Why do I procrastinate so much??

Question

I save everything for the last minute and it SUCKS! How do I not do this? For instance, I should be working on a paper right now, but instead I am on the internet!

Answer 1

This is a widespread problem that has a number of contributing causes. Procrastination is something that everybody does to varying degrees, and in fact, the ability to prioritise by putting less important tasks off until a later date is an important skill. Procrastination is problematic, however, when it becomes acute or chronic, and begins to interfere with your life.

Habitual procrastination is something that many people develop as a direct result of being given years of meaningless homework assignments, and understanding this, some progressive schools are reducing or eliminating homework loads entirely. However, does not answer your question, because everyone in a class is given the same work, but only ~1/5 students habitually fail to complete it.

A clinical psychologist in the United States by the name of Professor Carol Dweck has produced some research into this area that suggests that the root cause of this problem in many people boils down to motivation and insecurity. Examples included groups of students who were given a general aptitude test. Upon completion, one group was told that they had done well, and that they must be very smart (regardless of how they did.) The other group was told they had done well, and that they must have worked hard.

They were then given the option of sitting another, harder test, two years above their grade-level. The students who were told they were smart were worried about producing a result that suggested they weren't smart: They didn't want to do the test. Those who attempted it were less determined, and tended not to attempt the harder questions. The students who were told they worked hard, however, were much more eager to attempt the second test, attempted more questions, and achieved significantly better results. So, you may be procrastinating because you fear that the result will not be as good as you envisage, and this fear of failure is mitigated by not trying at all until it's too late.

There is no simple answer because your procrastination is a behaviour that has become habitual to your life. The solution is to persevere when you first start to turn away from a difficult task that you're not looking forward to, and train yourself towards better habits.

Some simple things that can help:
- Before starting, make a list of what actually needs to be done. You can modify this as you go if necessary, but it helps to have a big-picture frame of reference that you can always fall back on.
- Break large tasks into its component parts and increments. If it helps, add this to your list too, and mark each task off when it's done so you have some record of achievement.
- If you start to have trouble with one part of it, don't go off immediately to one of your pet distractions: Instead, try it from another angle by working on one of the other component tasks.
- No, you won't work that much better if you have that chocolate, computer game, pizza, beer, joint, or hour of random Wikipedia crawling first. Remember that you're meant to enjoy these things as recreation, and if you use them as distractions, you'll take the fun out of the things you enjoy most.
- Remember that procrastination is a choice. Time can get away from you, but there's never a time you procastinated without knowing that you were doing it, and without having made a decision to do so.

Full disclosure: Yes, I *am* procrastinating right now.

Answer 2

You can't not do that unless the situation starts feeling critical. Like failing and repeating your class if that paper you need to do is not submitted. Or unless someone makes you feel the urgency to whatever has to be done. Sorry. I've been trying to beat the same dilemma for years and thats the conclusion I came up with. Oh well =) Good luck!

Answer 3

I've bought matters like striking jewelry. I am going to do some thing approximately it one day ... I consider procrastination is not always a loss of motivation up to a loss of esteem and potential of what precisely to do.

Answer 4

Same with me. It sucks. Set up a reward system

Do paper=internet,whatever I want=)

Answer 5

plan everything out. if you are studying, plan when you are going to study. if you are doing a project, plan what you are going to do when. use a planner and make a schedule of what you are going to do.

also, turn off the internet or unplug the modem or router or whatever you have so you are not temped to use the internet.

Answer 6

Maybe you're just a laid-back type of person.
Some folks are just indecisive when it comes to doing things that need attention........oftentimes thinking "there's still time" lol.

Don't beat yourself up.....we're ALL on the internet too!

Answer 7

You need to be firm in your committment to do what needs to be done first. Reward yourself with some i-net later. No get to cracking on those books and get your paper done.

Answer 8

I would love to get around to answering that...but I have to clean the toilet right now! :)

Answer 9

you must do the things that you can do today ,do not delay ..if you do... more stuff will gather and that will stress you even more if you needed to do so much things at one time

Answer 10

I have the same problem....... My grades arnt that hott this term because of it.... Ill be watching to see what answers you get. Good luck!