That is one key message from Brian Johnston, personal performance and development coach with University of Otago Graduate Research Services.
Various forms of procrastination, including email addiction, are high on his priorities for positive goal-setting action.
Information technology had become a "double-edged sword", he warned this week.
It was "fantastic" students could now "access information instantly on any subject" via computer.
"The down side is that we can become overwhelmed by information overload."
And research students could also spend too long hunting for elusive research references on the internet or spend all day answering a mass of emails instead of devoting some distraction-free time to writing up their research.
Glasgow-born, Mr Johnston had worked as a student counsellor at Otago Student Health for several years before taking up his current job in May last year.
He is the first such performance coach appointed at a New Zealand university.
As a counsellor, he had encountered students struggling to complete their academic work on time and to achieve a good work-life balance.
This year, Mr Johnston, who has an office at the university's Centre for Innovation, is keen to see students early, before any problems begin to damage their academic work.
Personal performance and development coaching was action-based and helped students set "realistic, achievable goals" and to feel "more energetic and motivated" after achieving them, he said.
He can be contacted at www.brianjohnston.co.nz.
• University Graduate Research Services director Dr Charles Tustin said Otago postgraduate thesis students were already performing very well, with Otago completion rates for such degrees exceeding 80%.
Nevertheless, Mr Johnston was providing further support, including helping students have a higher-quality study experience and enjoy a better balance between academic work and the rest of their lives, he said.
