Chapter 4 – Time Management
4.3 Procrastination
Either a homework assignment gets done on time or it doesn’t. Think about this: If someone were to give you $500 to complete the assignment on time, would you complete it sooner than you ordinarily would have? What level is your internal motivation? How important is the assignment to you? How important is your grade? How important is your class?
Students may struggle because college does not have as much structure as they were used to in high school. They may ask themselves, “Why should I start a homework assignment now when I don’t have anything that needs to get done for the next three days?” This mindset usually leads to the student waiting until the last minute to start the assignment, and as a result, the quality of work is low.
Procrastination is the act of putting something off. It’s doing something that’s a low priority instead of doing something that is a high priority. We all procrastinate sometimes, but when we procrastinate on an assignment or studying for an exam until there is little or no time left, our grades suffer, and it can be stressful. Learning about why we procrastinate can help us overcome it.
Reasons We Procrastinate
We don’t feel like it. There are times when we have to complete tasks that may not be enjoyable, or we might not be in the mood to do them. Examples of this type of activity depend on the person; it might be folding your laundry, doing dishes, or an assignment for a class you do not particularly enjoy. The problem is, you might never feel like starting it. It becomes increasingly important to understand that, whether we like it or not, there are things that need to get done.
Perfectionism. We want to do it perfectly, and there is not enough time to do it, so we are not going to do it at all. While it is important to have high standards for work, it is also worth noting that earning zeros on assignments is probably not the goal either. When students struggle with perfectionist tendencies, they must be more mindful of how long tasks will take and make sure to start them earlier to meet expectations. However, in those instances in which meeting your standards will be difficult, it is worth completing the work to the best of our abilities and keeping this experience in mind to be more prepared the next time.
Fear of success. If you study your tail off and earn an A on an exam, people will start to have such expectations from you all of the time. Fear of success is real, and it can result in avoiding opportunities that might lead to new and better things. It is a form of self-sabotage and prevents change. When considering our own fear of success, it is important to understand that past performances, whether good or bad, do not dictate our future endeavors. Additionally, having clear goals for our performance and what we would like to see happen can shape how much effort we place on a task.
Fear of failure. For some students, confidence is tightly linked to academic success. High achievement increases confidence, and poor performance results in feelings of insecurity. For these individuals, anxiety created by academic tasks can lead to avoiding the task altogether1. Fear of failure can be a crutch to rationalize our effort. It helps justify failure. We failed not because we are not capable, but because we did not complete the work.
Whatever the reason, procrastination will undermine academic success. It can be a difficult cycle to escape from, and it can carry some serious consequences. The stress created through procrastination can be compounding– it can be stressful to complete something if you leave it to the last minute. It can be even more stressful to know that you didn’t submit work that was your best. High levels of stress can take an additional toll on physical and mental health, which often also contributes to poor academic performance.
Video: Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator, Tim Urban TED Talk
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://boisestate.pressbooks.pub/acad/?p=118
Tactics to Limit Procrastinating
Even though there is no magical cure, there are numerous tactics that you can use to quit procrastinating and get more done2.
Better estimate time on task
One of the biggest challenges students have is accurately estimating how much time it will take to complete a task. You might think you are going to be able to read an assigned chapter in an hour. But what if it takes three hours to read and understand the chapter? Having the skill to know how long a homework assignment will take is something that can be developed. But until you can anticipate it accurately, it is best to leave some time in your schedule in case it takes longer than anticipated.
We hear people say, “I wish there was more time,” or “If there was more time, I would have done this.” We have enough time to do many of the things we wish to do. People run into difficulty when they spend time on things that are not the most important things for them.
Video: How to Gain Control of Your Free Time, Laura Vanderkam TED Talk
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://boisestate.pressbooks.pub/acad/?p=118
Know the ways your brain responds to cognitive dissonance
Whenever you realize that you should be doing something that you are not (psychologists call this cognitive dissonance, which is the separation between your actions and beliefs), you can respond in one of several ways to feel better about yourself. There are several unproductive responses people have when they procrastinate:
- Distracting yourself and thinking about other things
- Forgetting what you have to do, either actively or passively (usually for unimportant tasks)
- Downplaying the importance of what you have to do
- Giving yourself affirmations, focusing on other values and qualities that will solidify your sense of self
- Denying responsibility to distance yourself from what you have to do
- Seeking out new information that supports your procrastination (e.g., when you tell yourself you need to have more information before you get started on something)
Of course, the best possible response to cognitive dissonance is to change your behavior and get started on whatever you are procrastinating on, but that is often much easier said than done.
To push back against these biases, list the things that you commonly say or do to justify your procrastination and use them as reminders to respond differently.
Flip a task’s characteristics to make it less aversive
When you notice yourself procrastinating, use your procrastination as a trigger to examine a task’s characteristics and think about what you should change. Aversive tasks are usually a combination of boring, frustrating, difficult, meaningless, ambiguous, and unstructured. But by breaking down exactly which of these attributes an aversive task has, you can take those qualities and turn them around to make the task more appealing to you.
List the costs of procrastinating
The costs of procrastinating can be enormous. Since procrastination is very much an emotional reaction to what you have to do, activating the rational part of your brain to identify the costs of procrastinating is a great strategy to get unstuck.
Make a list of the tasks you are procrastinating on, and then next to each of these tasks or goals, note how your procrastination has affected you in terms of things such as your happiness, stress, health, finances, relationships, and so on. You may even want to discuss this with someone in your life who knows you well. At the end of the day, you may be surprised by what they may have to say about the costs of procrastination in your life.
Become better friends with future-you
Research has shown that we have the tendency to treat our future selves like a complete stranger, which is why we give our future-self the same kind of workload that we’d give a stranger.
The solution to this? Become better friends with future-you. If you are debating between doing an assignment today or next week, create a future memory by imagining all you will be able to get done next week if you start it now.1
Don’t Break the Chain
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld developed the ‘don’t break the chain’ system to help prevent procrastination. In order to be a better comedian and write better jokes, Seinfeld thought he should write every day. He started with a big wall calendar with a whole year on a page and a red marker. For each day he wrote jokes, he would place a big red X on that day of the calendar. After a few consecutive days, he had a chain. The task then became not to break the chain. This is similar to many apps, like Duolingo for language learning, Strava for workouts, and Fable for reading, that track your ‘streak,’ or the number of consecutive days you have logged an activity. Continuing this streak and seeing how long you can go doing a daily activity can be a significant motivator.
Just get started
People, as a rule, overestimate how much motivation they need to do something. After all, usually you just need enough motivation to get started. For example, to work out, you do not need to be motivated for an entire hour to finish a workout; you just need to be motivated for the 10 minutes it takes you to pack up and drive to the gym. Once you are at the gym, you will always work out. Once we start a task, it is rarely as bad as we think and we can maintain motivation to finish the task.
Use procrastination as a sign that you should seek out more meaningful work
You procrastinate a lot less with meaningful tasks that are intrinsically rewarding. For that reason, reexamine your work if you find yourself constantly procrastinating with what you have to do. Procrastination can be a symptom that your life doesn’t match what you’re interested in and you have no intrinsic motivation. In every course, there are going to be tasks you find aversive, but when you constantly find yourself procrastinating because the work is aversive, there may be other majors or career paths that are more aligned with your passions, in which you will be much more motivated and productive.
Citations
- Goldberg, Carlos. (1973). Some Effects of Fear of Failure in the Academic Setting. The Journal of Psychology. 84. 323-31.
- Bailey, Chris. (2014). Here’s Why You Procrastinate, and 10 Tactics that Will Help You Stop. A Life of Productivity. https://alifeofproductivity.com/why-you-procrastinate-10-tactics-to-help-you-stop/#fn1-6482. CC BY 3.0.
- Pychyl, T. A. (2013). Solving the procrastination puzzle: A concise guide to strategies for change. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA).
