 Why Do People Procrastinate?
People may procrastinate for a wide variety of
reasons, but they all boil down to not wanting to do the task at hand,
or wanting to do something else! The following mostly address
schoolwork, but can apply to anything that you might procrastinate on.
- Poor Time
Management. Procrastination means not managing time
wisely. You may be uncertain of your priorities, goals and
objectives. You may also be overwhelmed with the task. As a
result, you keep putting off your school or other work for a later
date, or spend a great deal of time with your friends and social
activities, or you worry about your upcoming examination, class project
and papers rather than completing them.
- Difficulty
Concentrating. When yo sit at your desk you find yourself
daydreaming, starring into space, looking at pictures of your
boyfriend/girlfriend, etc., instead of doing the task. Your
environment is distracting and noisy. You keep running back and
fourth for equipment such as paper, pencils, erasers, dictionary,
etc. Your desk is cluttered and unorganized and sometimes you
sit/lay on your bed to study or do your assignments. You probably
notice that all of the examples that you have just read promote wasting
time and frustration.
- Fear and
Anxiety. You may be overwhelmed with the task and afraid
of getting a failing grade. As a result, you spend a great deal
of time worrying about your upcoming exams, papers, and projects,
rather than completing them.
- Negative
Beliefs. You may think to yourself "I can't succeed at
anything!" or "I lack the necessary skills to perform the task!"
These thoughts may allow you to stop yourself from getting your work
done!
- Personal
Problems.
For example, financial difficulties,
problems
with your boyfriend/girlfriend, teacher, parents, brother or sister.
- Unrealistic
Expectations and Perfectionism. You may believe that
you MUST read everything
ever written on a subject before you can begin to write your paper. You may think that you haven't done the best
you possibly could do, so it's no-good enough to hand in.
Or, you think that you should understand
something the very first time you read it, and because you don't you
think you
can't learn it.
- Fear of Failure.
You may think that if you don't get an "A", you are a failure.
Or, that if you fail an exam, you, as a person, are a failure, rather
than that you are a perfectly ok person who has failed an exam.
How Do I Overcome
Procrastination?
Overcoming procrastination requires us to recognize
that we do procrastinate and when we do it. Procrastination is
just avoiding something we don't want to do. The best way to get
around it, is of course, just do it! Here are a few strategies to
help.
- Recognize
self-defeating problems such as fear and anxiety, difficulty
concentrating, poor time management, indecisiveness and
perfectionism. Then tackle the problem, one at a time if there
are more than one.
- For example, I'm afraid of failing Chemistry,
so I don't read assignments when I should and put off studying for the
exam until the night before. A strategy to change this might be
to read assignments or find a friend or the teacher to help you after
school to understand the things you aren't quite getting. And,
try studying as you go along the course, reviewing each night or each
week.
- Identify your own goals, strengths and
weaknesses, values and priorities.
- For example, I set as my goal making at least
a B in Chemistry. My strength is that I am like science. My
weakness is that I usually don't read my assignment each night and then
don't really understand what the teacher is talking about the next day
in class. My value is that I want to be successful. Ok,
then I have my target set at earning a B. I like science, I just
don't read my assignments each night. A strategy could be to find
some time during the day to read at least part of the assignment maybe
in study hall or at lunch, or go to the library right after
school. These things may not be easy, they may not be fun, but if
you tackle your task with some strategy and make yourself work your
strategy, then you can earn success in achieving you goal. And,
you'll be surprised how good it feels to achieve your goals and how
each achievement leads to the next!
- Compare your
actions with the values you feel you have. Are your values
consistent with your actions.
- I don't read my assignments each night which
is not leading me to succeeding. So my actions are not consistent
with my values.
- Discipline yourself to use time wisely!
Set priorities!
- Although it isn't as much fun, I could work at
reading my Chemistry assignment before I sit down to relax and play my
video game or listen to my cds. Look at the things you are doing
and the order you are doing them in. If you are always putting
the fun things first and not getting to the work things, then try
changing your order. If you can train yourself to work first,
then you can use the play as your reward.
- Study in small
blocks of time instead of long time periods. For example,
you will accomplish more if you study/work in 60 minute blocks
and take frequent 10 minute breaks in between, than if you study/work
for 2-3 hours straight, with no breaks. Reward yourself after you
complete a task (take a short walk, get a drink, read a few pages of a
recreational book).
- Read a chapter or work for an hour. Stop
and try to think about what you just read to make sure it makes
sense. Then get up and go do something fun or relaxing for 10
minutes. The trick is not to let the fun or relaxing part suck
you into staying there! Ten minutes - make that your rule!
- Motivate
yourself to study: Dwell on success, not on failure.
Try to study in small groups. Break large assignments into small
tasks. Keep a reminder schedule and checklist.
- I know if I study I will do better than if I
don't study. Try finding a friend to study with, but you have to
keep each other on track!
- Breaking large assignments into small
tasks. I know I will have a unit test at the end of the
month. Each night if I went over my notes and thought about that
lesson in relation to the theme of the chapter, and then reviewed each
chapter at the end of the week, then by the time I get to unit exam,
I'm not starting from scratch!
- Another example is a term paper or
project. If I sit down and think about what I have to do and
break it up into small tasks, like on Monday I will come up with my
project topic. On Wednesday, I will use the Internet to find
information about m topic. On Friday, I will draft an outline of
what I want to cover in my project. Etc.
- If I have never done well in Science, it may
not be realistic to set as my goal an A for this next grading
period. If I made a C last grading period, then my goal might be
to make a B this time.
- If my teacher gives me three weeks to work on
a project, then it isn't realistic to think I can do it two or three
days before it is due.
- Modify your
environment. Eliminate or minimize
noise/distraction. Ensure adequate lighting. Have necessary
equipment at hand. Don't waste time when studying. A desk
and straight-backed chair is usually best (a bed is not place to
study). Be neat! Take a few minutes to straighten up your
desk and surroundings. This can help to reduce day-dreaming.
- If you are laying in bed with minimal lighting
and the stereo is playing - well, that just doesn't lend itself to
concentrating on your work.
- If you have stuff all over your desk, or
clothes all over your your floor, all of those things are distracting
to you and add stress to the task you are trying to do whether you
choose to recognize it or not.
Adapted from the University of Buffalo, The State
University of New York, Student First, Student Affairs web site, http://ub-counseling.buffalo.edu/stressprocrast.shtml
(collected 5/12/04).
Other Strategies for Overcoming
Procrastination
Most people, even those without ADD, tend to
procrastinate, to put off the tasks which are not fun and do not hold
much pleasure. We continually shove them aside until they are dreaded
and looked upon as the black hole of chores. By the time we get around
to them, it takes mountains of motivation just to get started.
Someone once said to me that it is possible to do anything if you know
there is an end in sight. This is what I use now to get me through and
to stop procrastinating. I give myself 15 minutes of dreaded time each
morning. I make myself spend 15 minutes doing that which I don't really
want to do. It might be washing the floor at home or filing at work. It
doesn't really matter, it is one task that I just don't want to do, but
I know there is an end, I only need to do it for 15 minutes and then I
can stop. (Even if it is not done, I can finish the next day.)
For me, this has been the only trick that has worked well, my 15
minutes of dread each morning. But here are 10 more tips that have been
submitted to me throughout the many months I have been here. I hope you
find one that works for you.
Source: http://www.add.about.com/
(collected 10/13/03)
Tips for Reducing Procrastination
1) Start each week
with a planning session and use a weekly/daily planner. Write
down all of the important deadlines or appointments that may be coming
up, as well as reminders on previous days. Use a highlighter to
note when something is exceptionally important.
2) Plan your days
according to your most productive times of the day. If you are a
morning person, plan the most activities during that period of time
when you are least likely to procrastinate.
3) Give yourself a
time limit on tasks you are not looking forward to completing.
Someone once told me, "You can do anything if you know there is an end
in sight." If you set a limit of one hour for an unpleasant task,
then it may become more bearable knowing it will be done with in a
short period of time.
4) Decide if something
is important enough to keep right away. Many of us will keep
papers from the mail or other items to look at later. Decide
immediately if it is worth keeping or not. If it is, act on it
now, if it isn't throw it away. Get rid of the "maybe later" pile.
5) Do at least one undesired task in the morning and
get it over with so that the rest of the day you can feel you at least
accomplished something.
6) Balance your day, fill in with enjoyable tasks in
between those you are not so thrilled about doing.
7) Break large projects down to smaller chunks.
Try to keep "things to do" down to 30 minutes or less. If longer,
see if you can break into a few different items instead.
8) Try to prevent interruptions before they occur.
Turn off the phone, don't answer the door, or use a baby-sitter, you
will accomplish much more in a shorter period without distractions.
9) Avoid over-planning. Once you have a plan in place,
act upon it, don't try to continue to revise it until it is perfect.
10) Reward yourself for your accomplishments.
Source: http://add.about.com/cs/foradults/a/tipsprocrastina.htm
(collected 10/13/03)
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