Bad Habit

Given the chance to be a perfunctory and inanimate machine, something I’d like to be permanently removed from my system is my habit of cramming.

Each person has his own set of habits—may it be good or bad. It is a natural manner or steady tendency of how a person behaves. Which is why cramming, being a usual part of my routine, is what I believe makes it quite difficult to get rid of.

I am downright ashamed of my being a crammer. I am well aware that this habit of mine inevitably leads to inefficiency, low grades and failure. My chronic habit of cramming is seemingly inescapable. I notice that the flow of antecedent events beforehand my cramming “session” more or less go this way: A teacher announces a distant deadline for a major & work-heavy project; I write it down on my list of things-to-do; each succeeding night afterwards I do absolutely anything easier and less tedious to do as compared to the major project—this is my method of procrastination.

A particular cue preceding my habit of cramming includes seeing lighter assignments. These make me deliberate that I would be “rewarded” sooner if finish those first rather than the major project. My current progress in a night’s work is another specific cue. Early into the evening, I’d usually be unable to cross out anything from my to-do list. So, once again, I think to myself that crossing out any of the easier and harder tasks would mean all the same as long as I get to cross something out of the list.

I give my utmost attention to the easiest or stress-free things (regardless of their priority status) on my to-do list. Rather than put more efforts into getting the more important tasks done, I judge each thing-to-do based on the date of submission. As a result, I end up crammin...

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...ple, by putting into practice the concept of response cost, withdrawing my iPod or a fiction book that I am reading at the time—previously earned reinforces—would let me learn that cramming is basically bad and that I shouldn’t do it. (But this wouldn’t make sense of course if the deadline is eminent since not cramming would mean certain failure.)

Another effective way to break the habit entails the application of another phenomenon of instrumental conditioning: positive-practice overcorrection. Going back to the example of the major project, after the act of cramming for it in order to decrease the chances of me repeating the same behavior, I would have to redo the whole project again but this time while managing my time wisely and following a strict schedule of work in order to finish the project. This is clearly exaggerated, but I learn through this exaggeration.