Setting useful goals:

• Describe what you want to accomplish with as much detail as possible, in terms that can clearly be evaluated.
• If it's a larger, longer term goal, break it into shorter pieces and specify target completion dates.
• Make your goals ones that you are actually capable of obtaining, but that are challenging enough to take energy and discipline.

• Start early. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll be free to do other activities, the less you'll worry, and the more time you'll have to recover from mistakes and wrong directions.
  
• If you have a long, hard task, make it as comfortable for you as possible. Do it in short bits (but stay with it), do it wearing comfortable clothes, among friends, in familiar surroundings... whatever it takes to keep your spirits up while you work at it.
  
• If necessary, pause every now and then to remind yourself why you have chosen to take on certain work, what you expect to get out of it, where it will lead you. Once you're convinced that the work in your program is linked to your goals, you'll be much more apt to work willingly.
  
• Completed tasks keep interest and motivation at a higher level. Try to complete a task or accomplish a sub-goal, before you quit for the day.
  
• Give yourself credit for anything you do.
  
• REWARD YOURSELF. Reward yourself for studying, learning a difficult concept, or completing a project. Go to a movie, spend time with your friends, or do the things you put off in order to study. This reinforces your behavior. You are more likely to study again and concentrate if you know there is a reward at the end of completing a task. Keep rewarding yourself when you've done your best. We all need this to encourage us.
  
• You're in charge. Remind yourself that you need to study, work on an assignment, etc., even if you don't feel like it. If you wait till you feel inspired, you'll be waiting forever.
  
• Make a public commitment. Tell someone you see on a regular basis what your goals and when your deadline are. Then ask them to check on you to see what you have gotten done.
  
• Think small. If you've got a hundred letters to write, send a postcard a day. Going for too much too soon is a big reason why many people fail at self-management. It doesn't have to be "all or nothing."
  
• Study groups help to increase motivation because you have to prepare for them.
  
• Get enough sleep so that you can work at top efficiency the next day!
  
• Get inspired by talking to your professor and finding out more about their experiences in the field.
  
• Clarify your personal goals. Articulate them, write them down, post them on your door, mirror or notebook so you'll see them frequently.
  
• Make something you normally do and enjoy contingent upon doing the avoided task: "I'll work on my term paper in the library for an hour before going out."

When you run into snags: Don't worry about or dwell on things that go wrong. Concentrate on your successes. Remember that little successes build up just as quickly as little failures. Expect to and forgive yourself for backsliding and making mistakes. Learn from your mistakes, but don't dwell on them. Know your problem areas: socializing? reading? napping? day dreaming? Recognize when you are doing it and call yourself on it. Talk to a friend if you are frustrated. See if your school offers counseling. Write out a plan for yourself. Jot down personal and academic goals and priorities, and re-read them when you're in a slump. You don't have to be a perfectionist. Make approaching your goals the basis of your self-respect rather than reaching them. Don't allow feelings of inadequacy to get you down. Think about all the things that you have going for you...your awful task will look a lot less awful within the context of a generally good-quality life. Expect a certain amount of tension. Use that tension as energy to get yourself going. Give yourself time to succeed. And if first you don't succeed...