[PROCRASTINATION] Time Waster and 10-Minute Technique

Procrastination is problematic for me. It is not easy to change the behavior since I have been procrastinating for a long time. Especially, weekends make me not do my work. I used to delay homework and study, which make me do one day before the due dates. It is not easy to see that I do homework during weekends. I have a quiz for MAT 194 coming up on this Monday, and the chapter on the quiz is what I’m really weak. Because the quiz is on Monday, I need to study during this weekend. To study for it, I chose Time Waster and 10-Minute Technique.

Time Waster strategy is to eliminate the time waster, which interrupts my study environment. First, I listed the time wasters that I use in the left column. My time wasters are napping, TV shows, laptop, interruptions, cell phone, and socializing. They always make me delay my work. Next, I described the task I were avoiding such as studying for MAT 194 quiz and completing MAT 194 quiz review sheets. After I wrote them, I realized that the two tasks caused me to use the time wasters. The time wasters caused me not to study for my pre-calculus quiz. To avoid them, I put my laptop and cell phone away from my desk. I promised myself not to nap and socialize at least this weekend, too. When I put all the interruptions away, I felt better to study, which provided me a good study environment. This environment made me study for MAT 194 quiz.

10-Minute Technique strategy is to get me started a task that must be done. First, I identified the highest-priority task, which was to study for MAT 194 quiz. Second, I decided on a day and time as 4:00pm on Saturday, April 9. Third, when the selected time arrived, I spent only 10 minutes on the task. Because the time to study was short, I could feel little bit nervous to go over the material, which made me FOCUS! After the 10 minutes, I stopped and had a break 10 minutes. After the 10 minute break, I repeated another 10 minutes to study for it. I repeated the strategy 8 times. When I finished them, it was about 7 o’clock. This means that I kept focusing on studying it about 3 hours! This strategy really worked for me. Because of the short study term, I never felt boring, but nervous. I feel satisfied with MAT quiz, and I think I can get a good grade on it.

To sum up, the effectiveness of Time Waster is that it makes me realize what time wasters interrupt me to study. I never knew that there were that many wasters prevent me from studying. Because I’m a kinesthetic learner, I needed to put the interruptions away from my desk, which reminded me not to use them. When there were only pencils, a note book, and a textbook, the new study environment made me study. I started doing the tasks I was avoiding, especially studying for MAT 194 quiz. Because of avoiding interruptions, I could focus on studying for the quiz. The reason why I chose this is that I needed something to remind me what prevented from studying and what tasks I was avoiding. It was a good chance to do this strategy. I liked the concept that I could draw some conclusions about what tasks caused me to use time wasters. It was because I was afraid of studying a lot of sections to cover. The effectiveness of 10-Minute Technique is to get me started a task that must be done. Because of the short term to study, I felt somewhat nervous. This nervousness made me concentrate on studying. The break times also made me refreshed before starting another 10 minute studying. Being a kinesthetic learner, this strategy was good to do since it made me BEHAVE. The selected time made me sit in the chair and do studying. The break also made me move and stretch, so I felt refreshed. The reason why I chose this is that I liked the concept to have the short term of studying. I had to work on the task again for 10 minutes and repeated this until the task was completed. Because I can’t focus on something, I needed this strategy to try. This made me focus on studying and complete the task!

For my pre-calculus class, MAT 194, I, now, feel satisfied enough to take the quiz on this Monday. Time Wasters and 10-Minute Technique make me focus on studying. These strategies make me never prevent from studying anymore. The two strategies work for me!

(http://www.nickpagan.com/blog/141/procrastination-the-emotional-battle/)