Procrastination

20% of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators, and I am certainly one of those people. In fact, I have been putting off submitting my blog all day! It's not because I wasn't prepared to write it, or I didn't want to, but it's because I want to do other things. I would rather nap, catch up on TV, or hang with my friends than do school work. But this is very common for college students. For me, procrastination really is something that I struggle with. I mean I always get all my work done, but I always wait until the last minute to do this. When it comes to procrastination, there are some assignments or tasks that I feel like putting off because they are challenging or I just do not want to do them and have no interest in doing them. But thankfully,CLS 105 has really helped me start to break this bad habit, but I still have a long way to go.

There are three categories of procrastinators:

• arousal/thrill seekers
• avoiders
• decisional I best fit into the avoiders and arousal/thrill seekers group. I love to have fun, so I am always looking for new things to do. This is one of the reasons I put off my homework. I think these two go hand in hand for me. I am an avoider because I love to seek thrill and arousal. I would rather be outside playing, or hanging with my friends, than be inside working on a boring paper. I realized that because I am always on the go and putting things (homework) off, I need a way to be more organized. Since I am a visual learner, it really benefits me when I am able to see what I am have to do. So this week I decided to try “Schedule a Day at a Time.” When we went over it in class, it just clicked with me because I am a visual and kinesthetic learner and this strategy meets both of my learning needs (actively writing out what needs to be done, and later hanging it somewhere I can see what has to be done).

I used this strategy in PSY 205 and CLS 105. Like I said earlier, this strategy just clicked with me and it was almost like second nature for me to make a to-do list (though usually I only create it and never follow through with it). First I wrote down all of the things that I HAD to do, this means class, homework, appointments, etc. Then I thought about things I may have been putting off (such as future assignments) and added those into my schedule. Lastly, I thought if there was any other task I've been wanting to do but ha

ven't, and if I had time would like to do (such as skyping with my parents) and then added those in. So in CLS 105, I had a lot of work this week that I broke up into time slots. If and when I finished something on my list, I would check it off. This is much different than my PSY 205 class because I didn't have much work to do, so my schedule was a lot less intense. I suggest using this strategy in classes that tend to be overwhelming because for a visual learner like me it really helped me see exactly what had to be done. Overall, I felt very productive when I scheduled a day at a time because I can see my agenda and becomes instilled in my brain so as I go from class to class. I found my self worrying less about what assignments where do, and when I was expected to do them. I recommend this strategy because it helps people like me stay on task and feel very productive by the end of the day.

Procrastination can be a deadly in a student’s life and I think people need to learn more about procrastination techniques because it is something everyone struggles with at one point or another. I am going to keep up with this strategy because I can already tell it has helped me start to quit my procrastination ways.