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Tales of Mere Existence ² ´Procrastinationµ

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O=ou are satisfied and happy

O=ou handle many responsibilities

O=ou are healthy

O=ou believe you have control

OChoices are informed and not forced

 
 

 ˜ 

O To voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite

expecting to be worse off for the delay (Piers Steel)

O Put off intentionally the doing of something that should

be done (Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary)

O To postpone doing something, especially as a regular

practice (Encarta World Dictionary)

http://www.procrastinus.com/
 
 

 ˜ 

O Procrastination is an almost universal affliction, one that
occurs in almost every culture and is reported as early as
800 BC.
O It affects 95% of the population (Ellis & Knaus, 1977)
O and approximately 20% of those chronically (Harriott &
Ferrari, 1996).

Gröpel, P., & Steel, P. (2008). A mega-trial investigation of goal setting, interest
enhancement, and energy on procrastination. Personality and Individual
Differences, 5 (5), 06-11.
[



 







Procrastination is reinforcing - every time you delay, it reinforces
your negative attitude toward that task. Every time you put off
something you dislike, you:

1. strengthen the habit of not doing;

2. practice avoidance instead of participation;
3. avoid acquiring training and skills, and
. indoctrinate yourself with fears.

Active participation in anything tends to give you a positive attitude

toward that activity; inactivity helps acquire an unfavorable attitude.

http://sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/procrastination.html
r
I can't function in a messy environment. I
can't possibly write this paper until I have
cleaned my apartment

à  
There are no conditions that are necessary in order for you to write, save
two: 1) =ou must have a writing implement (e.g., a keyboard or a pen)
and 2) you must have someplace for writing to go, such as into a
computer or onto a piece of paper. If, when faced with a writing project,
you start piling up prerequisites for all the things you must do before
you can possibly start writing, consider whether you might in fact be
making excuses³in other words, procrastinating.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/procrastination.html
r
I know it's time for me to start writing,
but I just haven't done enough research yet.
I'll spend one more night at the library, and
then I'll start writing my paper

à  
Truth be told, you will never collect all the information you possibly
could for your paper. Better to write a tightly-crafted argument
with the information you have NOW, AT THIS VER= MOMENT,
than to keep doing research and risk throwing your paper together
at the last minute.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/procrastination.html
r
I do my best work under pressure

à  
There are lots of other ways to create pressure for yourself, besides
waiting until the night before the paper is due to start writing it.
=ou can set a time limit for yourself³for example, "I will write
this paragraph in ½ hour"³or you can pretend that the paper is a
timed essay exam. If you do this a week or two before the paper is
due, you'll have a draft in plenty of time to revise and edit it.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/procrastination.html
r
In order to work on my paper, I
must have six uninterrupted hours

à  
=ou can and should work on a paper in one hour blocks (or shorter).
This will help you break the writing task down into smaller pieces,
thereby making it seem more manageable. If you know that you
can work on one part of the paper for one hour, then it won't
seem so daunting, and you will be less likely to procrastinate.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/procrastination.html
r
What I write has to be perfect,
" AND/OR "I can't write anything
until I have a perfect
thesis statement/intro

à  
A first draft (or a second, or a third, or even³egad!³the final product)
does not have to be perfect. When we write an early draft, we need to
turn off our internal critic and just get some words down on the page.
The great thing about starting early on a writing project is that it leaves
us plenty of time for revision, editing, and proofreading; so, we can set
ourselves free to just let our writing flow, without worrying about
sentence-level concerns such as grammar, punctuation, and style.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/procrastination.html
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O p
  ² we often feel too overwhelmed and worried to
even being working on tasks.

O a  à   ² it may be difficult to begin working

because it is noisy, the phone is ringing, your roommate is watching a great TV
show, the sun is shining, your desk is too cluttered etc.

O Ë    ² Thoughts such as: ´I cannot succeed at thisµ and ´I lack
the necessary skills to perform the taskµ creep into your mind.

O üü  ² =ou may think that if you don·t achieve a certain mark,
you are a failure. Or, if you do fail an exam, you think that you, as a person, are a
failure, rather than that you are a perfectly ok person that has failed an exam.
 ˜˜

 
 


O    ² you think that the work required of you is useless, boring, or a waste
of your time.
O O        ² =ou may think that you always
have to achieve A·s, especially if you did in high school. =ou may believe you MUST read
everything ever written on a subject before you can begin to write a paper. Or, you may
believe you MUST read and take notes on every single sentence and paragraph and
chapter in your textbooks.
O    ² =ou may be uncertain of your priorities, goals, and
objectives. =ou may not be managing your time wisely.
O     !² =ou may be focusing on
problems un-related to the task e.g. financial difficulty, relationship issues, family
problems etc.
  
!
 


1. Challenge self-defeating perfectionistic beliefs because they

slow you down. O   
   (´Doing something is better than
nothingµ, or ´Things get done one step at a timeµ).
"# $! Action leads to action ... Pick anything and do
it!
3. Get something or anything down on paper when beginning
a task. 
   ! Try writing quickly so the
´inner-criticµ can·t interfere.

Wendy Vaughan, M.A., Counselling Services, University of Waterloo

http://www.firstyearstudents.uwaterloo.ca/sl101/2008.01.html#Counselling2
   

!
 


. Jot down distracting thoughts. a%  
    
 
. Set aside time to
focus on these concerns after getting something done.
5. Ask yourself, ´    

&
 
 !?µ
6. Be assertive and   
   from friends.

    of phone, email, MSN, or having
an open door.

Wendy Vaughan, M.A., Counselling Services, University of Waterloo

http://www.firstyearstudents.uwaterloo.ca/sl101/2008.01.html#Counselling2
   

!
 


7. Work in your ´high energyµ time of day. Do you know
   
  ?
8. Identify  '
  
   (music, calling a friend, getting organized, going
for a run, studying in a variety of different places) and
combine this with trying to work.

Wendy Vaughan, M.A., Counselling Services, University of Waterloo

http://www.firstyearstudents.uwaterloo.ca/sl101/2008.01.html#Counselling2
   

!
 


Œ# a%
        #
What have you tried in the past? What helped and didn·t
help?
10. Note where you are starting from and &  
(p) from there. Chunk large projects and
tasks into very small 15 minute pieces of work and just do
the next step.

Wendy Vaughan, M.A., Counselling Services, University of Waterloo

http://www.firstyearstudents.uwaterloo.ca/sl101/2008.01.html#Counselling2
 [
 "  

O Get out a sheet of paper and make a to-do list of all the
specific things you·d like to get done tomorrow.

O Beside each item, place one of the following letters

A: for what  be done tomorrow
B: for what  
be done or you·d   get done
C: for what can easily be postponed a day or two

O Now look at your B items. Place these into either the A list or
the C list.
 [
 "  

O Transfer your top-priority tasks (your A·s) onto a slip of
paper or a notepad.

O As the day goes by, refer to your list and complete your A
tasks as you can, crossing off each one as soon as it·s done.

O Tip: many people write their to-do list for tomorrow·s tasks
at the end of each day, as this eliminated lying in bed
worrying about forgetting something
 D


PROCRASTINATION - Motivation


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http://www.learningcommons.uoguelph.ca/
p 
http://www.mindtools.com/smpage.html
http://www.cmha.ca/english/coping_with_stress/
p
  
http://mentalhealth.about.com/od/stress/a/stressimmune60.htm
p
 
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/personal/stress-anxiety.html
p*
http://www.ucalgary.ca/wellnessguide/selfesteem