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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

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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