Procrastination

Why do I keep lying to myself? Every time I have a paper due, I'll tell myself that I am going to start a week or 2 weeks in advance. Day by day, I come up with a new excuse to not do it and before I know it, it’s the night before the paper is due. I will come up with any excuse not to do it. Everything from cleaning my room, dusting and vacuuming, to video games and television. Sometimes I will call my mom to talk about nothing, just so I don't have to do my paper. The weird part is, I only find myself procrastinating when it comes to writing long papers. This year I have learned a few techniques to prevent me from procrastinating. Some of the ones I have found most successful are the 10-minute technique, chunking the task, and Time Wasters.

I have found that the 10-minute technique is one of the most beneficial techniques I have ever used while studying. When I have to read a chapter or write a paper, I use this technique. It helps me because I have a short attention span, and if I read 20 pages straight, I will not retain the information. Breaking this up into smaller pieces allows me to understand the material more efficiently. Knowing that I can break this up into pieces allows me to start it earlier and avoid procrastination. Usually I use the 10-minute technique for my Earth Science and my American History class because the majority of the work comes from reading the chapters. Chunking the task is a great technique for me also because it allows me to break up an assignment into pieces, and also assign certain dates to finish it by. I use this technique for larger projects or papers that I have due a few weeks ahead. I have used it for my CLS class, my history class, and CFS 388.

Chunking the Task helps me because it makes me start the project or paper at an earlier date, and allows me to visually see when I have to have a certain part of the project finished by. Being a visual learner, this is easy for me to have hanging above my desk so I can see it every day and stay on top of my work. Another technique I used was the Time Wasters. I made a list of the things that I do to waste time instead of doing a certain task. Most of my time wasters include cleaning, watching TV, and hanging out with friends. I will usually come up with anything in order to avoid doing a paper. Making a list helps me because it allows me to see what types of things I do in order to avoid writing my history paper, or a CFS 388 paper. There are many ways we use to procrastinate, and I think I may have used all of them.