Ways to Stop Procrastinating and do your work ON TIME!!

I don't consider myself a procrastinator. I always like to make all my work on time and with no excuses, even if I have a lot of temptations on the way. But it's never too late or too soon to have strategies just in case any situation happens. Not that I want to become a procrastinator, but I don't want any excuse or anything to stop me from doing what I am supossed to do.

Excuse Busting

Too much excuses, so little time... I might think so many times... "I have errands to do, it's laundry time, and I haven't cleaned my room in days..." And on top of that I have a paper due tomorrow. Too much excuses, right? The Excuse Busters strategy was perfect for people like me who has some school work to do and have hundreds of excuses. I basically put my excuses and made a "translation" of why I don't do my work. This really helps me to understand the way I never do my work on time.

10-Minute Technique

This is one of my favorite strategies. It's really simple to use. Do your assignments in just 10 minutes, and you will get a lot done. But I have a very simple idea that can help you dominate those ten minutes and not waste any time at all. What I would usually do, is set a timer of ten minutes at my iPhone and with that sense, I will be time pressured in order to finish my work in time, after those 10 minutes, another ten min. to have fun, then back to work, fun, work, fun... Just like that and you will get your work finished on time.

My Thoughts

Like I said before, I really, REALLY don't consider myself to be a procrastinator. But I felt that when I was using these strategies, I felt more relieved and confident that I could do all my work on time. The strategies were easy to use and forces me to take action when I am stuck on doing anything for a class. Also in the case of the 10-minute technique, the strategies really help me get motivated. Hope everybody (whom probably is more of a procrastinator than I) tries these strategies and get amazing and better results. STOP PROCRASTINATING!!!

Stop Procrastinating & Get Your Work Done

There is less than a month left of classes so now is the time to break the habit of leaving assignments until the last minute aka Procrastinating. College students everywhere struggle with procrastination including myself. One reason why many college students continue to procrastinate is because even though they stay up late writing an essay or studying for an exam if they get a good grade on their assignment they will continue to procrastinate because they have not experienced negative consequences. However if the same student does the same things but either gets low grades or does not have enough time to finish assignments they might decide to stop procrastinating and change their behavior.

I am chronic procrastinator which is especially bad because since the semester is ending I have several projects, essays and exams to complete so I can definitely not afford to be lazy and wait until the day before or the day these assignments are do to complete them. Sometimes when I have an assignment do I avoid the assignment by doing laundry or cleaning my room just so I can keep myself busy so I will have an excuse not to complete the task. Another bad habit I have is criticizing myself which prevents me from even attempting to study or write a paper because I believe that I can not do the task and I am afraid to fail. The worst thing that I do is when I lie to myself and allow myself to believe that I have everything in control when I know that this is not the case. I know that if I want to change my procrastination behavior and become a better student then I need to stop procrastinating. This week I used 2 different anti-procrastination strategies that helped me to evaluate my procrastination which were Time Wasters and Admitting the Consequences. I used both of these strategies for my WRT 205 class because I have a major 8 page essay due on April 18th that is worth 30% of my grade that I have been putting off and it is important that I do well on this last essay because it is worth alot more than the first two essays were worth. I also want/need to do well on this essay because on my previous essay which was due the Monday after Spring Break I did not do as well as I wanted to because I procrastinated and waited until the night before to write the essay instead of working on the essay during spring break like I should have.

Strategies

The 1st strategy I used was the Time Wasters strategy. Time Wasters are anything that you use to waste time that should be spent on doing an assignment. My four main Time Wasters are Facebook, texting, watching tv, and instant messaging. To use this strategy you make two columns in the left column you write your time wasters and in the right column you write the tasks that you avoided. Below is a picture of my Time Wasters chart.

Time Wasters for WRT 205

The 2nd strategy I used was the Admitting the Consequences Strategy. This strategy forced me to admit the consequences of my procrastination behavior to myself and did not allow me to continue lying to myself. To use this strategy you make three separate columns in the left column write tasks, in the middle column write consequences, and in the last column write rating. After you have created this chart in the left column jot down the tasks that you have been procrastinating about. Then in the middle column you write down the consequences you had as a result of procrastination. In the right column you rate each consequence as negative, insignificant or positive. Next you decide if your procrastinating behavior needs to change or not. The last step is to look at all of your negative consequences and make a plan to stop this consequences from occurring again.

Admitting the Consequences for WRT 205

Evaluation

Both of these strategies showed me that I need to stop procrastinating if I want to finish the semester strong because by procrastinating I am hurting myself and causing myself unnecessary stress. The Time Wasters strategy showed me that I have been wasting alot of time online and texting which causes me to stay up late at night completing assignments. After I realized this I decided to write a page of a draft then spend 20-30 minutes on facebook or texting so that way I do not let these thing distract me. When I did the Admitting the Consequences strategy I realized that all of the tasks that I was procrastinating affected my ability to do the next task. For example since I did find my 3 secondary sources for the paper until the last minute I was unable to write my draft and my annotated bibliograpghy. I liked this strategy alot because it made me rate my consequences which showed me that I do not want these consequences to happen again so I need to make a plan to prevent this from happening in the future. I am a visual learner so both of these strategies worked well for me because I was able to write down all of the tasks that I was procrastinating which allowed me to see that my behavior needs to change.

If you are having trouble with procrastination try using the two strategies I mentioned in my blog. Remember as Benjamin Franklin once said "You may delay, but time will not".

Procrastinating defines your life !

Ever wonder why you procrastinate ? Perhaps the real reason why you do so ?

According to many college students, they do it to avoid doing something that they do not want to do. Of course, it could either be homework, making appointments, study for an exam, writing a paper, going to class, and the list goes on.

What do procrastinators do to in order to avoid doing the above ?

They make excuse to avoid it ! Procrastinators deceives themselves by making a lie that they will do their work on time but in reality, they really don't. One example of a procrastinator is ME.

My Life as a Procrastinator

In my daily life as a college student, I feel like I am really irresponsible when it comes to getting academic work. Honestly, when it comes to homework or big projects to do; I procrastinate but I get the job done. I could stay up till 5 in the morning or 9 in the morning writing a paper but i will go to class and give it in on time, no matter how long i stay up. I really hate doing things at the last minute but then again, it is my fault because it's my choice to do so. If the paper is due Wednesday and i am doing nothing on a Monday, then i will just lie to myself that i have so much time and i can do it on Tuesday since i have one class. The Pro for this would be I get to have some ME time on Monday and do whatever i want but when Tuesday comes, I get hit in the face with so much CONS. Cons as in, writing the paper at the last minute, no organizers, no feedback from teachers, no revisions ! I hate this lifestyle but after a while through high school, i got used to it. Except when i came to Syracuse University. The writing teachers do not joke around when it comes to writing papers. Or when i would have to take an exam, I would have to at least study a 2 days before. For a midterm exam, perhaps a one or two weeks in advanced.

Several answers that helped me..
Several Anti-Procrastination Strategies that I found useful that Professor Blumin provided for PROCRASTINATORS was Time Wasters AND Chunking the Task.


Time Wasters

Time wasters is a perfect strategy that allows me to identify what I tend to put more of my attention to as opposed to my work. After writing down all my time waster, it makes me want to say " DAMNNNN! I waste so much time avoiding my homework just doing this. This is crazy !". I realize what are my time wasters and what not to have around me when i am doing homework. I have so much potential to finish everything on time if it wasn't for these distractions but as i realized, it was only up to me to change that. This is where Chunking the task steps in...


Chunking the Task

This is such an effective strategy that allows me to break up a whole project or a big task, into tiny little pieces ! I can easily use this fir difficult, large assignments that makes me want to avoid them. What i do is just divide the task into small sections so i can do each part everyday and when i break it down, i only put 30 or minutes into the work. When i want to start on a paper, i usually procrastinate to till the last minute. Now that i can break the task into small pieces, i can write the outline one day and then the next day, i can begin half of the paper. I used this strategy for my WGS 201 reading response which is usually 3-5 pages. Breaking it down the task usually gets me high grade, wouldn't you want that as well? This doesn't necessarily have to apply to academic work. It can apply to your personal life as well like me not cleaning my room. I am such a messy person and i rarely clean my room. It makes me feel bad when i have to bring guest over and i just kick everything to the side. Now i have this strategy that i have been using like a couple of week ago. I pick up after myself every day. Like hang up my clothes one day, clean the mirror another day. Clean the dust on my table and vacuum the carpet on a Sunday. Usually it would take me a whole day to clean my room and i would waste so much time but i don't plan on doing that anymore.


Likes and Dislikes

I really like using the Chunking the Task strategy because I use it everyday. I like using the time waster because it shows me what i have to avoid in my study environment.

Ways To Stay Motivated

I keep myself motivated in many ways whether it's out on the field or in the classroom. I've developed certain strategies that help me do what i need to do to be successful. Although.... there are many other motivational strategies that have been taught to me recently and i actually like the new ways i've learned. 

One of the motivational strategies I've learned is called exploring rewards this strategy helps you map out the rewards to doing something that requires that certain level of motivation you need. 

I used this for my writing 205 courses because thats the class giving me some trouble. Don't have test in the class but we get a good amount of homework in there and I started to find myself really unmotivated to do the homework. The class was easy so sometimes I just blow the homework off but using this strategy really helps you put everything into perspective because I couldn't keep missing my homework without any consequences. but now i got my act together and I'm on top of everything now. 

Academic Fears 

This was the second strategy I used and i felt like it had done the same thing the exploring rewards strategy did it just had a different name. 

I used this strategy for my NSD 225 class because I felt I needed a little more extra enthusiasm trying to pass this class. I always feel so sleepy when I have this class, probably because its my first class of the day and its kind of a joke class but that makes it all the worse because I need to receive a good grade in their . Like the exploring  rewards strategy it also put things into perspective for me because I need a good grade in that class also. I'm not worried about passing either one of these classes though because like I said if I were in really deep about to fail I'd shape up right and get everything done with my internal motivation.

Be Motivated!! Don't lose hope!! Great New Strategies

Being motivated in college is a hard, HARD thing to do. Too much responsibilities ahead of time, sleepless nights, and a lot of studying can be the factors for being un-motivated. I have passed through hard times these two semesters in which I felt that I failed in my goals, failed on a paper and/or an exam, and classes were starting to get boring. There is no reason for that and there is a way of being more MOTIVATED. The next two strategies really helped me get back on track and become happy with an amazing feeling.

Academic Fears

This is the strategy that really spoke to me. The idea behind this strategy is to list all your academic fears by ranking them from 1 to 3, and predict the worst outcome for the fears. Then comes the best and my favorite part: predicting the best outcome and making up three solutions to solve the crisis that I am battling. As you can see, the strategy was really easy to make and to me it doesn't have to be in one specific course, it did the strategy by looking at some of the things that were happening in class and in my academic life in the past few weeks.



Exploring Rewards

Out of those best outcomes and solutions, let the rewards begin. As you can see, I really love the strategy because out of all the hard work, comes good things. I listed one reward each for something that is low-cost, high-cost, and a reward that doesn't cost anything. It is good for me to know that I can reward myself for all the hard work and knowing that everything pays off, and you can make those academic rewards disappear. And just in case you were wondering, I DO want an iPad 2!!

My Thoughts

These strategies are not about being a visual or kinetic learner. They are not about using a new strategy that can help you study, but this is all about being motivated. I sometimes feel un-motivated because of situations that I knew that I failed and it takes time to feel motivated once again. I can't say nothing negative about the motivation strategies, because there's really nothing negative about them. It's all about predicting the best outcome, hope for the best, and reward myself. These strategies REALLY helped me and I encourage everyone to try them, post them on a wall where you can be reminded every day and you will be fine. Try them and marvelous thing will DO happen!!

It's Time to Get Motivated!!

M-o-t-i-v-a-t-i-o-n. What does that spell? It spells Motivation. What is Motivation? Motivation can be defined as an action or actions that moves a person towards a desired goal. Almost every college student struggles with motivation on a daily basis in one way or another.

In a few short weeks the spring semester will come to an end. During the last few weeks it becomes extremely difficult for students to stay motivated. It is hard being motivated to accomplish tasks. I have noticed that as the semester progresses I have become less motivated in my courses even waking up in the morning to go to class has become a challenge. The end of the semester is the worst time to become unmotivated because of all of the final exams, projects and other tasks that are due. This week in CLS I used 2 different motivation strategies which were Academic Fears and Exploring Rewards.

The first strategy I used was Academic Fears. I used this in my WRT 205 course because my last essay for WRT 205 is due in two and a half weeks.This strategy only takes four steps which are:

1. List 3 academic fears then rank these fears

2. Next choose your worst fear & describe the worst thing that can happen in the 2nd column 3. In the 3rd column write the best thing that can happen

4. In the fourth column write the action that you need to take for the best scenario to occur

Academic Fears

The second strategy I used was Exploring Rewards. To do use this strategy you just need to make a table like the one I made below that has no-cost rewards, low-cost rewards, and high-cost rewards in separate rows. Then in each column you write rewards that you believe will motivate you.

Exploring Rewards

Evaluation

Both of these strategies taught me several things about myself because they made me evaluate my motivation which is something that I had never done before. These strategies forced me to be honest with myself and made me take action so that I could become motivated. Before I used Academic Fears and Exploring Rewards I would wonder why at the beginning of the semester I was excited for courses to begin and interested in the topics but after the first mid term I was ready for the semester to end. These strategies helped open my eyes and led me away from my pessimistic thoughts that resulted due to my lack of motivation. For both of these strategies I made tables which was very effective for me because I am a linear learner. By using tables I was able to organize the information into a logical way that made it easier for me to understand and since I put used tables I am more likely to look at and use these strategies again in the future. After I used these strategies I finally understood what motivates me to accomplish task which is a valuable piece of information that everyone should know about themselves. In addition, now I know what I need to do in order to motivate myself and what incentives I should use to motivate myself. One thing that I like about both of these strategies is that they can be used in any course. Furthermore these strategies can also be applied to other situations they do not only have to be applied to academics.

After using these two strategies this week I was motivated to write a one page draft for my WRT 205 class for my final essay. I am glad that I was motivated to write this draft because when I was writing it I thought of a few questions that I wanted to ask my profesor to clarify the assignment and now that I have a draft I can go to the writing center & get help to create a better paper. Usually I start writing my essay a day or two before it is due and by then I do not have enough time to ask my professor for help.

Before I read about motivation this week I was very unmotivated about writing my last essay for WRT 205. I even considered dropping the course just because I was lazy and did not want to write the essay. After learning more about motivation I realized that I need to become motivated because what is the point of coming to college if I do not want to push myself to my limits.

I hope my blog has helped you become motivated or at least taught you about two very effective motivation strategies. Just try to stay positive, continue to work hard and remain motivated for the rest of this semester. As Vince Lombardi said "The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender".

Avoiding Your Acadamic Fears !

Every single college student has an academic fear, it's just up to the student to overcome it.

Having an academic fear can cause the lack of a motivation to a student. Here are a few academic

Failing tests. Too much absences. Missing homework. Forgot to do a important project. Missing an appointment from a Professor/ T.A Not enough class participation.

These fears can cause a student to stop trying to do better because they are so focused on what had happened so they chose to be a pessimist. THE TRUE FEAR IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT ! A student can be scared but they shouldn't think of the worst, they should think of which is the best,realistic action they can take in order to do better. I feel like everybody makes mistakes and you can always learn from them. If someone is losing focus then you have to snap out of it and get back on the game.


What i did..

I made a table and made separate categories,

• Academic Fears
• Worst Outcome
  
• Best Outcome
• Action Needed

I prioritized what was the most important fear or had the greatest value from 1,2,3.

My first academic fear is not choosing a major before junior year. I haven't been motivated cause nothing seems to interest me. These classes that I am taking makes me fall asleep in class or just wonder off. Since I am undecided, I fear that i will never find my major ! The only action i can think of to help myself is to just keep taking classes or research around. I really don't know what motivates me. I have been doing community service and nothing really sparks out an interest.

My second academic fear was being absent from class this week ! I have been sick and i know i missed a lot for my classes. I was scared that the absences was going to affect my grades because some teachers are really strict when it comes down to missing their classes. I thought my grade would drop and i thought that the information was necessary for me to learn for a test or final as well.The only thing i could do was go to the T.A office hours and just ask them really nicely if I look over the slides. ( Sociology) and for CLS, i ask my TA, if she could go over it with me and she did. I feel like i just got to be motivated to not miss the test cause i was really scared that i was going get a grade dropped. As long as i don't let this happen again, i should be fine.

My third academic fear was not understanding the information in my Woman's gender class. I had to in the essay on Wednesday but before the week i read the readings which are really hard because i have to be analytical about it. The essay is a 4 page analytical paper of the 9 sets of readings i had to do. I would have trouble with certain articles so i would go to my T.A office hours. That was the best thing that i could have done to help myself write the paper. She would break down what the authors purpose was and she gave me a better understanding. I felt proud of myself cause i went to her for help. I didn't do my paper at the last minute so i felt like that benefited me also cause she saw i worked on the paper as well.

Writing down these academic fears and seeing what action i took made me feel proud of myself because i saw that i actually overcame my academic fear of doing "bad" or "failing". It was up to me to take charge, and i did.