Procrastination

After reading the latest entry from my sister's blog, I got myself to thinking and decided to post something related to her current exams predicament.

Procrastination.

Many of us have this guilty habit as I found out after last night's halaqah. In Malay it is menangguh-nangguhkan kerja. It is inevitably, and unfortunately so, one of the major cancers of society. There is both good and bad news. The bad news is, some of us have yet to recognize that we have been plagued by this mental disease. The good news is, there is a cure. Read on to know what procrastination really is, why we do it and how to overcome it.

Procrastination is avoiding things which need doing. It is doing other things when we should be on task and working. Things like:

• surfing online (ie. YouTube, Facebook, Friendster)
• chatting with friends (ie. YM, MSN)
• playing computer games (ie. DoTA, PES)
• watching TV (ie. Prison Break, Heroes)
• talking on the phone
• making excuses for not studying, like "I'm not in the mood"
• saying "I have other things to do first" or "Just 10 more minutes" or "I work better under pressure"
• telling yourself there is plenty of time
• tidying you desk when it doesn't need tidying and wasting time

These statements get us to postpone important tasks and duties. We all do this at some stage but it can get to a point where procrastination becomes a real problem in our lives.

The more we procrastinate, the bigger the task in front of us becomes and the harder it is to take action. Failure to act can produce many undesirable feelings.

• Guilt: "If only I had done..."
• Inadequacy: "I can't do it"
• Stress: "There's never enough time"
• Anxiety: "If I fail the paper..."
• Depression: "I'm just not coping..."
• Self doubt: "I'm Not sure I'm capable..."

Why we procrastinate
Procrastinators are often accused of being lazy and disorganized, but not getting on with your work is often an indicator of other factors at work, such as:

• You may be setting yourself too high a standard and faced with unrealistic goals, you put off doing your work. Thinking that an A pass is what you must get and a B or C mark is not good enough
• You may not see the relevance of your work and so cannot be bothered doing it
• Finding the task boring
• Sometimes you may be unclear about what is required and this leads to avoidance
• Fear of failure, where the task may be new and fear of the unknown prevents you from making a start
• Personal problems e.g. problems in relationships, financial concerns
• You may feel you don't have the skills to do what is asked and feelings of inadequacy or anxiety prevent you from starting
• Having difficulty concentrating; daydreaming; staring into space; having a distracting environment; having a disorganized workspace

Procrastination is a bad habit and like other bad habits it can be broken. There are two main causes and these are "crooked thinking" and "learned behavior" patterns. Crooked thinking is thinking in a way that is neither productive nor helpful and prevents you from tackling the task. Crooked thinking is based on irrational ideas or beliefs which keep you from getting what you want or need.

Learned behavior is acting in a way that got you what you wanted as a child, but as an adult is not appropriate or helpful to you ie. having a temper tantrum or running away from an issue.

What to do about it
First of all, understand and accept that procrastination is not helpful. It interferes with your academic and personal success and can have painful consequences.

Those old excuses you have been using to avoid starting work just won't hold up under close scrutiny. Challenge each one as it pops up.

Prepare your study environment. Have everything you need at your fingertips: books, pens, paper, adequate lighting. Be neat. Minimize noise and distractions.

Take a stand. Commit yourself. Tell a friend, your parents, a supervisor or someone who matters, about your new work plan.

Talk to yourself with positive statements like:

• "No time like the present"
• "The sooner I get it done, the sooner I can do what I really want to do"
• "I am doing what I have to do, now!"
• "It is less painful if I do it now rather than later"
• "I have done this successfully before, so I can do it again!"

Don't catastrophise. Jumping to conclusions that you are not good at something will only create a wall of fear that will stop you cold. Recognize that your negative predictions are not fact. Focus on the present and what positive steps you can take towards reaching your goals.

Get Started: Make a Plan!

1. Firstly remind yourself of the reasons why you are studying - revisit your hopes, plans goals and ambitions.
2. Get an overview of what has to be done. This is the "big picture". Be honest with yourself as to what needs doing and by when.
3. Write down what is in the "big picture" and transfer any deadlines on to a wall planner for easy checking. Put your list of things to do up on the wall so that it is easy to see. You can cross things out as they are completed.
4. Set your priorities. Start on the topic that has the closest deadline or is the most urgent to complete.
5. Break a big task into smaller bits, because smaller tasks are more manageable than the whole thing.
6. Study in small time blocks rather than in huge time chunks ie one hour study sessions are more helpful rather than two or three hour blocks.
7. Get started! Write the first sentence or opening paragraph or make a list of issues or headings you want to include in this section of your work. Just get started!
8. Keep reminding yourself that you can do this! You've successfully done it before! (rational self talk). You'll do it again! Dwell on success, not failure.
9. Allocate specific periods each day for your study and stick to them. Being flexible with your time is fine but watch out for any avoidance tactics coming from "crooked thinking".
10. Reward yourself when you have completed a task. But don't forget to get back on task until all the work is completed.
11. Be realistic and don't aim for perfection. Get down the basic information required to complete the task. You can "fine tune" your work later if there is time.
12. Remember, handing in an adequate piece of completed work is better than missing a deadline and feeling bad about it!

This post was adapted from Massey University Student Counselling Services. For Muslims, you can see a related post here wa innAllahu ma'ana. I wish everybody, especially those in Massey University, all the very best for their exams. I know many people can't wait for summer break, and neither can I.