on your homework can go beyond schoolwork and actually support you in many other activities you want to do. Concentration is one of the best skills to nurture for your growth.

If you need a little guidance at the beginning of your focusing journey, Mindvalley has it in store for you.

By unlocking your FREE Mindvalley access , you can check out sample classes from quests that help you develop better focus and study habits, such as Becoming Focused and Indistractable by Nir Eyal and Superbrain by Jim Kwik. You can also immerse yourself in beautiful sounds and guided meditations designed to improve concentration and help you enter the flow state.

The earlier you start, the greater your journey of self-discovery will be. Welcome in.

— Images generated on Midjourney.

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Join the foremost expert in memory improvement and brain performance, Jim Kwik, in a free masterclass that will dive into the one skill you will ever need — learning how to learn Enroll for free

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Jim Kwik is a brain coach and a world expert in speed reading, memory improvement, and optimal brain performance.

Known as the “boy with the broken brain” due to a childhood injury, Jim discovered strategies to dramatically enhance his mental performance.

He is now committed, through programs like Mindvalley’s Superbrain and Speed Reading Quest , to helping people improve their memory, learn to speed-read, increase their decision-making skills, and turn on their superbrain.

He has also shared his techniques with Hollywood actors, Fortune 500 companies, and trailblazing entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Richard Branson to reach their highest level of mental performance. He is also one of the most sought-after trainers for top organizations like Harvard University, Nike, Virgin, and GE.

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How to Catch Up on Your Homework

Last Updated: July 25, 2022 References

This article was co-authored by Alexander Ruiz, M.Ed. . Alexander Ruiz is an Educational Consultant and the Educational Director of Link Educational Institute, a tutoring business based in Claremont, California that provides customizable educational plans, subject and test prep tutoring, and college application consulting. With over a decade and a half of experience in the education industry, Alexander coaches students to increase their self-awareness and emotional intelligence while achieving skills and the goal of achieving skills and higher education. He holds a BA in Psychology from Florida International University and an MA in Education from Georgia Southern University. This article has been viewed 73,606 times.

Unfortunately, it can be really easy to fall behind on homework. Being sick or having lots of responsibilities outside of school can often lead to work piling up. But you shouldn’t panic! Once you’ve come up with a plan of action and figured out how to stay productive when doing your work, you’ll be able to catch up with your homework in no time!

Making a Plan

The items you add to this list should include your homework, upcoming tests and quizzes, and any extracurricular responsibilities you also have.
Draw up this list on your computer for best results, as you’ll be constantly correcting or adding things to it.

For example, mark the most important tasks with a yellow highlighter, the moderately important ones with a green highlighter, and the least important ones with a blue highlighter.
If you’re not sure how to prioritize an item, ask your teacher or your parents which assignment or task ought to be completed first.

Step 3 Create a schedule for completing each task in a certain amount of time.

To estimate how long an assignment will take to complete, look at all the individual components of the assignment (e.g., all the questions on your homework), estimate how long it would take to do each component, then add all of this estimated time together.
For best results, write out this schedule in a planner or a calendar that you normally use to track your days.
If any assignment or task doesn’t already have a deadline, give it one. Pick a date by which you’d like to have the assignment off your to-do list and use that as your deadline, as long as it’s a reasonable amount of time in which to do your assignment.

For example, if you receive an assignment one morning that is due by the end of the day, add that assignment to your list somewhere near the very top.

Step 5 Break your assignments down into smaller, manageable chunks.

For example, if you have to write a research paper, the mini assignments for this task could be selecting your topic, researching your topic, creating an outline for your paper, and then writing the paper.
Be sure to set “mini deadlines” for each of these mini assignments, as well.

Staying Productive

If you have to bring your phone with you, turn it off and put it in your bag somewhere you can’t see it. If you keep it in your pocket, this will only tempt you to look at it when you’re working.
If you’re working around other people, ask them to not disturb you until you’re no longer working.

For example, if you do your best work in the mornings, set aside an hour right after you wake up every day to work on your homework.
Aim to give yourself more than 1 hour each day if you can to work on getting caught up. However, if you’re struggling to find the time to work on schoolwork, 1 hour is the minimum amount of time you should set aside every day for working on assignments.

Step 3 Make sure you have everything you need before starting a work session.

If you plan to work for longer than an hour, consider bringing some food and water with you as well.

Step 4 Work on only one assignment at a time.

If you can’t finish that first assignment in a single setting, you can also opt to work on that assignment for a set period of time, then switch over to a different assignment.

Tip : Make the session as enjoyable as possible. Have some snacks with you and a drink. If it doesn't distract you, having a pet in the room can relax you more-or de-stress you. Take breaks regularly to avoid straining yourself.

Preventing Yourself from Falling Behind

Step 1 Finish assignments as soon as you can to keep them from piling up.

If you have extracurricular activities that also make demands on your time, try to find a healthy balance between doing schoolwork and keeping up with these activities. Remember to prioritize your schoolwork if the extracurricular activity is less important.

Step 2 Hold regular homework sessions with a study buddy, if you can.

If you’re easily distracted when doing homework with someone else, though, this may not be the best idea for you.

Step 3 Ask for help if you feel yourself falling behind again.

Expert Q&A

↑ https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-stop-falling-behind-on-your-homework/
↑ https://www.takeyoursuccess.com/how-to-catch-up-in-a-class-after-falling-behind/
↑ Alexander Ruiz, M.Ed.. Educational Consultant. Expert Interview. 18 June 2020.
↑ https://www.bayleybulletin.com/7-tips-to-catch-up-when-youre-really-behind-in-high-school/
↑ https://www.parents.com/kids/education/homework/how-to-catch-up-on-homework/
↑ https://www.students.org/2013/09/25/miss-day-school/

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How to Help Students Develop the Skills They Need to Complete Homework

Middle and high school students can learn to work more efficiently by using strategies that improve their executive function skills.

The effects of homework are mixed. While adolescents across middle and high school have an array of life situations that can make doing homework easier or harder, it’s well known that homework magnifies inequity . However, we also know that learning how to manage time and work independently outside of the school day is valuable for lifelong learning. From the homework wars to students who have little time for homework to students who don’t even know where to begin, everyone can agree that kids who can self-regulate and engage in independent rehearsal are better positioned for whatever the future holds.

How can we empower students to overcome barriers to doing homework well?

Executive Functioning

Homework is partially an assessment of executive functioning. Executive functioning and self-regulation take time to develop. They depend on three types of critical brain function: working memory, mental flexibility, and self-regulation .

Let’s break this down to consider how to improve their efficiency.

Working memory: Don’t hold everything in your head; it is not possible. When doing homework, students should write down their ideas, whether they are notes while reading, numbers when working through a math problem, or non-school-related reminders about chores, such as remembering to take the dog for a walk. Clearing working memory for the immediate task at hand allows the brain to focus as the strain is reduced.

Mental flexibility: As students build their independence and grow their homework routines, seeing an array of strategies, or more than one way to solve a problem, is important. Consider the results when a child gets stuck and doesn’t know what to do to get unstuck or when one keeps trying the same failed approach. Chunking homework helps simplify the process. When stuck, a student looks at a smaller piece, which makes it easier to see other solutions. More practice with mental flexibility happens when others model thinking in different ways, and students practice flexible thinking with partners by asking them: What is another way? Use this bubble map to chart out multiple ways.

Self-regulation: Learning how to prioritize work and stick with it by not giving in to impulses is a skill that students develop over time . One way to teach self-regulation is to have students practice control by concentrating for short periods of time with the goal of building up to longer, more sustained periods of time as the year progresses. For a child who struggles with reading for an extended time, start with five minutes and then build from there.

Another self-regulation tip is creating a plan to overcome distractions. What happens when the child stumbles? Three minutes into reading and a student is reaching for their cell phone. Recommend that they practice moving the cell phone away from the homework area, and summarize before returning to the reading. Stops and starts are frustrating and often result in lost homework time. Have students practice responses to distraction, and make this part of their homework. When a student struggles to stay on task, they should be encouraged to remove any distraction in order to regain focus.

Use classroom assessment as a tool to plan for and support student homework. Record the following information for students:

Do they write, read, and/or solve problems in class? For how many minutes independently?
What is the quality of their work? Are they actually learning, or are they just going through the motions?
Do they know how to strategize on their own or get help from a peer when they’re stuck? Observe them and take notes, and/or have them reflect on this question.

We cannot expect that students will independently practice a skill they don’t engage with during class. If it doesn't happen in the classroom, it's not going to happen at home. The teacher should be able to realistically gauge how much and what students might achieve at home. A suggestion to build independence is to use task analysis . Here is a model . For students who struggle with getting homework done, at first they may not actually do homework; rather, they practice the routines of setting up and getting started.

Direct Instruction

The following are some techniques that help students with homework:

Mindful meditation to gain focus
Prioritizing and estimating time
Filtering out distractions

Peers as Partners

Class partnership routines need practice. With strong partnerships, kids learn how to support and learn from each other. Access to teachers will never match the unlimited access to peers. The hours that students who achieve at high levels put in after class are often spent alone rehearsing the content or with peers who push each other to improve.

Class-to-Home Connection

While some students struggle with executive functioning, others rush through their homework. The most important step in having homework count is to make it seamless, not separate from class. Homework flows from classwork. Especially with a mix of synchronous and asynchronous work, now there is no homework, just work done for our classes. Consistent instructional goals with engaging and meaningful tasks help students see the value in working beyond the last bell.

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10 Ways To Avoid A Homework Meltdown

Sophia Gardner

Apr 11, 2016

Homework can often feel like an overwhelming, never-ending pile of stress. Homework stress can cause frustration and anxiety and ultimately prevent you from achieving your best results.

However, this feeling of not being in control can be avoided by simply adjusting your study habits. Homework and study can actually be a rewarding, satisfying experience if done in an organised and efficient way. Here are some tips on how to achieve that.

1. Practise good time management

Time management is key to avoiding homework stress. Plotting out the time you need to complete your homework or assignment can quickly make what seems like an overwhelming task much less stressful to approach.

Set aside a certain amount of time each day to work on your homework, and choose a time that sits you. You may prefer early in the morning before school, or maybe you’re fresher when you get home from school in the afternoon.
Use a calendar or school planner to plot out your work. List important dates, when things are due and when you have exams. This will help you have a good visual of things you need to work towards.
Allow enough time to complete your work . Making sure you give yourself enough time to complete your work is crucial in avoiding a meltdown. Be realistic. Estimate how long you think it will take each day to complete your homework, and allow plenty of time for bigger projects and assignments.

2. Ask questions

One of the biggest causes of homework stress is not understanding the question, or how to solve the problem at hand. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and clarify what you need to do. Whether it be a question on how to solve a tricky trigonometry problem or how to structure your essay, no question is a silly question. Try asking your teachers, your parents, a friend or an online Subject Specialist for help.

3. Listen to your teacher and take notes

It sounds simple, but it’s something that many students struggle with. Pay attention and write down important terms and ideas in the classroom. You will find this helps organise your thoughts and remember key information, which will make homework time much more of a breeze.

4. Allow more time for areas you find difficult

Take a practice test or write a practice essay and focus on the areas you find the hardest. The more you practise, the less stressful it will be when the time comes to sit the exam or hand in your assignment.

5. Refresh your memory regularly

Every afternoon, or at least every couple of days, go over what you’ve learnt from previous lessons. If you find that you don’t have the basic knowledge to tackle more difficult subjects go over this more frequently - this will help you build up your confidence in those areas.

6. Get a good night’s sleep

It may sound obvious, but it’s easy to suffer from sleep deprivation when you are feeling stressed about homework. Research suggests that kids and teens need around 9-10 hours sleep a night. This will significantly help focus, memory, decision making and creativity, all of which are important inside and outside of the classroom.

7. Avoid procrastination

Procrastination could well be the biggest factor responsible for homework stress. You’d be surprised at how much time you can waste by putting off what you need to do until you’ve checked out your Facebook page or listened to your favourite song! Let these be rewards for once your work is actually done.

8. Have a healthy snack

There is a proven link between what we eat and how well our brain functions. Memory, learning ability and emotional states are affected by what we put into our bodies, and to perform our best we need a healthy diet. (Check out some delicious and healthy snack recipes here )

9. Remember to breathe

If you’re starting to feel anxious or overwhelmed by your work, take five deep breaths and give yourself a moment of calm. Deep breathing will help control your nervous system and encourage your body to relax, bringing you into a better state to concentrate on your study.

10. Give yourself some ‘me’ time

While it’s important that you manage your time and work efficiently, you are going to be much more productive if you are feeling fresh and have had some time to do things you enjoy doing. It might be going for a walk or a swim, hanging out with some friends on the weekend, or perhaps it’s playing sport? Whatever it may be, make sure you have that balance. A healthy, happy mind equals better study time.

If you'd like to run any questions or ideas by one of our expert Subject Specialists, we're always here to help.

Topics: Students , Homework , Study , Assignment Help

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School Life

Can’t do Homework: What to do When Scared, Stressed or Unable

by Joseph Kenas
February 6, 2024

Assignments might be a pain, but it’s necessary to maintain good marks and stay on course in education.

Whether you’re a little overwhelmed with the number of assignments or simply a procrastinator, you may find yourself in a situation where you simply can’t complete your homework on time.

While you should always start your homework as early as possible, late assignments can be made up without too much trouble, provided you’re willing to put in the extra time.

In this article, we discuss various reasons why students can’t do their homework and some things to do when you are unable to complete it.

What to Do When you can’t do Homework

If you’re reading this article, you’re probably in a pickle. You’ve got homework to do, but you just can’t seem to get it done.

It’s not that you don’t want to, you just can’t get yourself to do it.

It’s a problem for a lot of students. The good news is that there are solutions when can’t do your homework. Here are a few tips to consider:

1. Ask for a Deadline Extension

From time to time many students have to do something important that prevents them from being able to study for a test, complete an assignment or participate in an online class.

The solution is to ask your teacher for an extension. You can do this by email , in person, or even over the phone. If you know you will not complete your assignment in time, reach out to your teacher before the date of the submission.

Assignment extensions are almost always granted when you tell your instructor in time and give them a valid reason.

2. Hire a Writer

If you’re short on time, you may be considering hiring homework help. This can be a great alternative to giving up or making excuses for your teacher.

However, if you are going to hire a homework helper, you need to know what you are looking for. You might have friends or relatives who can do your work, but it is important to find an expert who can do the job right.

You need to make sure that the person you hire has the qualifications and experience to write a top-notch paper. There are a lot of homework services out there. The going rate for a homework help site is between $10 to $20 per page.

Some sites will also provide you with a free sample and a free revision, so you can make sure that the work is completed to your satisfaction.

3. Defer the Course

If you are facing the problem of not being able to do your homework always, you should consider the option of deferring the course.

In some cases, it might result in more severe consequences than dropping the class, but if you are determined to pass the course and can’t do your homework due to some legitimate reasons, you should consider deferring it.

These reasons include some financial difficulties and other family problems.

4. Study more

Sometimes the homework is too hard and you cannot get the right answer for it. However, doing homework requires you to study.

You can do some research on the internet to find out more information about the homework. You can also refer to textbooks and class notes.

5. Take a Break to Relax

When you feel like you are tired of doing your homework, it’s time to take a break. Take a walk outside, go talk to your friends or have a snack.

You can also take a quick nap to rejuvenate yourself. Your brain will be able to think better if you give it some time to relax.

6. Friends to help

When you cant do your homework, there is always a friend who can help you tackle it. It can be either a relative or someone who has passed the level of education you are in.

Try to get someone who is an expert in that field to help you. You can also get your friend from the same course so that you can help each other with ideas.

7. Consult your Teacher

If you’re stuck on a homework problem and you don’t have anyone to turn to for help, it’s always a good idea to consult the teacher.

Your teacher will have the answers you’re looking for and will be able to help you get back on track. If you don’t feel comfortable talking to your teacher, you can always go to another teacher at the same school or another school.

Reasons why Students can’t do their Homework

Students fail to complete their assignments for a variety of reasons. This understanding can help instructors change their teaching methods and help students more. Below are some of the reasons why students fail to do their homework:

1. Lack of Enough Time

Most students participate in a wide range of extracurricular activities. Although these activities are beneficial and can help children stay interested in school, they can also make it difficult for them to complete homework in time.

Also, some older students may have other obligations such as jobs.

2. Failure to Know the Importance of the Homework

If students recognized the importance of their assignment, they would be more motivated to complete it. Everyone, even students, wants to get involved in activities that will benefit their life.

Students can rebel because they see schoolwork as a waste of time. They believe that if they can successfully solve a few math questions, then fifty problems is a waste of time.

3. Failure to Understand the Homework

One of the most common reasons students fail to do their assignments is a lack of comprehension.

If students don’t get adequate teaching, they don’t learn the fundamental abilities they require to do a project.

To ensure that learners understand the assignment at hand, teachers should make sure assignment directions are as explicit as possible.

4. Assignments from other Teachers

This is especially dangerous in high school when pupils have a variety of teachers instructors at this level frequently have no idea if students have assignments from other teachers.

They assume that students need only thirty minutes to do their assignments. However, if they have eight topics and each professor assigns thirty minutes of assignment, the learner will be working on them for three to four hours which is hard.

5. Lack of Feedback from Teachers

If a student complete homework, they anticipate receiving feedback. They may receive a grade, and they also desire feedback, particularly on written homework.

When the instructor fails to give this feedback, most learners do not see the point of the homework.

It’s therefore important for teachers to provide feedback either in writing or include the homework revisions in ca class discussion for the students to benefit.

6. Family Issues

Some learners come from homes where education is not valued. The student is unlikely to receive help or inspiration to do assignments as a result.

Other homes place high importance on education, yet their parents are either unable or unwilling to assist their children with schoolwork.

Some students also reside in chaotic circumstances where they may lack a tranquil location to study or the necessary resources to complete their assignments.

Joseph is a freelance journalist and a part-time writer with a particular interest in the gig economy. He writes about schooling, college life, and changing trends in education. When not writing, Joseph is hiking or playing chess.

My assignment is due tomorrow and I haven't even started it yet!

English expert at Atomi

Well, if it really is due tomorrow, let’s do this and do it quick! You could have anything due tomorrow, so instead of a step-by-step guide let’s focus on some tips and tricks to pull off this craziness. Legions of students before you have done it and legions of students after you will do it so have faith—you can do it 💪.

1. Prioritise

This probably doesn’t need to be said but if it’s due tomorrow then clear your schedule tonight—this is absolutely your top priority right now! Normally we recommend getting plenty of sleep but if you have something due tomorrow, tonight's the night to push your bedtime back a little bit (still no all-nighters though!)

2. Get your head in the game

Okay, no matter how much of a mountain it seems, this has to be done tonight. Don’t let yourself even consider the option of handing it in late—just thinking that will make it even harder to finish in time.

It’s time to get your head in the game and focus on the task ahead. You want to grab some water and make sure you’ve eaten. Then, set yourself up in a clean, bright area, find a supportive chair and grab all of the resources you'll need to do your assignment.

You can check out our video on Study Spaces for everything you need to set up the perfect workspace.

3. Work out exactly what you need to do

To work as efficiently as possible you should first understand exactly what you need to do.

That means you need to think about exactly what ideas or topics you need to cover and what your approach should be. So, read the assignment and marking criteria carefully and identify any keywords. Also highlight any important details, like the word count or page limit, the submission format and any other info that will affect how you approach this task.

This will vary massively depending on the assignment. The point is basically just that you should make sure you know exactly what you need to do before you start. Trust me, it’ll make everything quicker if you do ⏰.

4. Do a brief plan

To make sure we can get this done properly in one night, the next step is to plan your answer. This will make it a lot easier to start writing and, if you have to do any research, you will know exactly what you’re looking for.

So, sketch out a brief plan onto a page. Work out what needs to go into your answer and how it’s going to be structured. It might feel difficult or pointless to plan at this point, but if you can get some of the hard work out of the way here it’ll become much easier to write!

5. Research efficiently

Now, this one is obviously only relevant if you need research for your answer. Gathering research for an essay or report can take time. By using the keywords from the syllabus and assessment notification, you’ll be able to focus on the resources that you actually need. As far as you can, drop your research straight into the plan and you’ll be moving much more efficiently.

Don’t forget to reference as you go! This will save you time and ensure you don’t make any mistakes 😅.

6. Quality over quantity

This is a seriously important tip. When you’re really under pressure, it can be tempting to just smash out as many words as possible so you can hit that word count—don’t do this! It’s just going to give you a whole lot of waffle and even worse marks.

Instead of waffling, stick to your answer plan, use your research and fall back on the ideas in our lessons . It will get you a much better result for not that much extra work ✅.

7. Do your final read over tomorrow morning

Once you’ve finally pulled off that answer, it’s time to go to bed. You’re probably going to be too tired, too stressed and too wrapped up in your answer to be able to give it a proper check and edit.

So, just get some sleep now, set the alarm 30mins earlier tomorrow and read over it again with fresh eyes and a clear mind. You should be able to pick up any little mistakes and make the whole thing read a lot better and generally end up with a stronger answer!

Even though this isn’t ideal, you can still pull it off! The secret is to be as efficient as possible. So, keep calm, find out exactly what you need to do, plan, research properly and don’t waffle.

Oh and next time, don’t leave your assignments to the last minute 😅. Instead, watch our lesson on Planning an Assignment and use the downloadable planner so you aren’t in this sticky situation again.

For more study tips, tricks and advice, keep reading the student blog or follow Atomi on Instagram . See you there 👋.

Published on

March 15, 2022

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Solving Procrastination

Homework Procrastination: Why You Procrastinate on Homework and How to Stop

Homework procrastination involves unnecessarily postponing working on homework assignments. For example, if a student delays starting a homework assignment until right before its deadline for no good reason, even though it would have been better for them to start earlier, that student is engaging in homework procrastination.

Homework procrastination can take various forms, from wasting hours trying to bring yourself to start writing an essay, to putting off an important project until the end of the semester. This is a problem not only because it can harm your performance at school, and therefore cause you to receive lower grades , but also because it can cause you to suffer from various other issues , such as frustration, anxiety, and stress .

If you often procrastinate when it comes to doing homework, know that you’re not alone. Procrastination is a common problem among students ; in terms of statistics, studies show that approximately 80%–95% of college students engage in procrastination to some degree, approximately 75% consider themselves to be procrastinators, and approximately 50% say that they procrastinate in a consistent and problematic manner.

Fortunately, however, there are some things that you can do to solve this problem, as you will see in the following article. Specifically, you will first see an explanation about why students procrastinate on their homework, so you can understand your own behavior better. Then, you will see what you can do in order to stop procrastinating on your homework, so you can start getting them done on time.

Why you procrastinate on homework

You procrastinate on homework because issues such as exhaustion and anxiety outweigh your self-control and motivation. These issues include personal factors, like fear and perfectionism, and situational factors, like distractions and unclear instructions.

Specifically, when you need to get homework done, you rely primarily on your self-control in order to get yourself to do it. Furthermore, your self-control is sometimes supported by your motivation, which helps you complete your homework on time.

However, in some cases, you suffer from issues that interfere with or oppose your self-control and motivation, such as exhaustion and anxiety . When these issues are stronger than your self-control and motivation, you end up procrastinating, until you reach a point where the balance between them shifts in your favor, or until it’s too late.

This explains why you might end up procrastinating on your homework even when you have the necessary motivation and you truly wish that you could just get started. This also explains why you might end up procrastinating on your homework until right before deadlines , when the increased motivation, often in the form of stressful pressure, finally pushes you to get to work.

Accordingly, common reasons for procrastinating on homework include the following :

Abstract goals , in terms of being vague about how and when you intend to do the homework.
Feeling overwhelmed , often while being unsure of how to complete the homework.
Perfectionism , in the form of refusing to create work that has any flaws.
Fear of failure , often because of concerns over how such failure might reflect on you.
Anxiety , often in light of potential negative feedback.
Task aversion , especially in cases where you find the homework boring or unpleasant.
Lack of motivation , often as a result of feeling disconnected from your future self or having rewards that are far in the future.
Physical or mental exhaustion , often due to a combination of reasons, such as a high academic workload and associated stress .
Resentment , generally toward the homework, toward its source, or toward something related, such as a parent pushing you to do well in a subject that you’re not interested in.
Sensation seeking , generally in the form of enjoying working on things right before the deadline, when there’s intense time pressure.
Problematic work environment , generally as a result of having many distractions or temptations around.
Lack of sufficient communication from instructors, for example when it comes to not having clear directions and due dates for a certain class project.

In addition, other issues can also make you more likely to procrastinate on your homework. For example:

Problematic behaviors like self-handicapping , which involves procrastinating so that if you fail you can blame your failure on procrastination rather than your abilities, and self-sabotaging , which involves procrastinating as a result of a tendency to sabotage your progress.
Personality traits like distractibility and impulsivity .
Underlying issues like lack of sleep , ADHD , and depression .

Finally, note that some of these issues can lead to problematic procrastination cycles . For example, this can happen if you’re anxious about your homework, so you procrastinate on it, which makes you even more anxious about your homework due to the added negative emotions that you now associate with it (e.g., guilt and shame), which in turn makes you more likely to keep procrastinating on your homework in the future.

Understanding why you procrastinate on your homework can help you learn how to overcome your procrastination. However, while understanding why you procrastinate can be helpful, in many cases you can reduce your procrastination even without figuring this out. As such, if you find that you’re struggling with this step, don’t worry, and don’t get stuck; simply move on to the next step, which involves trying out various anti-procrastination techniques, until you find the ones that work best for you.

How to stop procrastinating on homework

To stop procrastinating on your homework right now , you should identify the smallest possible thing you can do to make progress on it, and then modify your environment to make it as likely as possible that you will do it.

For example, if you need to write a paper for a university course, the smallest possible step that you can take toward finishing it might be opening the relevant document on your computer, and writing just a single opening line, even if it’s poorly phrased initially. Once you realize that this is all you need to do, you can start modifying your work environment to help yourself achieve that, for example by going to a room with no distractions, leaving your phone outside, and turning on airplane mode on your laptop to disable your access to online distractions .

There are many other anti-procrastination techniques that can help you stop procrastinating on your homework. You don’t need to use all of these techniques, since some won’t be relevant in your case, and since you will generally need only a few of them in order to make significant progress toward overcoming your procrastination. As such, try skimming through this list, and finding the techniques that you think will work best for you.

Improve your planning:

Set concrete goals for yourself. For example, instead of a vague goal, such as “finish my psychology paper over the weekend”, set a concrete goal, such as “start writing an outline for the psychology paper on Thursday at 5 pm in the library, right after I finish the last class for the week”).
Break your homework into small and manageable steps. For example, if you need to write a research paper, you can start with steps such as “(1) brainstorm three potential topics, (2) figure out which topic I like best, and (3) find five relevant sources”. If the project that you’re dealing with is large and will therefore require a large number of steps, don’t worry about outlining the whole thing from the start; simply identify the first few steps that you need to take, and add new ones as you go along, to avoid feeling overwhelmed or getting stuck.
Set a series of milestones and deadlines for yourself. This will help you be accountable and plan ahead, and can also motivate you and give you a rewarding feeling of continuous progress.
Identify your productivity cycles. Different people are more productive at different times, based on factors such as whether it’s morning, noon, or evening. To reduce procrastination, you should take your personal productivity patterns into account, and schedule your homework for times when you’re most likely to be able to actually work on it.

Improve your environment:

Change your environment to make it easier for you to focus. For example, if you know that you work best when there are no distracting noises, go somewhere quiet, or put on some noise-blocking headphones.
Change your environment to make it easier for yourself to get started. For example, if you know that you will need to write an essay tomorrow after you wake up, then leave the document open on your computer before you go to bed.
Change your environment to make it harder for yourself to procrastinate. For example, if you tend to procrastinate by browsing apps on your phone , leave your phone outside the room where you plan to work.

Change your approach:

Start with a tiny step. For example, if you need to write an essay, help yourself get started by committing to only write a single sentence at first. This can help you push yourself to get started on homework, and often, once you do so, you’ll find it easy to keep going.
Start with the best or worst part first. Some people find that starting with the most enjoyable or easiest part of an assignment helps them get going, while others find that getting the worst part out of the way first helps them avoid procrastinating over time. Use either approach if you feel that it works for you.
Add a time delay before you procrastinate. If you can’t avoid procrastinating entirely, try committing to having a time delay before you indulge your impulse to do so. For example, this can involve counting to 10 before you’re allowed to open a new tab on the social media website that you usually use to procrastinate.
Use the Pomodoro technique. This involves alternating between scheduled periods of work and rest. For example, you can work on your homework for 25-minute long stretches, with 5-minute breaks in between, and a longer 30-minute break after every 4 work sets that you complete.

Increase your motivation:

Make doing the homework feel more rewarding. For example, you can gamify your work, by marking down streaks of days on which you’ve managed to make sufficient progress on your assignments, and potentially also give yourself some reward once you reach a sufficiently long streak.
Make doing the homework feel more enjoyable. For example, you can do your homework in a pleasant location, while listening to energizing music.
Visualize your future self. For example, you can visualize yourself being able to relax after you finish working, visualize yourself being rewarded for getting a good grade in a course, or visualize yourself having to handle the issues associated with not finishing your homework on time.
Focus on your goals instead of your assignments. Instead of focusing on the fact that you have an aversion to your homework, for whatever reason, try focusing on your end goals for completing the homework, such as getting a good grade in an important class so you can have a better application for grad school.

Change your mindset:

Give yourself permission to make mistakes, and accept the fact that your work won’t be perfect, especially at first. This can be helpful, for example, when it comes to assignments that involve writing, where you can give yourself permission to write a bad first draft, and then edit it afterward.
Address your fears. If you’re procrastinating because you’re afraid of something, try to identify your fears and resolve them. For example, if you’re afraid that your writing won’t be good enough, you can say to yourself that your goal is to just start by getting something written down, and that you can always improve it later.
Develop self-compassion. Self-compassion can help reduce your procrastination, as well as various issues that are associated with it, such as stress. It consists of three components that you should develop: self-kindness , which involves being nice to yourself, common humanity , which involves recognizing that everyone experiences challenges, and mindfulness , which involves accepting your emotions in a non-judgmental manner.
Develop self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the belief in your ability to carry out the actions that you need to achieve your goals, and it can help you reduce your procrastination. To develop self-efficacy, try to identify the various strategies that you can use to finish your homework, and think about your ability to execute those strategies successfully.

When deciding which approach to use in order to overcome your procrastination , keep in mind that anti-procrastination techniques are especially effective when they’re tailored to the specific causes of your procrastination. For example, if you procrastinate because you set abstract goals for yourself, you should focus on setting concrete goals instead. Similarly, if you procrastinate because of available distractions, you should remove those distractions from your study environment, or go work somewhere else instead.

In addition, note that if you suffer from an underlying issue that leads to procrastination, such as lack of sleep , depression , or ADHD , you will likely need to resolve that issue, using professional help if necessary, if you want to successfully overcome your procrastination.

Finally, keep in mind that most people need more than one technique in order to overcome their procrastination , and that different techniques work better for different people in different circumstances. Accordingly, don’t expect a single technique to solve all your problems, and don’t feel that if some technique works well for others then it will necessarily also work well for you. Instead, try out the various techniques that are available to you, until you figure out which ones work best for you, in your particular situation.

Executive Function

The hidden hazard of work to do work, the lead-up tasks to start an activity can tax our brains. here's what to do..

Posted August 21, 2024 | Reviewed by Gary Drevitch

There are many mostly invisible steps required before we start a task on our to-do lists.
Not accounting for the time and energy required for warm-up tasks can foil our best plans.
We can uncover and address the warm-up steps, alleviating their burden to help us achieve our goals.

I’m staring at my kitchen counter, holiday music playing in the background, the oven preheating, the cookbook open to one of my favorite recipes. And I feel frozen. I’m certainly motivated to bake these thumbprint cookies, even extra excited because they’ll feature jam I made over the summer. Yet, the process is overwhelming. Before I begin to make the dough, I need to do some work—a lot of work, really— and it’s holding me back. I need to clear a large space on the counter for the cookie sheets. I need to get the mixer from the hall closet and take out the food processor, step one of which is finding it. I’ll need to gather ingredients, hopefully not needing to make a quick grocery run to grab something I’m missing. It’s a lot of steps to take, a lot of obstacles to conquer, before I even start to bake these cookies. These invisible, prerequisite steps are what I call work to do work .

Examples of work to do work abound in academic, home, and work settings. Any time we must log in, set up, gather materials, or otherwise take several actions to initiate a task exemplifies the concept. The thing they all share in common is that work to do work impedes our activation; it’s an extra tax we pay in getting started and can make the difference in whether or not we complete a task.

How much you dread or avoid a task can be related to how much work to do work there is. If it’s easy to get into a task and get it done, it’s more likely you’ll do it. For example, putting away a dish into an empty dishwasher, with its door already open for you is about one step; you’ll be much more likely to do that versus having to empty the whole dishwasher before putting away the same dish.

Another way to consider the impact of the overwhelming pre-work steps is to consider the contrast, reflecting on things that are so easy to engage with we may mindlessly begin. If you find yourself scrolling a social media platform without realizing you started, it may be due to their engineering a very low amount of work in order to engage. Most social media platforms, game apps, and the like keep you logged in and often reduce the clicking necessary to jump in (and possibly get stuck). Contrast that to your work or school email, where it can require many steps to log in, and you may have to find or try several passwords or complete a frustrating two- or three- step verification.

Work to do work fuels procrastination . So what do we do about it? First, we find it and we give ourselves some credit: We’re doing a lot before we even start the tasks that others notice. Next time you dread something or have a hard time getting started, ask yourself how much underground work to do work you’re facing. Do you have to set up? Find things? Log in? Get in the right physical or headspace? Complete prerequisite steps before you can get going? When you uncover these, write them down. They can help you start to strategize to make your “on ramp” to getting things done a bit smoother.

Once you’ve seen your work-to-do-work challenge, your next step is to see what you can make a bit easier. Can you have your internet browser save your passwords? Can you bookmark your usual spaces? Can you make the pre-work part of your routine, so it’s sure to be done when you start the work? Can you leave things physically or digitally set up for future you, so you don’t have to re-do your setup system each time?

I work with a college student who’s figured out that predictable noise and motion around her helps her focus. To be honest, without these factors addressed, she spends about half of her mental energy monitoring her own attention , rather than progressing on her studies. Recognizing that she’s heavily influenced by her space, she’s found a room and desk in her school library that are perfect for her brain. But she faced many steps before she could get in and do work. She’d have to pack up her things, go to the library, see if her space was available, set herself up, and then start to work. By the time she was all set, she was often hungry and tired. It was work to do work.

She followed the process of noticing and then alleviating some of the warm-up steps that drained her. She noticed that many of the needed actions could be done the night before, so she got in the habit of packing her bag and scheduling her trip to the library–including time to walk there–in the evenings. She also started reserving the room several days in advance, so it wasn’t a risk that it would be taken. Last, she took a photo of what her ideal setup looked like, making it easy to emulate the setup once she was in the library each day. Her work to do work was cut down to a very doable amount, and now she’s thriving.

In home-life examples, I’ve seen people use the same strategy of getting prep things done the night before, when, yes, they’re already tired, but there’s no risk of running their batteries too low before they go to bed. People will set out the things they’ll need for breakfast, including pots and pans , or even put their prescription bottle in or near their coffee cups, so they have an easy prompt to remember their meds. It becomes a habit of imagining what future you needs the next day, then setting them up for success, which so often translates to getting the work to do work done early.

The process of developing executive function can feel messy

Recognize and celebrate the invisible work to do work that you conquer each day. Then, see if you can use a detective perspective to find ways to ease that workload for future you.

Sarah Kesty is an executive function coach who teaches brain-friendly strategies to thrive in life.

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Sticking up for yourself is no easy task. But there are concrete skills you can use to hone your assertiveness and advocate for yourself.

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What do I do when I get stuck on homework problems?

I'm taking an Object-oriented C# class and a Data Structures class in Java.

Tonight is another night of me banging my head against the wall trying to understand how to do these programming problems I have assigned as homework.

I can go through the textbook a million times but it doesn't help me solve problems. I understand how things work in theory, but applying the concepts in practice is almost always a dead end.

I start working on a homework problem, realize I don't understand how to solve it, and then I'm pretty much stuck from there on out. I can google and look at similar problems or whatever, but it doesn't help out a whole lot.

The professor will go over the assignments after they're due and I'm like, "I was supposed to know how to do that??" because the solution was so foreign to what I had been doing.

We get assigned a programming assignment every week and I spend a lot of time stuck and possibly doing it the wrong way the entire time.

Do I really have to hit up the professor every time? What happens when I get some help and then later on I get stuck again? I can't just keep hitting up the professor.

I'm clearly a horrible problem solver! I can understand programming concepts but I can't solve problems. It's so frustrating...

Any advice? How can I actually get better versus just being stuck all the time?

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Support at work does not make 'stuck' employees less likely to retaliate, study finds

by University of Birmingham

Employees stuck in a job they want to leave are not positively impacted by organizational support once an employer has been perceived to have broken their trust, new research has found.

Stuck employees are people who would like to leave their current jobs but cannot because of a lack of job alternatives, family responsibilities or other barriers. Recent research has found that over half of the global workforce falls into this group.

These reluctant stayers are more likely to engage in counterproductive behavior at work to 'retaliate' against perceived organizational injustice. This could include trying to look busy or wasting time, deliberately disobeying supervisor instructions, damaging equipment, and speaking poorly about the company to others.

Now, new research from The Pennsylvania State University (U.S.) and the Centre for Responsible Business at the University of Birmingham (UK) has found that if an employer is perceived to break trust with their workers, supportive policies at work do not reduce retaliation intentions of stuck employees.

The study has been published in the Journal of Business and Psychology .

Solon Magrizos, Associate Professor of Marketing at Birmingham Business School, said, "A company being seen to care about well-being reflects the perception that an employer should look out for their employees' best interests and safety at work. Our study has found that after an employer makes a decision that compromises employee safety, general positive organizational support perceptions can reduce retaliation intentions, but not among stuck employees."

The researchers surveyed 327 working adults in the United States and asked them to scale their intention to leave their current job, how easy it would be to leave and the perceived organizational support at work. They were then assigned to view one of three conditions that manipulated employer behavior, using the context of COVID-19 measures:

A decision that protects employee safety—The governor had just removed state-mandated COVID-19 restrictions and the participant imagined that their current employer decided to retain the current COVID-19 protective measures.
A decision that lowers employee safety—The governor had just removed state-mandated COVID-19 restrictions and the participant imagined that their current employer decided to remove the current COVID-19 restrictions in the interest of reducing business disruption.
A control business decision in which the decision was not in the hands of the CEO—The governor mandated that all existing COVID-19 restrictions stay in place and the employer complied with these restrictions.

The respondents then completed scales assessing perceived organizational support and retaliation intentions.

The results showed that while general perceived organizational support offered by the employer buffered employees' negative reactions to the decisions that reduced their safety, it did not do so for stuck employees.

Caroline Moraes, Professor of Marketing at Birmingham Business School and Co-Director of the Centre for Responsible Business, said, "Stuck employees had stronger reactions and retaliatory intentions compared to other employees. Being seen as a highly supportive workplace protected the employer against retaliatory intentions only from employees able to leave their jobs easily or those who did not want to leave. This is caused by stuck employees having a more transactional relationship with their employer, so they feel that their social exchange with their employer has been violated more strongly."

The study argues that this social exchange norm violation increases stuck employees' motivation for negative reciprocity in order to restore balance in their relationship with their employer, even when perceptions of general organizational support are high.

The results also suggest that general organizational support perceptions can actually increase retaliation intentions among those who would like to leave but cannot do so. But this does not mean employers should not be supportive.

Professor Moraes and Dr. Magrizos concluded, "Sometimes organizations have to make difficult decisions , and it is important to note that stuck employees represent a large group, so the potential for greater retaliation should be taken into account.

"But communicating clearly and honestly about why decisions are being made, developing better relationships with employees by enabling self and career development opportunities, and providing ways for employees to raise concerns that are subsequently heard and addressed can help. Understanding these stuck employees is key to improving negative feelings at work."

Journal information: Journal of Business and Psychology

Provided by University of Birmingham

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More From Forbes

Embracing autonomous building technology: you must do your homework.

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Brian Haines, Chief Strategy Officer, FM:Systems .

What if your building could adjust window shading based on the weather forecast, address an impending equipment failure or check in visitors, all without human intervention? Thanks to advances in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), technologies that empower buildings to adapt to occupier preferences, eliminate inefficiency and encourage productivity have emerged out of the realm of fantasy and into sales pitches.

But organizations should be deliberate about how they approach these shiny new solutions and stay wary of providers who present these technologies as a cure-all. Getting the most out of autonomous building technology requires familiarizing yourself with both its capabilities and limitations, understanding what you hope to gain from adopting it and laying the groundwork for its implementation.

In this article, we’ll look at how building technology has evolved to get us to this point, the potential risks of “leaping before you look”—and what organizations can do to mitigate those risks.

The Tip Of The Building Technology Pyramid

Autonomous building solutions are the amalgamation of information age advancements in real estate technology, from Internet of Things (IoT) devices to building management systems (BMSs) and smart meters. Today, sensors and meters collect the data, and BMSs help humans visualize and act on it. In the future, ML and AI will increasingly enable stakeholders to remove humans from that equation.

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This transition to autonomous building capability will not happen quickly, however. As impactful as these foundational technologies can be, actual adoption rates represent a drop in the bucket. While more than 1.5 billion IoT devices have been installed in commercial buildings, according to a report from SmartCitiesWorld, 90% of commercial structures operate with little or no help from digital technology.

Since 2020, the evolution of cloud computing, fiber optics and high-speed wireless data transmission has given rise to “connected” buildings that leverage these sensors, along with other technologies like digital twins and smart meters, to gain broader, actionable insights. Still, a Forrester Consulting study commissioned by Johnson Controls found that only 10% of respondents have fully integrated their buildings systems and equipment.

Today, we’re in the midst of the “smart” phase, where buildings parse these endless streams of data into projections, predictions and recommendations that can be actioned by humans. Three-quarters of buildings constructed between 2022 and 2027 will include at least one element of smart building technology, according to research from information services company Mind Commerce, and this type of building should be the norm by 2029, setting the stage for the leap to “autonomous” facilities.

There Are No Shortcuts To Doing Autonomous Building Implementation Right

Over the next decade, advanced ML- and AI-driven solutions will become more prevalent, as organizations upgrade from “IoT,” “smart” and “connected” technology sets. Autonomous building technology promises to accelerate progress toward sustainability and deliver better security, reduced costs and healthier and more productive occupants. But all of these outcomes represent the destination—the road to getting there will be different for every organization, and therein lies the risk for companies eager to embrace these innovations.

First and foremost, organizations planning to deploy this technology must have a clear understanding of what they hope to gain from a fully autonomous building. They also need to consider who’s going to be using it, how it will be rolled out and what eventualities may occur down the road that might impact usability and ROI. For example, a system built to handle only a limited number of data streams could require costly and disruptive upgrades, or even replacement, if the organization’s structure or needs change.

Knowing ahead of time who will be responsible for managing the system, and including them in the evaluation process, will help ensure that you don’t end up deploying a system that lacks features you need or leaves you paying for bells and whistles you don’t. That should also reduce the chances that you’ll pick a system that requires a steep learning curve to master.

Finally, to ensure that potential ML and AI solutions are secure and won’t compromise occupant safety, disrupt operations or increase liability risks, IT, HR, legal, security and facility management teams should also be involved in evaluating potential smart or autonomous building solutions. Tying all of these stakeholders into a holistic data management structure is paramount.

Gaining agreement about which data streams will be accessed and how they’ll be used will prevent disagreements or obstacles later on. Establishing protocols for interdepartmental communication about data, and designating who will be responsible for monitoring the accuracy and integrity of data flows, will avoid a “garbage in, garbage out” scenario. Adopting a standards-based data strategy can also help in this regard, while facilitating information sharing between partners and vendors.

A Careful Approach Now, A Better Outcome Later

Autonomous building innovations may seem akin to magic, and given the rise in sustainability-related regulations, the imperative to cut costs and the need to compete in a crowded marketplace, viewing them as a quick fix is understandable. But failing to define your desired outcomes and laying the groundwork to achieve them can make ROI elusive and push you further from attaining your goals. Cutting corners may save you time now but cause more aggravation in the future, while picking the cheapest option is likely to cost you more money down the road, as you’re forced to fill holes in capability, capacity or scalability to make the system match your needs.

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‘Don’t panic’: What to do if your car gets stuck during a flash flood

By Lucas Casaletto and Michelle Mackey

Posted August 21, 2024 5:40 am.

Last Updated August 21, 2024 5:45 am.

After Mississauga was hit particularly hard by severe flooding over the weekend , local fire crews are assisting drivers by educating them on what to do if they find themselves trapped in water.

Mississauga was among the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) cities most impacted on Saturday, Aug. 17, when the stormy weather disrupted traffic and closed some local parks and trails.

Photos and videos shared online showed roadways and parking lots submerged in water, with drivers forced to flee their vehicles. Intersections were also completely flooded in parts, while some areas near Dixie Road and Dundas Street Cooksville Creek, Streetsville, Malton, Lisgar, highway stretches of the 401, 403 and 410, and the airport were heavily impacted.

Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish said that during the weekend, the city saw varying amounts of rainfall, from 6.2 millimetres to as much as 170 millimetres in some areas.

‘This is insanity’: Etobicoke residents plead for help following flooding
July flash floods in Toronto, southern Ontario caused over $940M in insured damage

“Stay in your car. Particularly on city streets,” said Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services (MFES) Deputy Chief Stephane Malo. “We don’t know what’s on the surface of the asphalt.”

Malo notes that advice applies if the water is not moving your vehicle. If you are not on a busy city street, the water is below the height of your car door, and it is safe for you to do so, MFES officials say you can exit the vehicle and walk to higher ground.

Malo says this is important to consider because vehicles can float when water levels reach two feet.

“Then comes the potential for the car to roll over, so what we say is don’t panic, stay calm,” he continued. “I know it’s difficult, but don’t panic. Roll your windows down, get out of the car as soon as possible, and find higher ground, and we will come and get you.

“If the water is forceful enough to push the door back, you won’t be able to open the door, so the sooner you can open the windows, the better, and then you can escape the vehicle,” added Malo.

Mississauga business impacted by severe flooding

Mississauga’s mayor has called the weekend weather event “a 100-year storm,” noting that the city has been investing significantly in stormwater infrastructure to better protect against such events.

“The scale of this flooding event, and the one on July 16, has tested our systems, and we are actively assessing how we can further improve and adapt our infrastructure to meet these ever-changing demands,” said Parrish.

Drivers weren’t the only ones affected by the flood; local store owners also had to battle the water and take action.

Marco Raposo, owner of Vin Bon Mississauga East, said it all started with running water down the parking lot.

“Anything I had in there, we were just piling them up against the door,” he said. “One of my employees was closing it, and the other two… filling buckets, going out the back door, throwing those out. For three or four hours, it was non-stop.

“Hey, City of Mississauga, I think you have an issue here. Please get on it because I don’t want to [have to deal] with a third one this summer,” Raposo added.

Saturday’s downpour dumped 128.3 millimetres of rain at Toronto Pearson International Airport. That topped the 2013 record of 126 millimetres recorded at the airport, which is on tap for its rainiest summer ever.

The previous record for summer rainfall stood at 396.2 millimetres, but Pearson Airport has already seen 475.7 millimetres this season.

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Nasa's astronauts: stranded in space

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore's eight-day trip to the ISS has now stretched into weeks amid concerns over their Starliner spacecraft

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Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore taking questions during a media briefing in March, before they embarked on their trip to the ISS

"We've all been there," said Richard Hollingham on BBC Future : stuck on a broken-down train or stranded in an airport after a cancelled flight, unsure when we'll get home. Spare a thought, then, for Nasa astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore. In June, the pair arrived on the International Space Station (ISS) with limited luggage for what was supposed to be a fleeting eight-day visit. But the spacecraft that took them there – Boeing's new Starliner – suffered helium leaks and thruster problems before docking, raising doubts about its safety for the return flight.

If Nasa can confidently establish that the issues are fixed, the two astronauts may yet be able to return in the craft. If not, the Starliner will fly back empty, and Williams and Wilmore will have to remain on the ISS until they can hitch a ride with other returning astronauts on a SpaceX spacecraft – in February 2025.

The pair aren't in any danger, according to Nasa, said Stephen Bleach in The Sunday Times , and their stock of food and clothes was topped up last week by a supply capsule. Indeed, I found myself almost envying their unexpected summer in space – all that peace and quiet, "the licensed, guilt-free idleness of it". But then I remembered that they'll be working round the clock with seven other astronauts in what amounts to a "flatshare from hell", drinking recycled sweat and urine. They'll be too busy to feel sorry for themselves, said Wiliam Hunter in the Daily Mail . With lengthy work shifts and two hours of compulsory exercise a day, ISS crew members are left with little free time to ruminate.

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Discomfort, risk and uncertainty are part of the deal if you're an astronaut , said Micah Maidenberg in The Wall Street Journal . "This is just the life that we live," Wilmore said in an interview in March when asked about the risk of missions going wrong. Both he and Williams have done previous stints on the ISS: she made headlines in 2006 by running a marathon inside it on a treadmill.

Williams's husband, Michael, remarked last week that his wife would be anything but disappointed by the prospect of spending more time carrying out scientific experiments and repairs on the orbiting station 250 miles above Earth. "That's her happy place," he said.

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How to Avoid Getting in Trouble for Not Doing Your Homework

Last Updated: April 9, 2024

This article was co-authored by Alicia Oglesby . Alicia Oglesby is a Professional School Counselor and the Director of School and College Counseling at Bishop McNamara High School outside of Washington DC. With over ten years of experience in counseling, Alicia specializes in academic advising, social-emotional skills, and career counseling. Alicia holds a BS in Psychology from Howard University and a Master’s in Clinical Counseling and Applied Psychology from Chestnut Hill College. She also studied Race and Mental Health at Virginia Tech. Alicia holds Professional School Counseling Certifications in both Washington DC and Pennsylvania. She has created a college counseling program in its entirety and developed five programs focused on application workshops, parent information workshops, essay writing collaborative, peer-reviewed application activities, and financial aid literacy events. This article has been viewed 100,627 times.

Homework generally isn’t that much fun. But it generally is a requirement that has a pretty decent-sized impact on your grade, so if you want (or need) to do well in a class, getting the homework done is a big deal. So what happens if you forget to do one of the assignments? You have a few options; the first and best is, of course, to not to forget to do it in the first place. But if that’s not an option, there are a few other measures you can take to try to get out of a homework scrape. Read on to find out more.

Using Good Judgment

Explain why you didn’t do the homework--maybe you forgot about the assignment, got home late, fell asleep, etc. Don’t sugarcoat your reason, but do use some discretion; if you didn’t do your homework because you were at an all-night kegger, keep your reason general (ie, “I didn’t get home until late”) rather than overly specific (ie, “I was too busy doing keg stands”).
Apologize. After giving your reason, sincerely apologize. Don’t gloss over this part--the sincerity of your apology will impact how likely your teacher is to want to help you. If you don't feel comfortable talking to the teacher directly, feel free to send them an email or leave them a note.
Explain that it won’t happen again--and make sure it doesn’t. Let your teacher know that this was a rare instance of you lapsing on a responsibility and that you’ll be careful that it doesn’t happen again. And--this part is important--keep your word. If you make forgetting your homework habitual, your teacher will not only stop believing your excuses, they’ll rapidly become less sympathetic to your apologies.
Ask for another day to finish the assignment. The best case scenario here is that your teacher will grant you extra time to complete the assignment and won’t penalize you for turning it in past the original deadline. More likely, though, your teacher will offer to let you turn in the assignment late, for partial credit. Don’t gripe about or be ungrateful for partial-credit--it will make it less likely that your teacher will extend you a similar opportunity in the future.

Step 2 Explain that you tried but didn’t understand the assignment.

Ask the teacher to help you understand the assignment and to let you have another chance at completing it. This both buys you more time and has the added benefit of getting you one-on-one homework help as well.

If the story’s creative or amusing enough, your teacher might cut you some slack simply because you didn’t give them one of the same boring excuses they always hear.
For example, maybe it just so happened that your parents went out last night and left you with a family friend who turned out to be a clairvoyant and burned all of your homework because he looked into the future and saw that if he didn’t destroy it all your cat would rip your homework to shreds while you slept and you would breathe in a fatal amount of air-borne paper bits and choke to death.

Avoiding Bad Excuses

It should be obvious, but don’t use “the dog ate my homework.” You might as well not even bother coming up with an excuse at all.
Don’t just say “I lost it” unless you can come up with a believable set of extenuating circumstances to explain how it got lost. Saying it just got lost randomly is pretty transparent.

Instead of blaming the printer or your laptop, etc., explain that you had trouble when you were trying to print (or whatever) the homework right before class but that you’ll email it to your teacher by the end of the day. You can buy more time with that, and quickly type it up.
Just be sure you actually do send it to them by the end of the day--preferably by 5 pm. [2] X Research source

First, since it’s your responsibility, not theirs, to make sure you’re up-to-date on assignments, this excuse is pretty much like telling the teacher that it was your own fault.
Second, because, from your teacher’s point of view, an entire classroom of other students managed to find out about and do the homework, so it clearly isn’t as hard as you’re making it out to be. [3] X Research source
And finally, the ignorance excuse won’t work because when you’re absent, your teacher expects that you’ll find out everything you missed. If didn’t, your teacher will again see it as your own fault.

Avoiding the Situation in the First Place

Start by writing down every assignment and its due date as soon as it’s assigned.
Be sure to write all of your assignments down in the same place so you don’t miss any or have to go on a desperate search every time you want to know what’s due. A day planner, dedicated homework notebook, or scheduling app are all good options.

Whenever you get an assignment, estimate how long it will take to complete and set aside the necessary time accordingly.
If it’s an assignment that will take several days or even several weeks, set aside as many blocks of time as you’ll need to complete it over that span of time.

Don’t procrastinate on homework--don’t let yourself play video games or chat on Facebook until you’ve finished your night’s assignments.
Do the harder assignments first. Getting the harder work out of the way first is a more efficient and rewarding use of your time.
Reader Poll: We asked 242 wikiHow readers how to avoid making the same mistake, and 10% said they would ask loved ones to hold them accountable. [Take Poll] While this may not be the best strategy according to our readers, try making a routine for yourself.

Step 4 Use free or in-between times to do homework.

If you have a study-hall period, a free period, a few minutes between classes, a 10-15 minute bus ride home, etc., use that time to work on homework. Sure, you’d rather be talking to friends or playing on your phone, but if you want to have your homework done, you’ll need to actually take the time to do it. [4] X Research source

Start by approaching the teacher. Explain your difficulties and ask for their help. That’s what your teachers are there for, after all--to help you learn. (And if they show any reluctance to help, remind them of this fact.) They’re the best source of help since they’re the ones making and grading the homework, and having the help of an insider is often invaluable.
Get help from a classmate. If your teacher isn’t able to give as much help as you need, supplement their help with help from a classmate who understands the material and is doing well in the class. If you aren’t sure who that might be, ask your teacher for suggestions.
Get a tutor. Many schools offer free peer-tutoring services that can be a significant help. Ask your teacher or an administrator whether such services are available. If not, consider looking into hiring a tutor. There are a number of professional tutoring services to choose from, or you might try hiring a local college student for tutoring help.

Even if you think you’re a great multi-tasker, trying to do homework while also texting, catching up on Facebook, and tweeting about how much you hate homework is actually hurting you more than helping you get through the process.
Moreover, though multitasking can be an asset for some activities, it isn’t an asset when studying. When you’re multitasking, your mind leaves your current train of thought (like, say, trigonometry) and takes up a new train (maybe texting a friend about tomorrow’s plans), and the result is that you end up doing worse on both.
Find a quiet, distraction-free space to do your studying. The better you’re able to concentrate, the better you’ll do on your work and the more quickly you’ll get through it. Put away or turn off anything you know will distract you (your phone, Facebook alerts, whatever). [6] X Research source
If you find yourself being distracted by thoughts of other things you should or want to be doing, keep a piece of paper next to you where you can write down those thoughts as they come up. Don’t dwell on them, just write them down and know you can get back to them later. [7] X Research source
Set small goals and reward yourself when you achieve them. For example, set a goal to study for 15-20 minutes straight and then reward yourself with a small treat when you do so. [8] X Research source