Silvio Gerlach studied Economics in Marburg, worked as a tutor there, and founded a tutorial for math, statistics, business administration, and economics as a student. With the course content and experience from the tutorials, he eventually founded the publishing house Studeo and wrote his first books on exam training, including a focus on mathematics and many statistical calculation tasks.

For over 20 years, Silvio has been coaching diploma theses, bachelor's theses, master's theses, and dissertations, incorporating his experience in academic work as a practical basis for further books, such as "Thesis-ABC – In 31 Days to a Bachelor's or Master's Thesis."

Theses and dissertations are generally known to tempt procrastination. What insights and tips can Silvio, as an experienced thesis coach, share with us? I interviewed him for this purpose.

Nobody tells you what, when, and how to do things. […] That's the difference from school.

Marcus: Silvio, as a coach, you have insights into the context in which students turn to you. Can you explain how and especially where procrastination arises, particularly in the academic context? Are there typical behavioural or thinking patterns that students can use to recognise a tendency towards procrastination?

Silvio: Opportunities for procrastination or postponing tasks are everywhere in academia. Tasks are postponed until the last minute, especially for more time-consuming tasks. And these are abundant in academia. We have exams, presentations, oral exams, projects, later on, there are papers, theses, internship reports, bachelor's theses, master's theses, and so on. All these tasks have one thing in common: they are not quickly done.

An important reason for procrastination is the lack of external guidance on how to proceed. Nobody tells you what, when, and how to complete tasks. You have to figure that out and plan it yourself. That's the difference from school.

Procrastination reveals a behavioural pattern. It can arise whenever a task is novel, time-consuming, the approach is unclear, and experience with such tasks is limited.

If in the past I did not perform too well or even failed, my self-confidence is not particularly high and the enthusiasm isn't either.

Marcus: Are there psychological triggers and causes that significantly influence the emergence of procrastination in students?

Silvio: In my experience, it is primarily two factors that promote procrastination: fear of errors and self-doubt. As soon as I have a new task and there is no specific prescribed way, I start to ponder. Of course, I am afraid of failing. Especially with tasks in academia, it always involves a form of evaluation, and mistakes can have negative consequences. This fear of errors is the first factor.

The second factor is self-doubt due to negative past experiences. If in the past I did not perform too well or even failed, my self-confidence is not particularly high, and the enthusiasm isn't either.

Our short-term response to these two factors is telling. The task is postponed until the deadline forces action. In this phase of action, there is no alternative but to ignore fears and doubts and just do it. The fear of missing the deadline is stronger than the fear of errors. This explains the late-night shifts just before submission. Working happens almost mechanically and with tunnel vision. Weeks later, one wonders how it was even possible to succeed.

Marcus: What short- and long-term impacts can procrastination have on academic performance and mental well-being?

Silvio: This approach can set a vicious cycle in motion. I have a challenging task that matters. As soon as I postpone it, so close to the deadline, I no longer have enough time to properly think through the task and plan its implementation. So, I just do what I can. The result is usually mediocre to poor, undermining self-confidence, which will affect future tasks. And the cycle continues.

The crux here is learning, namely learning how to handle this particular task well. Strangely, though, isn't that what studying is all about? To learn how to tackle and improve skills in tackling difficult tasks? That is definitely the idea behind studying. But under time pressure, there is hardly any room left for learning. I see this time and again in my specific coaching projects for theses and dissertations. Due to the pressure of deadlines, there is no time to reread the instructions and reflect on the approach.

This has another effect, which is truly not good. The search for shortcuts leads to compromises that actually go against our ethical framework. I'm talking about copying or using AI tools for tasks that we should be doing ourselves. Then, after the project, alongside the feeling of incompetence, there is also the feeling of not having been entirely honest or even cheating. That's not a good development.

Reflecting on what is actually happening here can help overcome procrastination or task avoidance. This is the famous question about meaning. Why am I actually doing this?

Marcus: How can students recognise when their procrastination has reached a critical level, and when should they seek help?

Silvio: This is an excellent question aimed at breaking this vicious cycle. In my experience, it is extremely difficult as long as attention is solely focused on completing tasks. Yet, that's likely the norm in distance learning. There are so many tasks, so many exams, so much material to cover that there's hardly any time for reflection. It's like in life when we are stuck in a routine. Breaking out of it is hard.

Reflecting on what is actually happening here can help overcome procrastination or task avoidance. This is the famous question about meaning. Why am I actually doing this? Wasn't the purpose of my studies to expand my opportunities, gain new knowledge, and enhance my skills? Does it really contribute to improving my skills if I cobble together a new text from various sources, with the help of AI? The answer is obviously no. But in that moment, I just can't help but somehow tackle the current task to move on to the next semester or secure approval for something...

But this is not solely the fault of procrastinators. There is a deeper underlying issue.

We assume that the study programme and its content help us achieve the goal of expanding our knowledge and skills. However, reality tells a different story. We have many tasks to complete whose relevance to our goal is unclear. They are remnants of the last century, and AI only reveals the weaknesses.

My recommendation is to ask oneself this question more often. What am I studying for? What do I want to do with the new knowledge and skills after completing my studies? The answers to these questions can help break the cycle of procrastination.

Marcus: What support can universities, lecturers, or a coaching service like the one you offer provide to help students prevent or overcome procrastination in their studies?

Silvio: That's two questions at once. Universities and lecturers have different possibilities compared to coaches. There are conflicting philosophies here. On the one hand, it is assumed that a university is only formally a school, and students should actually find their own way. They are given all freedoms to figure out the approach to solving a task. Therefore, lecturers intervene less than teachers in school. But this presents a challenge, especially under time pressure. Some universities are already waking up and providing better instructions for dealing with complex tasks. This is welcome.

On the other hand, coaching offers individual possibilities. It can specifically help break the cycle of fears, procrastination, and self-doubt. I talk through the approach to solving a task in my sessions and set small steps. Implementing these quickly leads to a sense of achievement. These successes dispel self-doubts, are good for self-confidence, and for the next tasks. Because success leads to the next success.

What definitely helps in practice against procrastination or task avoidance is pausing before completing a task […] to make a plan and find techniques for carrying out the task.

Marcus: Are there methods or strategies that you can recommend across the board to avoid procrastination in studies, especially when working on projects or dissertations?

Silvio: My favourite strategy falls under the category of “cowardly and lazy”. You have a task that you are doing for the first time. Therefore, you have hardly any idea of how to do it concretely. Instead of completing it somehow and ending up in dead ends or postponing it and then getting stuck in dead ends, you should rather be lazy and ask: “Do I want to keep experimenting forever on how to solve this task, risking that I might fail or waste too much time?” The answer is obvious: “I'd rather look for a proven solution path.”

The goal is to find and utilise professionals' solutions and techniques. It's like with challenging exam tasks. There are model solutions for those. They make everything easier.

Such model solutions exist in the final thesis and dissertations too. There are standard structures, efficient techniques for quickly finding suitable sources, for gathering information, or for writing chapters quickly. I have developed a writing technique that allows for writing five pages of academic text per day, regardless of the chapter. This micro-fragment technique from the Writing-ABC quickly leads to good text. Laziness finds techniques that save time.

Closely related is cowardice in starting an important and complex task with a plan only out of fear of failing. Be cowardly and admit that you can actually fail with this task and need a good plan. Breaking down the task into subtasks and planning them helps recognise and avoid dead ends and false solutions early on. Starting correctly from the beginning is the motto.

For breaking down and planning tasks, there are so many techniques that I had to write a book about it: “Just Do It! – 50 Techniques Against Procrastination”. Most techniques aim to structure the task in a way that makes it easy to implement.

An exemplary technique is the Quadrant Technique. You divide your task into four subtasks. One of these subtasks is most likely much easier than the others. You start with that, your self-confidence grows, and then you move on to the other tasks.

What definitely helps in practice against procrastination or task avoidance is pausing before completing a task. In that moment of peace and thinking, the goal is to make a plan and find techniques for carrying out the task. Sometimes, learning is also involved. Planning saves time, and confidence grows with each success.