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Friday, February 19, 2021
How to stop procrastinating with your online work
Big Think: If you take classes online, chances are you probably procrastinate from time to time.
Research shows that more than 70% of college students procrastinate, with about 20% consistently doing it all the time.
I personally think that it is so challenging to do homework during the pandemic. After spending all day on Zoom the last thing I want to do is look at my computer for longer. It feels like there has become a real blur between school and my personal life because all of my school takes place in my bedroom. I also find it really really difficult to find the motivation to do work that doesn't interest me, which is really difficult during pandemic times because I feel that much of my work is irrelevant because we can't do theatrical performances. My friends and I will do work together on facetime but it is often still hard to focus. After a day of Zoom classes, my brain just feels fried, my attention span diminished severely. I don't think there is really a good solution for this while class is on Zoom. I think that only once we go back to normal in person classes will it become easier to focus on school work.
Oh, great, another article defining procrastination! I had no idea what that word meant, thank you for explaining it to me and telling me that it's a bad thing! I think that procrastination has a lot less to do with the things spelled out in the article, and can only really be tackled by figuring out why you are procrastinating a certain task. For me, the reasons differ from 'the assignment sheet is intimidating,' to 'this requires me to get materials from somewhere and I can't do that right now,' to 'I slept for four hours last night and cannot keep my eyes open.' You need to tackle procrastination on a case-by-case basis and be able to take a step back and think about what is keeping you from completing this task. There is no one end-all-be-all magic change you can make to achieve perfect time management, but it's a continual process to chip away at what's holding you back.
I would consider myself a “serial procrastinator”. I have always had a tendency to start working on assignments last minute. While I do get all my work done on time the majority of the time, I still would not say procrastination is a good way to go about life. That being said, I feel like every one of these “Tips on how not to procrastinate” articles all say essentially the same thing. And every time I’m just not sure that many of the tips they give are any different than just saying “do your assignments earlier”. For example, when it comes to breaking down the assignment into smaller tasks, that doesn’t necessarily stop people just from doing all of the small tasks last minute thus completing the larger task last minute. I had a particular issue with the first tip, “Manage motivation”. I’m not sure that the majority of students who procrastinate do so because they simply do not care about the assignment they need to work on. Especially in the pandemic, many students have been struggling with finding motivation due to the struggles many have with mental health. Several students around the world struggle with mental health and the isolation that we’ve been facing due to quarantine has only made that worse, lessening the amount of motivation people have.
I totally thought I was going to hate this article for being another "Hey! Here are a bunch of neurotypical ways to deal with procrastination and lack of motivation!" And honestly I just felt nothing. At least it wasn't one of those "Ooh ahh being motivated is a choice, choose positivity!" kinds of articles, which actively make me want to procrastinate more simply out of spite. It isn't like like we're all unaware of the fact that we tend to procrastinate, it's just exceptionally difficult to be motivated in the middle of a crippling pandemic. The only reason I'm staying on top of my work right now is because either I do my work to fill my time, or I do nothing and feel awful about it and the state of the nation. There is no panacea for procrastination especially with the myriad of ways the mind works.
Laugh Out Loud, Big Think, if you think that a simple article will cure my debilitating habit of procrastination with a short article. But I guess reading such an article couldn’t hurt. “Manage Motivation”- very funny! As if putting my mind to creating motives to work will help. I would like to say that tuition should be enough of a motivator, especially since the cost of school comes out of my own pocket, but… alas, here I am! “Manage goals, tasks, and time”- lot’s of managing I’m seeing here. Well, I think that I am more than organized in listing out all my work to be done, my schedule for the week, day, etc. “Create a good work space”- I wish that this was easier, but the pandemic doesn’t leave a lot of options. I most often change angles of where I’m working around the apartment, but if it was safer, I’d love to go to cafe’s, different places on campus, or even outdoors (it’s FAR TOO COLD for any outdoor activities. Blame my west-coast-ness.) “Get a little help from friends”- well, this does indeed help. I wish I could provide some sarcastic comment, but.
When I saw the title of the article, I thought this was just what I needed. As I reading it, however, I was a bit disappointed by the content as most of the solutions suggested is fairly abstract and I don’t think it was that specific to the COVID era. I think it is especially irrelevant to me because one of my major concern is myself not being able to efficiently keep track of time. It is not pleasant to have a 14-hour time difference from everyone else in the class; when I have to wake up late afternoon each day and take the classes until the next morning, I cannot help thinking that it is the end of the day - it is not the matter of having a motivation anymore. And I know that many people especially in the same major with me would agree that it is extra difficult as forms of works are very different from what we have expected to have during the first year of our college. I think the quickest way to resolve such issues for all of us is for the pandemic to be eradicated.
There is nothing in this article that I did not already know or hear from other "authority figures" through my time in high school or college so far. The idea of being able to set aside a "good learning space" in a college sized apartment or dorm is almost laughable. Especially when so frequently ones bed is in the same room as ones desk. The separation between school and home is only about five feet maximum which makes it almost impossible to properly designate a space for productive work. To add on to that, when school takes place on the same device that Netflix does it makes it even harder to separate work from play. And the constant computer time for class makes it harder to stare at a computer for hours of homework without gaining a massive headache. So homework computer time gets procrastinated in order to preserve computer class time.
Procrastination certainly isn’t a new issue and I’m dubious that only 70% of people partake in it. Considering the pandemic that has wildly uprooted our ambitions, plans, and social lives, procrastination is definitely easier than ever (especially with asynchronous courses). I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently and the article is saying procrastination is bad and giving some tips on how to avoid it. Fundamentally, procrastination isn’t necessarily a bad thing and not doing certain tasks right away isn’t the end of the world. It seems like the difference between some jobs and academia versus stereotypical jobs is that there aren’t work hours. If you have a job that works from 8am to 4pm, you only have to work during that time and the important time management skill is figuring out what is most important to do now. Not having that external envelope means people are more likely to just do nothing or almost worse, spend too much time and not quite which is probably more unhealthy.
The best way to stop procrastinating? Don’t do it. I love an article that offers well-intended, but incredibly impractical advice. If you’re someone who struggles with getting all your work done, it’s not feasible to then ask you to add on the labor of setting up your daily task each morning, installing and learning how to use a calendar app, taking the time to break up your projects into smaller bite-sized goals. A lot of this type of work isn’t possible when someone already feels like they’re drowning. This is excellent work if you can frontload it and get your habits and your study space planned out before the semester ever starts. However, I’ve found that typically, people aren’t struggling at the start of the semester, and it’s not until like halfway through that all the work starts building up and it’s too much. I’m someone who’s procrastinated their entire life so better advice would be to see a therapist as procrastination is usually tied to depression and anxiety and the fact that this is just life. There will always be work to do. There will always be one more thing on your list, so just got started on what you have to do now so you can move on to the next thing.
I am definitely a huge procrastinator and it has definitely been something that I have wanted to work on but just haven't. Procrastination has caused me to lose so much sleep however I don't think it's harmful for everyone. Some people thrive off of procrastination and produce their best work when they are given a time constraint. I think it plays a little into the idea that your work will stretch into the amount of time you have allotted to do it. I have definitely tried to mimic the time constraint I get by procrastination by putting on a timer and only giving myself 20 or 30 minutes (or more) to do an assignment but nothing beats the rush you get from procrastination. I don't particularly like the tips that were given within this article as it just told you not to procrastinate in different ways instead of giving actual helpful advice, or the advice was something that is just not achievable for college students in a COVID era. Hearing the advice "create a good learning space" is laughable since we are all taking classes from our bedrooms and asking a college student to have multiple rooms is a little unreasonable. Procrastination is just something we all have to learn to manage our own way and the advice of "fix it" doesn't really help.
Though I understand that this article was doing its best to be helpful and provide innovative ways to stop procrastination, none of these tips surprised me or were new to me. The article really tried, but these were also things I already implement, such as managing time and tasks, and I still will procrastinate. I think that making plans with friends to work together, especially with those in the same class is the most effective method, but even then sometimes it becomes an entire procrastination party. In more cases than not though, it does become more motivative and easier to start working. I wish the article recognized the issues as to why people procrastinate, especially during covid. Zoom fatigue is very exhausting, and I literally do not want to look at a screen or do anything afterward. I have no motivation to even move around or do anything productive outside of class. I literally do not know what would motivate me from that, and has been a continuous issue this past year for me.
As someone who constantly procrastinates, I was hoping for some better tips in this article. It was honestly disappointing because I feel like I’ve heard these statements a million times especially when we first started online school. There were a couple things in the article that didn’t quite sit right with me, specifically the part about excuses. The author mentioned how some students tell teachers that their computer broke or their wifi wasn’t working. While some people may assume that teenagers are just trying to put off their work and get more time, many students don’t have the luxury of reliable wifi and expensive computers. In high school, there were multiple kids who had to drive somewhere and take zoom class from their car. It’s just so frustrating that teachers like the author don’t take that into account. Also, we are now on our computer all the time! Sometimes your eyes need a break so going from a zoom class straight to an online assignment doesn’t make sense.
I saw the title and knew immediately a lot of us would have something to say on the topic… reading the article only solidified that. Procrastination is a real thing and I know I do it too– we are also in a global pandemic, and at least for me I’m in my first year of college on the other side of the country from my family. That’s already a lot. Then add coursework. Here’s the thing I don’t like about this article: we are all different, and complete work in different ways. For some, it's an all nighter the day before something is due. For others, it's spreading it out– do what works for you. The “manage goals, tasks, and time” one literally made me laugh. I am an extremely organized person; that is how I am able to manage my life and keep myself on track, it is how I support myself especially when my mental health isn’t great. But I have definitely had people tell me how to organize my life (no thanks! I have a system that works for me!). As others have mentioned, there is no end-all-be-all magical solution to everyone’s procrastination.
When I read the headline of this article, I clicked immediately... I was let down. Online school is exhausting. It is completely understandable that students don't have the motivation to keep working. When the article has one of its tips being "Find Motivation", I laughed. It is not as simple as waking up and saying "Yes, I am going to work for hours on end because I want to be here." For neurodivergent students, online learning is an absolute nightmare, and simply wanting to do the work doesn't always mean we can. Learning online can be distracting and confusing for some, and then being faced with assignments at the end of the day can add to the feeling of being overwhelmed. I especially didn't appreciate the author's tone towards students giving excuses as to why their work isn't done. While some students genuinely do face unreliable wi-fi due to lack of resources, others are at their wits end and feel lost. Both are valid reasons to not complete an assignment. I know there is no end all answer to procrastination, but painting it as 'just laziness that all students can overcome if they try hard enough' is not fair and invalidating to people who are genuinely struggling during this time to keep afloat.
For as long as I can remember, I have had issues with procrastinating on my work. It’s not that I want to procrastinate, I often just can’t help it. I know that when I put off work to do later, when It comes down to the wire and time to do the work, I always get stressed and upset and frantic as I try to speed my way through the work. This past winter, I fell into a sleep routine of going to bed early and waking up at a reasonable hour, and getting a reasonable amount of sleep. Since arriving back in Pittsburgh and starting up classes again, I am trying to maintain this sleep schedule and not fall back into my go to bed late, wake up with insufficient sleep and be miserable sleep schedule. I have made self-imposed restrictions for myself to keep myself on task and not fall behind, and thus far I have managed to do a relatively good job of maintaining this schedule. Granted, we are only just entering into our fourth week of classes, so a lot is still to come, but this article has also provided some helpful insight into procrastination mitigation strategies which I will also try to incorporate into my day to day life. It is a slow process, and it is really hard to break old habits, but perseverance in this issue is key. If I give a half-assed effort, then I am just going to fall back in my old habits and be sad.
A big YES to this article. I love this. I find myself procrastinating quite a bit, especially at the end of last semester. I think that one thing this article might miss is the importance of self-care and how to keep up energy. These are some really useful tips on how to manage your time. Getting to the point of studying or doing work is important but that is only a small portion of the battle. Once you are ready to go doing the work can be draining. Even if you are someone that can bang out six essays and a project due during the week it doesn't mean you are invested in the work or enjoying what you are learning. They touched on making your course work relevant to your life, like having something for your portfolio, but work isn't the only "relevant" thing in our lives (or at least it shouldn't be) I try to make the work fun and think about other ways I am learning. With the newsfeed work, I try to find the articles that I enjoy and I take it as an opportunity to work on articulating my opinions and thoughts. That's relevant in my work and life in general, communication is key!
This is probably one of the most useless articles I have read in a while. All of this information is stuff that most people probably already know, especially if they are chronic procrastinators. I myself tend to procrastinate pretty much everything I need to do. The only exception to that is when I am really really super duper excited about something. Then I will start the assignment or project right away and not stop until I am done with it. The fact that the author felt the need to include that procrastinating work often leads to lower grades on assignments is kind of funny to me to be honest. Because it is kind of a no brainer, no? That if you have a project and you want until the day or two before it is due to start it then you are most likely not going to be able to put as much work into it as the teacher or professor would like you to and thus you get a lower grade. I understand this process and how it is not something I should do but every time I try to stop procrastinating it only works for a week, maybe two if I am lucky, and then I am back to procrastinating.
This article was definitely targeted towards student in the midst of the pandemic but I think it still applies as most of the homework we do is still online (such as newsquiz). Quite frankly it still applies because homework is an independent activity. I did find it shocking that people lie to get out of homework. I have issues with procrastinating to an unhealthy level but I think one of the biggest ways to help improve procrastination is to take responsibility for your actions. If you receive a late grade on an assignment it helps you not to procrastinate the next time. Creating a good workspace can be helpful but that again is more focused on the pandemic. I do think having people to hold each other accountable and knowing that another person is working can help you to work on your homework. It can have its’ negatives as sometimes it can make you feel guilty for not working as hard as they are and making you want to procrastinate more. Managing your goals, tasks, and time ties into motivation as when you are tired or are struggling with personal issues you feel less motivated and thus everything else falls away. In school it is easy to know what your tasks are but it can be difficult to alot time to them when your motivation falls away and thus you feel like your goals seem meaningless.
18 comments:
I personally think that it is so challenging to do homework during the pandemic. After spending all day on Zoom the last thing I want to do is look at my computer for longer. It feels like there has become a real blur between school and my personal life because all of my school takes place in my bedroom. I also find it really really difficult to find the motivation to do work that doesn't interest me, which is really difficult during pandemic times because I feel that much of my work is irrelevant because we can't do theatrical performances. My friends and I will do work together on facetime but it is often still hard to focus. After a day of Zoom classes, my brain just feels fried, my attention span diminished severely. I don't think there is really a good solution for this while class is on Zoom. I think that only once we go back to normal in person classes will it become easier to focus on school work.
Oh, great, another article defining procrastination! I had no idea what that word meant, thank you for explaining it to me and telling me that it's a bad thing! I think that procrastination has a lot less to do with the things spelled out in the article, and can only really be tackled by figuring out why you are procrastinating a certain task. For me, the reasons differ from 'the assignment sheet is intimidating,' to 'this requires me to get materials from somewhere and I can't do that right now,' to 'I slept for four hours last night and cannot keep my eyes open.' You need to tackle procrastination on a case-by-case basis and be able to take a step back and think about what is keeping you from completing this task. There is no one end-all-be-all magic change you can make to achieve perfect time management, but it's a continual process to chip away at what's holding you back.
I would consider myself a “serial procrastinator”. I have always had a tendency to start working on assignments last minute. While I do get all my work done on time the majority of the time, I still would not say procrastination is a good way to go about life. That being said, I feel like every one of these “Tips on how not to procrastinate” articles all say essentially the same thing. And every time I’m just not sure that many of the tips they give are any different than just saying “do your assignments earlier”. For example, when it comes to breaking down the assignment into smaller tasks, that doesn’t necessarily stop people just from doing all of the small tasks last minute thus completing the larger task last minute. I had a particular issue with the first tip, “Manage motivation”. I’m not sure that the majority of students who procrastinate do so because they simply do not care about the assignment they need to work on. Especially in the pandemic, many students have been struggling with finding motivation due to the struggles many have with mental health. Several students around the world struggle with mental health and the isolation that we’ve been facing due to quarantine has only made that worse, lessening the amount of motivation people have.
I totally thought I was going to hate this article for being another "Hey! Here are a bunch of neurotypical ways to deal with procrastination and lack of motivation!" And honestly I just felt nothing. At least it wasn't one of those "Ooh ahh being motivated is a choice, choose positivity!" kinds of articles, which actively make me want to procrastinate more simply out of spite. It isn't like like we're all unaware of the fact that we tend to procrastinate, it's just exceptionally difficult to be motivated in the middle of a crippling pandemic. The only reason I'm staying on top of my work right now is because either I do my work to fill my time, or I do nothing and feel awful about it and the state of the nation. There is no panacea for procrastination especially with the myriad of ways the mind works.
Laugh Out Loud, Big Think, if you think that a simple article will cure my debilitating habit of procrastination with a short article. But I guess reading such an article couldn’t hurt.
“Manage Motivation”- very funny! As if putting my mind to creating motives to work will help. I would like to say that tuition should be enough of a motivator, especially since the cost of school comes out of my own pocket, but… alas, here I am!
“Manage goals, tasks, and time”- lot’s of managing I’m seeing here. Well, I think that I am more than organized in listing out all my work to be done, my schedule for the week, day, etc.
“Create a good work space”- I wish that this was easier, but the pandemic doesn’t leave a lot of options. I most often change angles of where I’m working around the apartment, but if it was safer, I’d love to go to cafe’s, different places on campus, or even outdoors (it’s FAR TOO COLD for any outdoor activities. Blame my west-coast-ness.)
“Get a little help from friends”- well, this does indeed help. I wish I could provide some sarcastic comment, but.
When I saw the title of the article, I thought this was just what I needed. As I reading it, however, I was a bit disappointed by the content as most of the solutions suggested is fairly abstract and I don’t think it was that specific to the COVID era. I think it is especially irrelevant to me because one of my major concern is myself not being able to efficiently keep track of time. It is not pleasant to have a 14-hour time difference from everyone else in the class; when I have to wake up late afternoon each day and take the classes until the next morning, I cannot help thinking that it is the end of the day - it is not the matter of having a motivation anymore. And I know that many people especially in the same major with me would agree that it is extra difficult as forms of works are very different from what we have expected to have during the first year of our college. I think the quickest way to resolve such issues for all of us is for the pandemic to be eradicated.
There is nothing in this article that I did not already know or hear from other "authority figures" through my time in high school or college so far. The idea of being able to set aside a "good learning space" in a college sized apartment or dorm is almost laughable. Especially when so frequently ones bed is in the same room as ones desk. The separation between school and home is only about five feet maximum which makes it almost impossible to properly designate a space for productive work. To add on to that, when school takes place on the same device that Netflix does it makes it even harder to separate work from play. And the constant computer time for class makes it harder to stare at a computer for hours of homework without gaining a massive headache. So homework computer time gets procrastinated in order to preserve computer class time.
Procrastination certainly isn’t a new issue and I’m dubious that only 70% of people partake in it. Considering the pandemic that has wildly uprooted our ambitions, plans, and social lives, procrastination is definitely easier than ever (especially with asynchronous courses). I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently and the article is saying procrastination is bad and giving some tips on how to avoid it. Fundamentally, procrastination isn’t necessarily a bad thing and not doing certain tasks right away isn’t the end of the world. It seems like the difference between some jobs and academia versus stereotypical jobs is that there aren’t work hours. If you have a job that works from 8am to 4pm, you only have to work during that time and the important time management skill is figuring out what is most important to do now. Not having that external envelope means people are more likely to just do nothing or almost worse, spend too much time and not quite which is probably more unhealthy.
The best way to stop procrastinating? Don’t do it. I love an article that offers well-intended, but incredibly impractical advice. If you’re someone who struggles with getting all your work done, it’s not feasible to then ask you to add on the labor of setting up your daily task each morning, installing and learning how to use a calendar app, taking the time to break up your projects into smaller bite-sized goals. A lot of this type of work isn’t possible when someone already feels like they’re drowning. This is excellent work if you can frontload it and get your habits and your study space planned out before the semester ever starts. However, I’ve found that typically, people aren’t struggling at the start of the semester, and it’s not until like halfway through that all the work starts building up and it’s too much. I’m someone who’s procrastinated their entire life so better advice would be to see a therapist as procrastination is usually tied to depression and anxiety and the fact that this is just life. There will always be work to do. There will always be one more thing on your list, so just got started on what you have to do now so you can move on to the next thing.
I am definitely a huge procrastinator and it has definitely been something that I have wanted to work on but just haven't. Procrastination has caused me to lose so much sleep however I don't think it's harmful for everyone. Some people thrive off of procrastination and produce their best work when they are given a time constraint. I think it plays a little into the idea that your work will stretch into the amount of time you have allotted to do it. I have definitely tried to mimic the time constraint I get by procrastination by putting on a timer and only giving myself 20 or 30 minutes (or more) to do an assignment but nothing beats the rush you get from procrastination. I don't particularly like the tips that were given within this article as it just told you not to procrastinate in different ways instead of giving actual helpful advice, or the advice was something that is just not achievable for college students in a COVID era. Hearing the advice "create a good learning space" is laughable since we are all taking classes from our bedrooms and asking a college student to have multiple rooms is a little unreasonable. Procrastination is just something we all have to learn to manage our own way and the advice of "fix it" doesn't really help.
Though I understand that this article was doing its best to be helpful and provide innovative ways to stop procrastination, none of these tips surprised me or were new to me. The article really tried, but these were also things I already implement, such as managing time and tasks, and I still will procrastinate. I think that making plans with friends to work together, especially with those in the same class is the most effective method, but even then sometimes it becomes an entire procrastination party. In more cases than not though, it does become more motivative and easier to start working. I wish the article recognized the issues as to why people procrastinate, especially during covid. Zoom fatigue is very exhausting, and I literally do not want to look at a screen or do anything afterward. I have no motivation to even move around or do anything productive outside of class. I literally do not know what would motivate me from that, and has been a continuous issue this past year for me.
As someone who constantly procrastinates, I was hoping for some better tips in this article. It was honestly disappointing because I feel like I’ve heard these statements a million times especially when we first started online school. There were a couple things in the article that didn’t quite sit right with me, specifically the part about excuses. The author mentioned how some students tell teachers that their computer broke or their wifi wasn’t working. While some people may assume that teenagers are just trying to put off their work and get more time, many students don’t have the luxury of reliable wifi and expensive computers. In high school, there were multiple kids who had to drive somewhere and take zoom class from their car. It’s just so frustrating that teachers like the author don’t take that into account. Also, we are now on our computer all the time! Sometimes your eyes need a break so going from a zoom class straight to an online assignment doesn’t make sense.
I saw the title and knew immediately a lot of us would have something to say on the topic… reading the article only solidified that. Procrastination is a real thing and I know I do it too– we are also in a global pandemic, and at least for me I’m in my first year of college on the other side of the country from my family. That’s already a lot. Then add coursework. Here’s the thing I don’t like about this article: we are all different, and complete work in different ways. For some, it's an all nighter the day before something is due. For others, it's spreading it out– do what works for you. The “manage goals, tasks, and time” one literally made me laugh. I am an extremely organized person; that is how I am able to manage my life and keep myself on track, it is how I support myself especially when my mental health isn’t great. But I have definitely had people tell me how to organize my life (no thanks! I have a system that works for me!). As others have mentioned, there is no end-all-be-all magical solution to everyone’s procrastination.
When I read the headline of this article, I clicked immediately... I was let down. Online school is exhausting. It is completely understandable that students don't have the motivation to keep working. When the article has one of its tips being "Find Motivation", I laughed. It is not as simple as waking up and saying "Yes, I am going to work for hours on end because I want to be here." For neurodivergent students, online learning is an absolute nightmare, and simply wanting to do the work doesn't always mean we can. Learning online can be distracting and confusing for some, and then being faced with assignments at the end of the day can add to the feeling of being overwhelmed.
I especially didn't appreciate the author's tone towards students giving excuses as to why their work isn't done. While some students genuinely do face unreliable wi-fi due to lack of resources, others are at their wits end and feel lost. Both are valid reasons to not complete an assignment.
I know there is no end all answer to procrastination, but painting it as 'just laziness that all students can overcome if they try hard enough' is not fair and invalidating to people who are genuinely struggling during this time to keep afloat.
For as long as I can remember, I have had issues with procrastinating on my work. It’s not that I want to procrastinate, I often just can’t help it. I know that when I put off work to do later, when It comes down to the wire and time to do the work, I always get stressed and upset and frantic as I try to speed my way through the work. This past winter, I fell into a sleep routine of going to bed early and waking up at a reasonable hour, and getting a reasonable amount of sleep. Since arriving back in Pittsburgh and starting up classes again, I am trying to maintain this sleep schedule and not fall back into my go to bed late, wake up with insufficient sleep and be miserable sleep schedule. I have made self-imposed restrictions for myself to keep myself on task and not fall behind, and thus far I have managed to do a relatively good job of maintaining this schedule. Granted, we are only just entering into our fourth week of classes, so a lot is still to come, but this article has also provided some helpful insight into procrastination mitigation strategies which I will also try to incorporate into my day to day life. It is a slow process, and it is really hard to break old habits, but perseverance in this issue is key. If I give a half-assed effort, then I am just going to fall back in my old habits and be sad.
A big YES to this article. I love this. I find myself procrastinating quite a bit, especially at the end of last semester. I think that one thing this article might miss is the importance of self-care and how to keep up energy. These are some really useful tips on how to manage your time. Getting to the point of studying or doing work is important but that is only a small portion of the battle. Once you are ready to go doing the work can be draining. Even if you are someone that can bang out six essays and a project due during the week it doesn't mean you are invested in the work or enjoying what you are learning. They touched on making your course work relevant to your life, like having something for your portfolio, but work isn't the only "relevant" thing in our lives (or at least it shouldn't be) I try to make the work fun and think about other ways I am learning. With the newsfeed work, I try to find the articles that I enjoy and I take it as an opportunity to work on articulating my opinions and thoughts. That's relevant in my work and life in general, communication is key!
This is probably one of the most useless articles I have read in a while. All of this information is stuff that most people probably already know, especially if they are chronic procrastinators. I myself tend to procrastinate pretty much everything I need to do. The only exception to that is when I am really really super duper excited about something. Then I will start the assignment or project right away and not stop until I am done with it. The fact that the author felt the need to include that procrastinating work often leads to lower grades on assignments is kind of funny to me to be honest. Because it is kind of a no brainer, no? That if you have a project and you want until the day or two before it is due to start it then you are most likely not going to be able to put as much work into it as the teacher or professor would like you to and thus you get a lower grade. I understand this process and how it is not something I should do but every time I try to stop procrastinating it only works for a week, maybe two if I am lucky, and then I am back to procrastinating.
This article was definitely targeted towards student in the midst of the pandemic but I think it still applies as most of the homework we do is still online (such as newsquiz). Quite frankly it still applies because homework is an independent activity. I did find it shocking that people lie to get out of homework. I have issues with procrastinating to an unhealthy level but I think one of the biggest ways to help improve procrastination is to take responsibility for your actions. If you receive a late grade on an assignment it helps you not to procrastinate the next time. Creating a good workspace can be helpful but that again is more focused on the pandemic. I do think having people to hold each other accountable and knowing that another person is working can help you to work on your homework. It can have its’ negatives as sometimes it can make you feel guilty for not working as hard as they are and making you want to procrastinate more. Managing your goals, tasks, and time ties into motivation as when you are tired or are struggling with personal issues you feel less motivated and thus everything else falls away. In school it is easy to know what your tasks are but it can be difficult to alot time to them when your motivation falls away and thus you feel like your goals seem meaningless.
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