Hi everyone! This is an absurdly long post (there is a TL;DR at the bottom for a concise summary)
You're probably wondering who I am, seeing as I don't really post much in the forums (I'm on IRC a fair bit of the time though). I'm a 2nd year uni student, studying Science at Monash Uni. During this semester (which has just ended, with the exam period coming up), I've realised that my tendency to procrastinate has really risen.
I've skipped lectures, in order to both catch up on work that I needed to do, and just because I was too tired, all through my own fault. I've handed in a significant amount of my coursework in late, or not at all. Due to this, I'm going to struggle to get good marks, unless a miracle occurs in the exams. But that's not going to happen at all, unless I can knuckle down and be motivated to learn and study.
But this isn't just for my upcoming exams; I want to use this plan in the future, to help me do more work. Because things are just going to become more demanding in terms of the work I have to do. If my current study practices are failing now, how will I be able to make it through the 3rd year of uni, and beyond?
So, I thought back to what I did in Year 12, and earlier high school. Why had I handed in the vast majority of my work then? After some discussion, I realised that what made the difference between handing in work and not handing in work, was my perception of accountability.
The thought of being reprimanded by a teacher or sitting a SAC at a different time from everyone else, because I hadn't done the necessary coursework, was a very embarrassing thought. I considered it as a great humiliation in front of my peers, and my teachers. And so, I did the work. Likewise, I was more likely to hand in work at uni if I actually had to physically hand it in to people I would see on a fairly regular basis. The guilt I felt upon telling these people I hadn't finished my work was also much greater than if I just had to electronically submit it online. In short, the more other people knew about the progress of my work, the more compelled I felt to do it. And so, accountability forms the basis of my plan to combat procrastination.
At this point, I would just like to say something. YES, ultimately motivation should come from oneself and not others. Doing something because YOU want to do it. However, let's face it, there will be times in our lives when we have to do things we really don't enjoy. Whether that's writing an essay, getting up really early in the morning to work, finally getting that much-needed exercise, completing chores, or commitments that you would rather not participate in, sometimes there are just things in life that have to be done. For most people, the feeling of satisfaction when you complete a task, the 'reward' you give yourself at the end, and the freedom of having one thing off your back gives rise to enough willpower to take the first step and follow through. If you can force yourself to sit down and productively work for an hour, you are one of these people. If you are one of these people, I genuinely respect you and your ability to do this.
This plan is for those who do not fit under the category just mentioned. This plan is for those who can pacify any voices of guilt in their mind for significant portions of their day (perhaps by more procrastination). This is for those who feel relieved when the late penalty for an assessment task only comes to a small percentage of their final grade, per late day. This is for those who may go to sleep thinking about their work, forming plans to get it done the next day, but never acting upon them. Only you know, in your heart, whether you fit into this category or not.
But if you do, you're not the only one. We are going to make each other accountable. Chances are, if you're in this group, you absolutely dislike people watching over you, even if you are doing work. You may dislike those who constantly keep checking up on you, asking whether you've done things. Don't get me wrong, too much pressure is never a good thing. But again, if you're in this group, deep down, you probably know that you need a bit of pressure.
So, here's what we're going to do.
We are going to create a list of tasks that we need to do. Now, you may not know everything you have to do very far into the future, so these lists might change over time. But this system can only be of use to you, if you are honest with yourself and us. We can't go to your school/university/workplace and find out what you need to do. We can only go by what you write here. Hence, we can only hold you to whatever you put here. Only you know what the outcomes of doing/not doing the tasks are. So please be honest. If you wish to alter something from your list, feel free to do so. But for the sake of honesty, please do not delete the original item, but rather, write the new modification under it.
Next, write down when you would like to have these tasks, or parts of these tasks completed in a post on this thread. Again, your honesty is important in making this work. Particularly for longer-term tasks (e.g. a report that may be due in a couple of months or so), this may mean setting reasonable goals on when parts of these are due, to avoid the inevitable rush just before the due date, or worse, giving up entirely. Again, we cannot predict the future. Sometimes, we overestimate or underestimate the length of time it takes to get things done; the lists here are malleable for that reason. But factor in how long you genuinely believe it will take to complete part of a task to your standards, erring a little on the side of caution if necessary.
Write down how often you would like people to check up on you. I think a good frequency is one where there is enough flexibility to allow for minor to moderate unforeseen circumstances, but often enough that things can't really fall by the wayside in one period, barring major incidents occurring. For example, during the exam period, I'd probably want to have my progress checked every 2-3 days, while during the uni semester, a week to a fortnight is probably best. On ATARNotes, perhaps 'checking up' on a person could consist of sending them a PM.
Finally, get more people around you involved! Comments from those closest to you are going to have a much greater effect than some random person on the internet telling you to work. Have them suggest rewards and punishments for doing or not doing your work. These people all genuinely want to help you to succeed, make use of them! If the people around you aren't particularly helpful, then you still have us. I (and I'm sure everyone else on this forum) want us all to succeed. We may not completely overcome our procrastination tendencies, but we can put structures in place to deal with it, helped by the people that want us to succeed the most.
Maybe I'm just a rambling fool. Maybe I'm the only one out there who has this problem, and all of you think I'm either completely mental, or the laziest person on the planet. But this is a very real problem for me, and I've already started talking with my friends about implementing this plan. And so, if procrastination is as major a problem for you, or if you'd just like that added bit of incentive to tip you over the edge and get some satisfying work done, post here!
TL;DR: I think that one of the best ways to prevent severe procrastination is accountability. To me, this idea of telling each other what work we need to do is one of the best ways for us to make ourselves accountable, while getting support from those who know every mental excuse in the book and have all been there before.
On a more administrative note, I'm not really sure where the best place for such a thread is. (maybe Personal Support?). So if the moderators could move this thread to where it most properly belongs, that would be much appreciated.
Thanks for taking the time to read through this post.
Amalgam.
EDIT: I just forgot to mention, ideally every time someone checks on you, you have to provide proof of what work you've done. If you haven't done anything, that's OK, just say so. We won't judge you negatively for it; it's something we've all done before.
Home
Help
Search
Login
