Procrastination is the art of ‘putting things off,’ one which many students all over the world deal with on a day-to-day basis. Whether a mother asks her son or daughter to clean their messy room, or a teacher assigns a tedious six-page essay for homework, many, if not most of us, will procrastinate. Frankly there is so much more one would rather be doing than that which we must. Procrastination plays such a big role in a teenager’s daily life that it becomes a true talent and skill. For those who recognize and practice the following steps, you may be blessed with achieving the art of procrastination.
The first step to this precious and coveted talent is deciphering with accuracy exactly how many hours the task at hand will take. It is necessary to evaluate, with precision, when the absolute last possible nanosecond to start and finish the task will be before going to bed at a somewhat reasonable time-let’s say, midnight. For example, you have an English essay to write on analysis, a math assignment to complete on logarithms, as well as a history terms quiz to study on the Civil war-all due tomorrow. You determine through careful estimation that it will take four hours to complete all of the work. Two hours to write the analysis essay, one hour to complete the math assignment, and an hour to study history. Now you know that as long as you start your homework before eight you will still get everything done and get to bed at a reasonable hour. If I were in this situation I would not overly worry about the fact that the essay might take up to four hours to write and I still have to think of an interesting topic to analyze, or that I might start my homework at ten because my best friend called to ask my opinion on the new...
... middle of paper ...
...mily, and remember to savor every bite. Joining in with the family conversation is crucial as you time is valuable so you want to spend it wisely. It’s okay that you’re not working on your essay, because family time is crucial, no matter how long dinner takes.
After dinner you might be feeling a little tired, so you close your eyes for a little, thinking of the work you need to finish. The next step in procrastination is to fall asleep ‘unintentionally’ on the couch, using perhaps a textbook as a pillow. This way when you wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning, you will be ready to finish that essay due in four hours. If you don’t wake up to finish your essay, don’t worry as you can always try to fake a stomachache. If you can get this past unsuspecting parents, all the better. Of course, this is something I would never do, but the strategy is valid nonetheless!
Anxiety. Regret. Frustration. Restlessly glancing at the clock, cringing every time I do. Staring at a blinking cursor, waiting for inspiration. Spending a restless night trying to squeeze out something to turn in the next day. This is a process known all too well by me, and most high schoolers in America, one known as: Procrastination. Procrastination is something easily avoided, and yet, seems to be one of the biggest causes for low grades in most students’ lives. It’s a tempting prospect, putting off your responsibilities to do something enjoyable, but it should be avoided at every possibility. Procrastination causes your grades to suffer, causes your mental health to suffer, and causes you to learn bad habits for the future.
A few things I tried include treating myself after an assignment was done, remembering the stress-free moment when you finish an essay, and the ten minute technique. Out of the three attempts to squash my tendency to procrastinate, only one seemed to work. The first thing I tried that worked, was to set a timer for 10 minutes, and just work for those 10 minutes. Next, I would give myself a 10 minute break. This was an idea suggested by my professor in the beginning of the year. This worked at first; I would get into my writing mojo, and not stop for an hour or so. Suddenly, the ten minute technique stopped working. I would sit down, and get distracted, or do anything but my assignment. This was when I realized that this habit would take a lot longer to break that I originally thought. The one good thing about my procrastination, is that it lead me to another discovery about
There are some college students who are the arousal type procrastinators. These procrastinators are the thrill-seekers (the ones who wait to the last minute of their day to make a move). Next you have the “avoider” procrastinators who would like others to think of them as the individual who lack more effort than ability. Then you have the decisional procrastinators. These procrastinators are the ones who cannot make a decision solely off of their assignment (Marano).
Procrastination is a common problem with students. Students wait closer and closer to the due date to complete an assignment. Procrastinating is something that everyone has done at one point in his or her lives. All students such as elementary students, middle school students, high school students, and college students procrastinate. Students have many reasons why they seem to procrastinate. The reasons for procrastinating are simple such as students being too lazy to complete their work. Procrastination is a problem because students may not get their work done in time. The students’ work may not also be as well accomplished as it would be if they complete it before the due date. Simple solutions such as staying focused, setting goals and priorities,
This kind of procrastination kind eats away months or years of time, and can even ruin lives. It is pervasive, and a source of major stress. And it resists most attempts to overcome it.
Procrastination has become such a bad habit for me. It is very hard to stop procrastinating everything once you have gotten into the habit of doing it. Once I had a term paper due for my religion class. It was to be ten pages long and we were told to spend a lot of time doing it. Being the procrastinator that I am, I waited to the very last minute to do it. I waited until the night before to do most of it. Needless to say, I was up very late that night. In this class there was always a part of the paper due on a certain date before the final paper was due. Having things due before the final paper is due keeps me on task and keeps me from procrastinating until the day before the paper is due. There was one paper which we had to get sources for a while before the paper was due and it forced me to keep up with the paper, rather than let it go to the last minute. This class has taught me that the earlier you start the more positive your final result will be.
Klassen, Robert, Lindsey Krawchuk, and Sukaina Rajani. "Academic procrastination of undergraduates: Low self-efficacy to self-regulate predicts higher levels of procrastination." Contemporary Educational Psychology. 33.4 (2008): 915-931. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. .
11:09 p.m. -It isn't any night out of the ordinary. It's basically the same as every other Sunday night. The parties are all over, all the students are back and I know, most, like myself are wishing they hadn't gone out that night when homework was calling their name or wished they had come in earlier last night when their eyes were heavy, but their friends had convinced them otherwise. This is a lesson in procrastination. Mere hours are left before our first class begins, yet the televisions are still glowing, the stereos are still blasting an incessant flow of music at obnoxious levels and people are still streaming by my open door. Girls giggle as they talk of Johnny or Alex or Jimmy or what's his name and every couple minutes I catch the tail end of a meaningless conversation that distracts me from whatever it is I'm trying to accomplish.
The best way to procrastinate is to interact with other people. That way you can lay part of the blame on someone else: "Well, Mom was talking to me about something important. I couldn't just walk away." I prefer to talk on the phone to friends who go to schools far away. We usually don't talk too often, so when we do, we have to make it count. For those that who don't want to spend a mountain of money on phone bills, any kind of messaging system on the Internet is a great way to communicate.
...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.
The computer is on, the coffee maker. is cooking, and I am under a lot of stress. "There isn't a lot of time left," I said. keep telling myself as I look at the blank piece of paper in front of me. " I know I can do it," I keep encouraging myself while my mind generates zero ideas for my essay which is due six hours from now. & nbsp; Everyone I know procrastinates, my friends, relatives, even people in government.
The definition of procrastination according to Solomon & Rothblum is the determined delay of the start or completion of a task (1984). Procrastinators will also differ from those who do not procrastinate in numerous ways. An example would be that procrastinators often fear failure, strive for perfection, may be slightly pessimistic and more anxious, which may become worse when they realize they are procrastinating (McCown & Johnson, 1991) or when deadlines are approaching (Tice & Baumeister, 1997). The personal and realistic problems that result from dysfunctional procrastination are predominantly acute in academics, as the inclination to put off school-related tasks often result in challenging levels of stress (Solomon & Rothblum 1984), on the whole the end of the academic semester would be the peak (Tice & Baumeister, 1997).
Do not procrastinate. Choose a task and start working on it. Delaying a task will only make it that much hard to get started. Commit yourself to working on the task for a specific amount of time each day until it is completed.
Procrastination is hard for me, mainly because I have a bad habit of waiting to do an assignment closer
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.