The Tendency to Procrastinate - Essay Example

We are all haunted by procrastination. Very few people can consistently follow the old maxim, "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today." But in all kinds of work, including academic pursuits, the tendency to procrastinate can be managed so that it doesn’t completely destroy the order of one’s life or the ability to achieve much. Write an essay in which you discuss your ability to manage procrastination in your academic work, giving specific examples of cases in which you have either succeeded or failed in controlling the impulse to put off doing what you know you need to do. Researching online about procrastination was ironic for me in the sense that I was researching about the procrastinator’s tendency to deter work and here myself I had been putting off finishing my writing assignment. According to Psychology Today everybody does procrastinate at some point in their life, but 20% of individuals “chronically avoid difficult tasks and deliberately look for distractions.” I feel that I am a part of these 20% of individuals, and this essay will discover the ways in which I have tried to deal with my tendency to put off doing work, and fight the impulse to do everything the next day. For me, procrastination can be overcome by taking genuine interest in the work assigned, managing time effectively and not allowing oneself to be overwhelmed by the amount of work, and lastly by eliminating distractions. I almost always shrink away from doing any academic work that I feel does not have larger meaning or relevance to me. Often I would shirk doing assignments that I do not think deserve my attention, or that will not really affect my feeling of self-worth significantly. For example, when dealing with work related to mathematics or physics, since I do not have any interest in the courses or do not think that failing in these courses will really affect the way I think about myself, I often put off such work. Especially since I plan on following a career in the social sciences, focusing on mathematics and physics is completely irrelevant and unnecessary in my opinion; I do not feel a compelling need to succeed in courses that do not have any ultimate meaning for me. However, I have tried to curb my tendency to avoid doing assignments that have no meaning for me. Taking the example of a particular physics assignment on radioactivity, initially I postponed doing this work for a couple of days. However, when I overheard my friends excitedly chatter amongst themselves about how they were going to go about the radioactivity project, I felt infected by their enthusiasm and was determined to attend the next physics class with an open mind and a willingness to learn. In the next class, I attentively listened to the teacher’s lecture on radioactivity, nuclear physics, carbon dating, and I realized that this was all actually interesting; my mind had been successfully stimulated. Though I could still see no connection between the physics assignment and my ultimate goal of pursuing a social sciences career, the fact that I was genuinely interested in the physics class motivated me to finish the assignment; I felt that I must complete the physics assignment because I myself was excited about doing the research and finding out more on radioactivity. This case illustrated the fact that whenever I feel the need to avoid doing academic work that I feel has no relevance or meaning to me, I overcome this feeling by wholeheartedly trying to engage myself in the work and find out what about it interests or stimulates me (Procrastination Prevention, University of Exeter, Well-Being Services.). Another reason I often put off doing my academic work is because sometimes there is so much work to do that I feel overwhelmed (Procrastination Prevention, University of Exeter, Well-Being Services); I feel like I cannot possibly finish all this work in the time allotted. Couple this with my inability to manage my time effectively and the result is that I often admit defeat and do not manage to complete my work. For instance, there was one week in which I had assignments due for every single class; I had five different assignments and three of them were required to be five pages long and have more than 3 different sources cited. Thinking about all this work that had been placed on my shoulders put me in very low spirits since I knew that it was not humanly possible for me to finish all the work on time. I was also unable to manage my time correctly and devote appropriate amounts of time to each assignment. Had I shrugged off my fears and feelings of inadequacy, and attempted to divide my time in an effective manner, I could have finished all my assignments. Although in this case I did not manage to finish all my work and ended up asking for time extensions for two of the assignments, I did understand how to avoid this problem in the future. Firstly, I will not allow myself to be demotivated or overwhelmed by the amount of work set on me; an attitude adjustment will suffice, because changing my outlook on work is what is needed by me. Secondly, I will attempt to manage my time in a responsible and effective manner (Understanding and Overcoming Procrastination, The McGraw Centre for Teaching and Learning); for example, I could set aside a day to do one particular assignment, or assign separate hours for different assignments. Lastly, I have noticed that I often put off doing work when I am distracted by the things around me. These “things” include my mobile phone, using social media sites like Facebook on my laptop, music, people talking in the background, having the TV on, etc. Although I keep telling my friends that I study better with the music or TV on and that noise does not affect my studying, in reality I do end up getting distracted and not paying any attention to finishing my work. Often I just end up putting my assignments away and just watching TV or using my phone. For instance, I once had a history report to write and I chose to tackle it while I was having lunch at a McDonalds’ nearby. I thought I would be able to eat and finish my work both on time, but I was soon distracted by the children running around, the music that was playing inside the restaurant, the clothes people were wearing as they came inside, and so on. In the end I did not get my history work done, and I decided to go to the public library and work there instead. I decided to work with music on, so I switched on my laptop, and I thought I should check my Facebook too since my laptop was on. My phone was often vibrating too, with messages from my friends. The result was that I again was unable to get any work done because I was so distracted by the things around me and was giving more attention to them rather than to my assignment. However, I did manage to overcome my tendency to get distracted; I finally went to my own bedroom. There was no TV here, no other people besides myself, and I also turned my cellphone on silent and vowed to use my laptop only to do research and not for using Facebook or playing music. Consequently, I managed to finish my history report, since I had eliminated everything around me that could potentially distract me. Procrastination can be an infuriating activity since it does not allow one to function productively and get any work done. Although some people may not do anything to overcome their tendency to shirk work, and choose to simply live with this condition, I personally feel that procrastination needs to controlled. A little procrastination now and then is normal, but when it is allowed to exceed beyond a certain degree where no work can be done at all, this is where it gets risky. Works cited "Procrastination." Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web. . "Avoiding Procrastination - Avoiding Procrastination." Avoiding Procrastination - Avoiding Procrastination - McGraw Center - Princeton University. Princeton.edu, n.d. Web. 07 May 2013. . "Procrastination Prevention." Well-Being Services. Exeter.ac.uk, n.d. Web. 07 May 2013. Read More