Procrastination Station

Probably one of the biggest issues that surrounds the majority of high school and college students across the nation is the complex and explosive matter of procrastination.

A Dictionary definition of the term follows:
pro_cras_ti_nate:to put off intentionally and habitually; to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done.

I've been a chronic procrastinator for many years and there are few people I've met that have the "illness" worse than I do. I'm not sure where the behavior began, but I've pretty much pinpointed my first semester of college at Johnson County. That's when I first felt the pressures of academic performance through the necessary meeting of deadlines. I'm not sure why the concept of time management became such a problem, the only thing I remember is slowly slipping into a downward spiral of out of control and flagrant putting off of the necessary projects.

If someone suffers from this, they are blatantly aware of their problem and especially in the academic setting. We're the ones who sit quietly in the corner two days before the research project is due while the rest of the over-achievers in the class calmly chat about how their projects were done two weeks ago. It doesn't matter that we knew about the deadline on the first day of class when the syllabus was passed out or that the initial deadline was even extended two weeks due to sickness. No, we just sit there and sweat and rack our brain for topics to begin researching for our 20 page paper due tomorrow....that we haven't even started....but we're hoping to start and finish it overnight...

It wasn't until grad school that I began making a genuine effort to curb my problem, it's not like I enjoy being this way or anything, in fact I don't think I've ever met a chronic procrastinator that enjoyed being the way they are. And trust me, I've heard some pretty intense procrastination stories; a fellow sufferer and friend once told me about writing a 40 page research paper in one sitting...the day before it was due...oh and did I mention, it took him 20 plus hours to write?

After hearing his story I decided that I definitely needed to make some changes (or develop a stomach ulcer from all the stress I bring on myself), so that's when I decided to start researching for my masters thesis proposal 6 weeks before it needed to be turned in.

The first week went great. I searched for peer reviewed articles that related to my topic and eventually had a growing stack of appropriate sources on the kitchen table. The second week was harder to get motivated but I managed to squeak out a feeble attempt at an introduction for the proposal. The third week, not much got done...neither the fourth...fifth...or sixth. Face it, I's starting to think I am unable to change what's in my nature; now that the paper is due in two days and I'm a mile away from finishing, I'm beginning to realize the importance of feeling appropriate pressure in order to motivate oneself.

In fact since I really should be working on finishing the proposal instead of contemplating the nature of my illness to an internet blog, I think I'll be signing out right about now.

Cheers,
Laura

a matter of motivation

I find motivation to be the ultimate driving force for every single action that one undertakes; the process of being motivated takes on many forms and appearances depending on the individual. Take exercise for example, who really enjoys exercising? Without proper motivation, not many people enjoy doing this, (unless you're one of those dedicated-get-up-every-morning-at-the-crack-of-too-early-so-you-can-take-a-lap-around-the-block-just-to-say-you-did-your-30 minutes-for-the-day), and even in this particular scenario, it's only achieved through an intricate motivational process. What about something else constructive but basic, such as doing your laundry? Even for something this simple one has to have a motivational force behind the task and that would of course be to do the laundry or go naked.

Face it, we have to have motivation for everything we do; there's an extensive list of motivational reasons for why we even go to work everyday or why we attend church or even why we keep the friends and company that we do. So in this cognitive process according to relatively conservative standards, what would our motivation be for honoring God? Do we have to be motivated to pray or to worship? Hmmm...I wonder if too many times, we're thinking about what the people around us are perceiving us to be and thus gathering motivation from the standards of others. If so, I think it would be sound to say that our thinking is flawed and the reasons underlying our motivations should be examined. This isn't true for all, but definitely food for thought don't you think?

On a closing note, take a look at some research done on the fun theory. Going back to having proper motivation to exercise, I wonder if people would be more apt to activity if the motivation existed to make it more interesting or in this case, fun?



Cheers,

Laura