Lately I have noticed I'm having a serious case of senioritis and am procrastinating more than I would like. My ideas to help me overcome procrastination have been failing, so I decided to find some suggestions online. This problem has become the inspiration for my latest post. I'm assuming many people are beginning to procrastinate more because the end of the school year is quickly approaching and the weather is beginning to, finally, get nice! The website I found with suggestions to beat procrastination is....
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_96.htm
This website provides general steps and suggestions to overcome any procrastination issues you may have. Professor Clarry Lay described procrastination as "a temporal gap between intended behavior and enacted behavior." This discrepancy is not a new phenomenon and can be overcome by creating implementation intentions with specific goals.
The first step is Recognize That You're a Procrastinator. You won't be able to overcome this problem, if you don't accept you are a procrastinator. The website even offers a link to find out if you're a procrastinator, if you are unsure http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_99.htm.
The second step is Work Out WHY You're Procrastinating. Reasons for procrastinating include the task is unpleasant, you are disorganized, you feel overwhelmed by the task, you are a perfectionist, and a major cause you have troubles making decisions. I was surprised to see being a perfectionist as a reason because I feel being a perfectionist would push you to finish work. However, sometimes being a perfectionist can hinder you because you do not want to make a mistake.
The third step is to Adopt Anti-Procrastination Strategies. Some general tips to motivate yourself to get work finished include making your own rewards, having others check on you, etc. Some suggestions to help you get organized include making a to-do list, prioritize your to-do list, setting a time-line for goals, and focusing on one task at a time. If you find a task unpleasant, actually try the task before deciding it is not fun or enjoyable.
Overall, the article states in order to beat procrastination, one must develop good time-management, cultivate better organizational skills, and encourage effective habits. One also must realize, procrastination is a difficult habit to break. To overcome this habit, one must work hard to incorporate new approaches to work and habits to avoid procrastination.
I have always had an interest in this topic as I personally identify myself as a mild procrastinator. I always have things done on time and allow myself just enough time to get them done, but I accumulate much unneeded stress by putting off doing assignments and other tasks instead of completing them right away. In the last year, I have recognized that this behavior has been quite consistent for me since about middle school. I had learned to do my work this way over the course of the years, and it was going to take some work to unlearn it. I realized that I can exercise personal control over my situation by simply prioritizing each week as it comes. It helps for me to take tasks one at a time rather than be completely overwhelmed by the large amount of work I have to get done throughout the semester. My efficacy expectation in judging my capacity to abandon procrastinating behaviors was admitting to myself that I could do it—it was completely possible for me to get my work done in a timely fashion. In testing out my weekly to-do list method, I saw that the plan I had created was working for me. I began supplementing these task completions with extrinsically motivating rewards (e.g. If I get this and that done by this date, I will get myself those new shoes I have been wanting). My outcome expectation was realized when my stress level decreased—no longer was I feeling anxiety towards being able to get all the school work I needed to done in time. Given my personality, I did find a way to be stressed about other things in my life, but it was no longer school-related. In discussing expectancy beliefs, our textbook mentions that a “person must not only be confident in his efficacy to execute these behaviors but he must also be reasonably assured that an effective performance will pay off (i.e., will lead to desired outcomes). Take away either of these positive forecasts and reluctance and avoidance become rather logical ways of acting.” This is a profound statement that can relate directly to procrastinators everywhere—when you’re not confident in your ability to get things done efficiently while also being unable to comprehend the value of putting yourself through all that effort, it makes it very easy to be unenthusiastic about the task while doing what you can to dodge it altogether.
After further exploration of the Mind Tools website, I found this page to be extremely helpful as far as time management is concerned. It provides the information you need to get yourself back on track through personal goal setting and effective scheduling.
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_HTE.htm
I found this article very interesting, but not very helpful. I am a horrible procrastinator and it seems like I've tried everything. When I use a self implemented reward system, it's hard to hold myself to it. When I enlist others to help with my reward system, it's still difficult to find a reward I get excited enough about to overcome my anxieties. The thing that most often works is the consequences or punishment for not completing the task. However, if I am depressed or worn out enough, even this doesn't work. For this semester, I worked out a very organized to-do list. This seemed to help in the long run, however I found myself making the list to procrastinate the stuff I was putting on the list. Finally, the idea of time bound goals is somewhat backwards for me. On one hand, if I set the time limit myself, I know I can adjust it. If the deadline is set by an external source, such as a professor, the closer the deadline, the more I panic, the less productive I am.
While this article is a great resource, I think it's important to realize that what works for one person may not work for another.
This link provided in this post was very interesting to read. I took the quiz to see how much of a procrastinator I was, and my score totaled up to 52, which meant I am not a systematic procrastinator! Though I'm pretty good at getting things done, I often do little things to help put the task off. For example, I'm not sure if I'm just OCD here, but before I start studying or doing homework, my work space has to be absolutely spotless. And not just my work space, but my whole apartment! I'll start cleaning the kitchen, which turns into me cleaning the living room, and eventually will lead me into cleaning my room. Only after everything is done, can I start doing homework and studying. I am a very organized person, and can be a bit of a neat freak, but sometimes I realize that I'm just cleaning to put off doing homework.
One of the steps that I have mastered in breaking procrastination habits is making a To-Do list. I ALWAYS have to make a To-Do list it seems. It helps me keep my tasks organized, and once I'm done with the task, crossing it off gives me that feeling of accomplishment. The only bad thing I do is I get all of my little assignments done first, and save the big assignments for last. By this time, I've been working on the little tasks for a while, and I feel like a need a rest before starting in on the big ones. So one thing I need to learn how to do is prioritize my To-Do list.
All in all, I don't think I'm that bad of a procrastinator, it just mainly depends on my mood. I'm a very motivated person who strives to do well in school, and I set goals for myself that will help me push me towards doing what I need to do in order to reach them.
This wall post really caught my eye. I admit to be a procrastinator; however, I also admit to being a perfectionist. When there is an upcoming paper due in a couple days, cleaning just seems to be more enjoyable at the time that I am supposed to be typing my paper. It is funny how an unpleasant task (such as cleaning in my case) does not seem as unpleasant if there is an assignment I am trying to put off a little bit longer.
My roommate is the opposite. She does not hesitate when it comes to getting her assignments done—no matter how unpleasant the task. She says the key for her is to “sit down and get started. Once I have started the task, it’s much easier to continue and get it out of the way.” After living with her for two years, I have picked up on some of her “good habits.” I realized that procrastination is harmful. It seemed to be harmful on my self-esteem, raising my anxiety level quite often. However, I have traced some of my procrastination tendencies and have begun to change and improve my study and homework habits while reducing my procrastination.
Just last week, I was faced with an approaching deadline. All I could think about was how long it was going to take me to complete the project. I recognized that I had procrastinated long enough. These toppling thoughts led to create a checklist to break down this important task based on the priority level of each task. I found it much easier to create small to-do lists. Creating small lists helped me feel satisfaction and achievement after I completed each task. Creating a long to-do list seems too overwhelming and also makes me think that I am never going to get everything done.
I do not procrastinate because I am unorganized; I feel I procrastinate when unpleasant tasks are involved. In fact, I review the each of my class’s syllabus and create an assignment checklist for the week; however, I get trapped in the unpleasantness of it all, sometimes feeling too overwhelmed. I also admit to being a perfectionist, especially when I am working on major projects or presentations for any class. I feel that sometimes my perfectionism drives me to become more worried about my overall performance and the task at hand and as a result, this raises my anxiety level a bit. Although, I am always prepared no matter how I get things done. I am also very concerned about time management. I hate being late for any event as well.
Before reviewing the website, I took the “Are you a Procrastinator” quiz. According to this website, my scored was 50, meaning that I was “not a systematic procrastinator,” although I tend to catch myself procrastinating over something. After reviewing this website, I have learned that although I am organized, I am a perfectionist, and I have good time management skills, I still have trouble beating procrastination. In fact, after reviewing the tips to overcome procrastination, I realized that establishing these priorities are leading me in the right direction of breaking the procrastination habit. Overall, I feel that I try my best in school and I am a good student, but when I am faced with an uninteresting challenge, I tend to put the uninteresting task off a little longer than need be. I will continue to try to improve my skills based on the tips this website and author of this blog has detailed.
After reading about procrastination more in depth I decided I would take the procrastination test that I found on the second site given in the blog. My score showed that I rarely procrastinate, but on occasion I might procrastinate on certain tasks. In my opinion, and I think most would agree with me, is that I tend to only procrastinate on tasks that I dislike completing the most. For example, sometimes I will go days without doing my dishes just because it is a task I dislike and have very little interest involved in the task. At times other factors will change my motivation towards doing an unwanted task. Say for example, I wanted to eat supper but had no dishes clean to properly eat off of. That fact alone may motivate me to wash dishes so I am no longer faced with the problem. Like I stated before interest level determines much of what I choose to procrastinate on or not. Most of the time, I perceive writing papers as a boring and negative task. Yet, at times there are papers that I look forward to writing because I have a general interest in the topic I am writing about.
I looked at what the textbook said about procrastination. Chapter 7 touched lightly on the subject and related procrastination to a person’s need for achievement. It may sound obvious to say that a person with a high need for achievement would procrastinate less and even express more behaviors of persistence compared to a person who has a low need for achievement. I saw this exact idea the other night at my sister’s high school volleyball game. Unfortunately, it seems that every player on the team except my sister had a very low level of achievement when it came to beating the team and winning. My sister was really upset because she said she tried over and over to tell her teammates that they needed to play with more determination and persistence, but no one responded in the way she had hoped. After losing to a terrible team which should have never happened, my sister enlightened me later just how her teammates’ level of achievement made them lose the game that night. She told me that for the last two weeks the rest of the varsity team had slacked off majorly in practice especially in warm-ups because the coaches were not around. In my opinion, their slacking in practice showed they must share a low level of achievement unless they magically think they can outperform during a game. What was frustrating for my sister was that she did not share in this level of achievement.
Procrastination is something most college students have experienced from one time or another. Some students actually thrive on procrastination to motivate themselves to complete a task at all. I know many students who will wait the night before a large paper is due and stay up hours into the night finishing it in a hurried fashion. This is the only way some students become motivated to complete homework. Understanding the motivations behind why procrastination occurs can be the first step towards reducing the amount of procrastination a person uses in their day to day lives.