Procrastination is the act of putting off doing things at a later time or date for no particular reason. For the person experiencing procrastination it can be either functional or dysfunctional according to the degree of the behavior (qtd. in Sweitzer 11). A person that procrastinates must realize they have a problem and find effective ways to overcome procrastination because they are putting their health, family and job at risk. According to Joseph Ferrari, a Professor of psychology at DePaul University, states that twenty percent of people realize they are chronic procrastinators which is a lifestyle to them. Some procrastinators are not born but pick up the behavior from family members (12). There are various reasons why people procrastinate.
Some people procrastinate because they are afraid to fail, poor time management, to escape things that seem difficult or unpleasant, feeling depressed or guilty, and fear being judged by others. Some believes that procrastination is brought on by laziness or lack of discipline, but according to Gard, a writer for Current Health 2 disagree, saying there are perfectionists that often procrastinate. For example, a perfectionist may put off writing a paper until the night before it is due and than have an excuse if they get a less than perfect grade, “I did it in a hurry” (22). For example, some philosophers and scientists, such as Aristotle and Einstein, “questioned if time even exists if people are not around to make it”, and Einstein “believed that time was muddle in which the past, present and future were mere illusions” (qtd. in deWaal).
Some people do not realize they are procrastinators because of some personality disorders. A personality disorder called passive-aggressive is “chr...
... middle of paper ...
...u.edu>.
Moore, DP, and JW Jefferson. Handbook of Medical Psychiatry. 2nd ed.nd ed. Philadelphia: Mosby Elsevier, 2004. chap14. University of Tennessee Medical Center for Women and Children's Health. Web. 5 Dec. 2009. .
"Procrastination- Time Management Training." Mind Tools Procrastination. N.p., 2009. Web.
6 Dec. 2009. .
Sweitzer, Nancy G. "Overcoming Academic Procrastination in Higher Education." Dissertation/Theses-Master Theses. N.p.: 1999. 11., State University. Eric. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. .
deWaal, Mandy. "Procrastination: Why you do it, and what to do about it now." ITWeb, 10 July 2009. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. .
Procrastination may be responsible for late assignments, cramming revision for tests and social anxiety, all of which can often result in a poorer performance than the person is actually capable of achieving (Lee 2005; Lay & Schouwenburg 1993). So what is the reason for procrastination? Well, there are many explanations. Some researchers see procrastination as a personality trait (Lay 1986).The interest of procrastination is usually revolved around students and academia. Research has shown the importance of understanding procrastination in an academic setting, for instance academic procrastination is experienced by approximately 80%-95% of college students (Ellis & Knaus 1977). Studies show that at least 50% of undergraduate students frequently procrastinate (Hedin 2012). And 65% of students want to stop procrastinating (Solomon & Rothblum 1984). Even though many researchers focus on the destructive impacts that procrastination can have on a person’s life, for some procrastination is not always a negative behaviour. Research shows that individuals who procrastinate try to justify their behaviour and fall back on phrases such as, “I do my best work under pressure”
“Active procrastinators are people who make intentional decisions to procrastinate,” (Choi & Morgan) this type of procrastinator is often satisfied with his or her work after it is completed. On the other hand, these procrastinators may well not escape the dangers and costs of academic procrastination regardless of their knowledgeable decision to delay said work, which may possibly range from negative outcomes in tests to drop outs; with wasted time, impaired progress, missed deadlines, missed openings and poor grades falling in between. Academic performance is often greatly affected by procrastination, for instance, Phycology Professors at Florida State University, Dianne Tice and Roy Baumeister propose that if one starts the assignment late, even if the one believes he might have enough time, the procrastinators’ performance will worsen, either because of unexpected complications or by one of the various obstructions that occur on a day-to-day basis. One thing frequently leads to another, with a poor quality assignment, one may envision lower grades, staying behind the rest of the class and a lower GPA, which might affect ones’ opportunities later on. Not only is procrastination often caused by anxiety but procrastination also builds up anxiety. Constant
“I need to stop procrastinating, I’ll start tomorrow!” Most of us have uttered these words at least once in our academic life, if not daily. Procrastination is habitual, it is gauged that 95% of college students in America procrastinate, 50% of which who claim to do it half the time and 38% who do it on occasion (koestner, Senecal, & Vallerand, 1995). Procrastination can be defined as prolonging a task and/or delaying it for periods of time knowing it’s in need of attention. Negative implications associated with this can include a decline in quality work and overall learning experience, with an increase in stressful urgency (Goroshit & Hen, 2014). Based on the above information it can be concluded that procrastination in college students is
The typical college course requires the successful completion of challenging assignments, such as exams, term papers, and presentations. With deadlines looming for these assignments, some students will begin their work right away, while others will wait until the last minute to get started. While research evidence does not support the utility of last-minute strategies, such as cramming for exams, students may nonetheless engage in these behaviors as a result of procrastination (Schraw, Wadkins, & Olafson, 2007; Senecal, Koestner, & Vallerand, 1995). For active procrastinators, their act could lead to positive outcomes, such as high grades,
This piece of writing gave more and deeper understanding how other facts have effects on our life as procrastinators. In this research, I came to very important information. This new idea I never imagined that was connected to my behavior as a procrastinator which was "Procrastination is a psychological phenomenon that extends broadly in society. Ferrari, O’Callahan, and Newbegin (2005) reported that 61% of the population display some form of procrastination, of which 20% do so in a chronic manner (e.g., routinely late for deadlines and postponing impor-tant tasks daily or weekly)" (Mun ̃oz-Olano, J. F., & Hurtado-Parrado, C. 2). As I mentioned before procrastination is not the same as laziness. Procrastination has to be with our psychological
As a chronic procrastinator myself I would have to say from experience that I do more often than not make a decision to procrastinate. When I procrastinate it is most times because I believe that I don’t need the time that I am given to get my work done, or simply that I don’t want to work on the project that day. In a paper written by a Serendip Student entitled “Procrastination: Habit or Disorder,” the author sheds light on the psychological view point of procrastination. The author breaks it up into two categories, behavioral procrastination and decisional procrastination. The author relates behavioral procrastination to self-handicap, meaning that those people use procrastination as an excuse to blame something for the reason that they did not pass that test. In this article, the author uses an experiment conducted by Ferrari and Tic, “participants (men and women) perform an identical task twice. In the first study, participants were notified that they would be evaluated on their performance of the task. Time was allotted for practice or engaging in fun activities. Results found that participants procrastinated for 60% of the time. The second study described the identical task as a fun game. Results of activity during the time allotted showed that procrastinators, in comparison
Procrastination is defined as, “to put something off to do at a later time” (Brown, 1993, p. 2365). Franziska Diest, Manfred Hofer, and Stefan Fries (2007) sum up procrastination, “as a failure of shielding the focal goal effectively against temptation” (p. 893). For example, you are currently participating in a five week class, the instructor assigns you a final nine page paper the first night, and you wait until a week before it is due to get started. In today’s society, our generation faces daily distractions that have evolved over time which competes with proper time management (Gardener, Barefoot, 2014). Procrastination can be viewed by many researchers as a problematic, negative impacting approach to higher education
However, as it does affect about one in five persons chronically, this issue that appears to be just a lazy habit has become rife. Although this issue, possibly caused by only one of the two theories, may possibly spawn from both hereditary and environmental reasons. Though there are a variety of “cures,” they are tedious and the issue of procrastination can be difficult to overcome. Procrastination is an issue overlooked by many, whereas this problematic mindset affects most of the population’s workplace and private relationships, as well as health.
"I'll do it later." We hear this phrase throughout our society, ringing in schools, workplaces, and any other place where one is given responsibilities. This epidemic, known as procrastination, is highly prevalent in society despite the efforts of teachers, counselors, and even students discouraging it. Procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing something for later. By this definition, it may not seem all too worrisome, but the fact of it being extremely pervasive in the modern world makes procrastination a relevant and expanding crisis especially since majority of students suffer from these procrastination instincts. In short,
Procrastination is used mentally to comfort us and give us refuge from our deep inner fears. While it is often perceived as a character defect the fact is that it is really used to defend our self-worth and independence. As the author states “Generally we re taught that procrastination is the problem, rather than a symptom of other problems. This diagnosis, instead of directing your efforts toward ending the cycle of pressure, fear, and procrastination, unfortunately makes matter worse by blaming you for choosing such an awful habit.” The first step to overcoming procrastination is to stop criticizing yourself and to accept that you are in fact imperfect and human. Procrastination is actually rewarding as it helps us relieve some of our everyday stresses, the problem is we can become addicted to these rewards by learning to use it in three ways: as an indirect way of resisting pressure from authorities, as a way of lessening fear of failure by providing an excuse for a disappointing, less-than-perfect performance, ...
...rs tend to overestimate the degree of unpleasantness of a task” (Lay, 46). Procrastination is a problem that when left unchecked can cause serious problems in every aspect of a person’s life. The solution for students can be as easy as sticking to a goal or as hard as denying themselves a prize when they missed the deadline on a project. The type of solution a person uses depends on what works best for that student, but a schedule to help stay goal positioned never hurt.
Napoleon Hill said procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday. A lot of people today will actually experience procrastination in their everyday life, and is not looked at as a problem until it interferes with peoples’ ability to work and if it creates psychological and physical discomfort. Students often procrastinate and most research is observing the college students likeliness to procrastinate. To look at only college students would be bias however since it affects everyone, almost every day. To find out why people procrastinate, looking at personality and motivation can be where the answer lies. One of the leading researchers in procrastination is Joseph Ferrari. He looks at the definition of procrastination, many reasons procrastinations occurs, and the personality types it occurs in.
A. H. C. Chu and J. N. Choi, psychologists, distinguished two types of protracting, they discovered that active procrastination has attainable characteristics that lead to positive personal outcomes (Choi and Moran). These positive personal outcomes are a result of waiting at its finest. People with these adequate dilatory skills have probably learned from their deficient habits in the past that may help everyone know that the view of holding off can change. Writing this essay has changed my view on procrastination slightly, as I can see how it can be good for you. With my siblings, free time is limited. So taking time to do something more entertaining helps me take a break from stressful work. Then when I get back to it I feel more confident that I can focus and finish it. That’s an example of active procrastination for me. Frank Partnoy shows historical views on procrastination, in an article about his book, such as how “The Greeks and Romans generally regarded procrastination highly. The wisest leaders embraced procrastination and would basically sit around and think and not do anything unless they absolutely had to” (Gambino 2012). Those Romans and Greeks were able to enjoy their time of relaxation, using procrastination as a healthy tool rather than a bad habit. Even wise leaders used it! What an amazing realization that we get procrastination from
Procrastination can be a major problem in both your career and your personal life because procrastination is the thief of time. When you keep putting off things, they keep piling up and getting in your way of achieving other things. Then you have missed opportunities, frenzied work hours, feel stressed, guilt and resentment; you find you are being overwhelmed easily because there is just so much to do.
People all procrastinate at one time or another. Procrastination is the practice of delaying work on important tasks in favor of less challenging ones. Chronic procrastinating hinders productivity and affects our state of mind by creating anxiety and stress (Reichelt). As deadlines approach, one often feels frustration and guilt for not starting on a task earlier. We often assume that projects won't take as long to finish as they really will, which often results in a mad scramble to finish the project in the twenty-four hours before the projects deadline. One of the biggest factors contributing to procrastination is the misconception that we need to be inspired or in the mood to work on the task at hand (Reichelt). However, the reality is that if you wait for the “right time” you will most likely wait for an indefinite amount of time and the task will never get completed.