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Put off procrastinating and make the most out of your Studies
Ola Olefeldt
ola.olefeldt@mah.se
Student Health Service
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Agenda
• Procrastinating and the study situation
• Procrastination – a strategy for avoiding discomfort
• Mapping the problem
• Suggested strategies for change
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Beeing a student
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Ideal? vs reality
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Procrastination is about…
• …making a decision for no valid reason to
delay or not complete a task or goal you’ve
committed too, and instead doing something
of lesser importance, despite there being
negative consequences to not following
through on the original task or goal.
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Procrastination
• Today I’ll get the stuff done…
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Clarks Anxiety Curve
Anxiety
Aviodance
Imagined
course
Time
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Stop Procrastinating
•Procrastination is about letting the
short term consequences of avoiding
stuff guide you instead of the long
term gain of getting stuff done
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The Procrastinator
• Young man or woman studying at the University
• Has always seen himself as “gifted” and had this confirmed by others
• ”Clever in school”, did not need to make much effort
• Crises when starting at university: higher demands, more competition
• Threat: ”What if I fail?”
• Spends time on computer games, drinking coffee with friends,
checking out the internet, partying…
• Puts off studying until the last minute
• Self image preserved
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Why do we procrastinate?
Feelings of guilt,
self-accusations,
work remains to
be done
“I can’t do it” Anxiety,
discomfort
Facebook,
computer games,
cleaning up,
doing the dishes
Temporary
relief
Sitting at
home, writing
a paper
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Why do we procrastinate?
•We want to avoid discomfort &…
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…the distance to a reward is too great
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What do you put off?
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What do you put off?
Work
Meeting deadlines
Making phone calls
Attending meetings
Starting or finishing projects
Being assertive with colleagues
Paperwork
Job applications
Research or reading
Study
Meeting deadlines
Attending classes
Homework
Assignments
Studying for exams
Research or reading
Asking questions or requesting help
Financial
Opening mail
Paying the bills
Pay back debts
Budgeting
•
Self-development
Starting a course you always wanted to do
Starting a hobby
Getting involved in something spiritual
Relaxation
Household
Daily chores (dishes, tiding, cooking, etc)
Bigger chores (vacuuming, washing, ironing, etc)
Household projects
Maintenance and fixing things
Grocery shopping
Gardening
Running errands
Health
Making medical appointments
Attending medical appointments
Changing diets
Starting an exercise routine
Losing weight
Quitting smoking/alcohol/drugs
Social, family & relationsships
Making phone calls
Replying to invitations
Spending time with others
Arringing get togethers
Attending get togethers
Discussing problems
Make decisions
Making plans
Comitting to somthing new
Choosing between options
Daily routines
Getting up in the mornings
Going to bed at night
Eating regulary
Other stuff
?
?
?
?
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What do you do instead?
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What do you do instead?
• Pleasurable tasks
Movies, TV, DVDs
Readning books, magazines, newspapers
Computer game
Surfing the Net
Music
Shopping
Hobbies
•
• Socialising
Seeing friends, family, partner
Phoning friends, family, partner
Going out
Distractions
Sleeping
Eating
Smoking
Drinking
Drugs Lower priority tasks
Exercising
Paperwork
Sorting things
Tidying
Other less important projects
Checking emails
Researching a topic of interest
Daydreaming Thinking about the past or
future
Imagining the task/ goal is already finished
Imagining a better life
Other
?
?
?
?
?
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What are your excuses?
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What are your excuses? • ”I’m too tired, I’ll do it tomorroow”
• ”I don’t have everything I need, I can’t start it now”
• ”I don’t have enough time to do it all, so I will wait until I do”
• ”It is too late to start it now”
• ”I won’t get much done, so I’ll just leave it for now”
• ”It is better to do it when I am in the mood or feeling inspired”
• ”I will miss out on the fun happening now, I can do it another time”
• ”It is too nice a day to spend on this”
• ”I will do it once this other thing is finished”
• ”I’ve got to organise my desk/kitchen/ laundry, etc first”
• ”I’ve got to exercise first”
• ”I am too busy to do it now”
• ”I have plenty of time, so I can do it later”
• ”I work better when I’m stessed, so I will leave it to the last minute”
• ”It might not be good enough, so I will leave it to the last minute”
• ”Working on it today won’t make any difference”
• Others…
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Unhelpful Rules & Assumptions
• Excuses can become unhelpful rules
• “I cannot study if I’m not motivated”
• ”I need to do things perfect or not at all”
• “If I miss out on anything fun I will end up lonely”
• ”If I haven’t started at noon it will be too late to start today”
• ”I need to read every single page”
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Strategies for change
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Keeping an eye on yourself
• “Am I procrastinating?”
• If the answer is “No – there isn’t a more important task I
need to be doing right now”, then keep going.
• If the answer is “Yes – I am using this as a substitute for
something very important”, then maybe you need to
rethink things.
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Analyze your behavior
• What are the consequences of your behaviors? For
you? For others? Short term consequences? Long
term consequences?
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What are your consequences
• If I go on like this what will become of my life in…
• 1 month…
• 6 moths…
• 1 year…
• 5 years…
• 10 years…
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Where are you heading?
• Why are you studying? What are your goals for
studying?
• Does your behavior lead you in the direction you
want? Does it work for you?
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Give up your unhelpful rules –: ”I must do it all today”, ”It has to be perfect”, ”I need to be stressed to work well””…
- Is there another way of looking at it?
Acceptance – even though the circumstances are not
perfect maybe you still can work towards the goal…
Flexibility
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Too little – too much…
• Too little of…
• - Sitting at the library studying - Studying shorter periods of time with short breaks inbetween
• - Healthy eating - Attending classes
• - Rewards AFTER studying
Too much of…
-- Staying at home
-- Extra work
-- Too long breaks
-- No healthy eating
-- Punishing myself
-- Ruminating
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Schedule Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
7-9
9-11 Lecture Lecture Reading at
library
Group work Lab Work Work
11-13 Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch
13-15 Studying for
home-exam
Lecture Group work Writing
paper
Lecture
15-17 Exercise Studying for
home-exam
Lecture Exercise Group work Writing
paper
Work
17-19 Coffee Exercise Coffee Work
19-21 Cinema
21-23 Wind down Wind down Wind down Wind down Wind down
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Unschedule Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
7-9
9-11 Lecture Lecture Group work Lab Work Work
11-13 Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch
13-15 Lecture Group work Lecture
15-17 Exercise Lecture Exercise Group work Work
17-19 Coffee Exercise Coffee Work
19-21 Cinema
21-23 Wind down Wind down Wind down Wind down Wind down
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The Timer Method
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“Do-it-now”
• As soon as you get the thought: “I really should…”
• Then start immediate on the task – even if you won’t have
the time to finish it…
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Reward yourself!
• Reward yourself on the way to your goals
• Make distractions into rewards – e.g. write one page of
your paper and celebrate with a coffee break
• Take small steps – notice the steps you take – changes
don’t happen overnight!
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Saying NO to things…
• Dare to say no to things!
• When you say no to things you might say YES to
something else…
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What discomfort are you facing?
• Anger
• Resentment
• Frustration
• Boredom
• Anxiety
• Fear
• Embarrassment
• Depression
• Despair
• Exhaustion
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Tolerating Discomfort
• SOAR – Stop, Observe, Accept, Respond
• Ride the Wave of Discomfort
• Gradually Delay Procrastination
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The key thing
• The key thing is that by doing rather than procrastinating,
our reactions, thoughts and unhelpful rules and
assumptions are challenged, because we see that we can
do these things and still cope whatever the outcome.
• In that way our procrastinating pattern gradually can
change.
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Maintaining your gains
• Keep going!
• Expect setbacks
• Don’t give up!
• Find someone who can support you
• Remind yourself of what you know
• Use the strategies that works for you
• Recognize the changes you have made and your
achievements
• Recognize the positive benefits that have come from
changing
• Reward yourself
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More…
On the web:
Put off Procrastination! (Center for Clinical Interventions)
To read:
The procrastinator’s guide to getting things done
by Monica Ramirez Basco
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Contact the Student Health Service
• Telephone, web form, drop-in…
• www.mah.se/studenthealth
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