Six workshop sessions may help students put things off less.

The study

1. 01

   Who took part

   175 students at the University of Tübingen in Germany were interviewed, and 161 were included in the main analysis. Their ages ran from 20 to 43, with an average of about 26. There were 92 women and 83 men.

2. 02

   What they did

   Students joined groups of about 10 for six workshop sessions. Both workshops limited how long students could work on tasks they kept putting off. Students also signed a personal agreement to do the work and kept a daily diary. One workshop was longer and also covered time management and other topics. A waiting group got no workshop until later.

3. 03

   What happened

   After the workshops, students put things off less than they had before, and that was still true three months later. The waiting group's scores did not change. At the end, the shorter workshop did better; three months later, the longer one did better. The paper's numbers do not fully add up, so we cannot give exact sizes.

What the study found

1. Helped

   Students in either workshop put things off less at the end than before, while the waiting group did not change.

   • Action: Learn how the problem workstested
   • Action: Track your progresstested
   • Rule: Work only in set time windowstested
   • Rule: Put something at staketested
   • Rule: Practise with a groupused
   • Rule: With a coach or therapistused

   Trial of 161 students at the University of Tübingen · vs students on the waiting list · they rated themselves · ⚠ many people dropped out; numbers unreliable

2. Mixed

   At the end, the shorter workshop did better; three months later, the longer workshop did better.

   • Action: Take a time-management coursetested
   • Action: Challenge unhelpful thoughtstested
   • Rule: Practise with a groupused
   • Rule: With a coach or therapistused

   Trial of 161 students at the University of Tübingen · vs the shorter workshop · they rated themselves · ⚠ many people dropped out; numbers unreliable

3. No comparison

   Three months on, students still put things off less than before; the waiting group was not checked again.

   • Action: Learn how the problem worksused
   • Action: Track your progressused
   • Rule: Work only in set time windowsused
   • Rule: Put something at stakeused
   • Rule: Practise with a groupused
   • Rule: With a coach or therapistused

   Trial of 161 students at the University of Tübingen · no comparison group · they rated themselves · ⚠ many people dropped out; numbers unreliable

Source