Procrastination & Time Management

Introduction

“Procrastinators end up suffering more and performing worse than other people” (Tice and Baumeister 1997).

According to So Yeon Lee, over 70% of undergraduate students report procrastinating on academic tasks (Ellis and Knaus 1977; Ferrari et al. 2007; Schraw et al. 2007; Steel 2007). At the UNE Student Academic Success Center, many incoming students have reported their concerns over successfully managing a college workload and balancing their time between academic, social, family, and work commitments. Procrastination is not only a threat to students’ academic success, it is also a form of self-harm.

This workshop helps students get control of their time by offering them proven strategies for planning a realistic schedule of working sessions to complete their work and stay on track for the semester.

Workshop Plan

  • Procrastination Test
  • Current challenges
  • College learning time is different from HS learning time
  • Consequences of Procrastination
    • Stress
    • Guilt
    • Anxiety
    • Poor Performance
    • Self-loathing
  • Why People Procrastinate
    • Preferring more pleasant behaviors to less pleasant ones
      • People protect their mood by avoiding tasks that make them feel boredom, anxiety, insecurity, frustration, resentment, self-doubt, low self-esteem, self-blame or other negative emotions
    • False belief that they’ll be better equipped to complete the task later
    • Fooling themselves that they’re being productive by completing less important tasks
    • Emotional dysregulation/low self-discipline
  • How to Stop Procrastinating
    • Behavioral Strategies
    • Monitoring How You Spend Your Time
    • Heat Mapping
    • Task Interpretation
    • Backwards Planning
    • Psychological Strategies
      • Be Kind to Future You
      • Find Personal Meaning in the Task – how is what you’re doing moving you a step closer to your goals
      • Forgive Yourself for Procrastinating and Commit to Doing Better Next time
      • Give Your Brain a “Bigger Better Offer” than the relief that comes with avoiding a task: imagine how you’ll feel having completed the task or remind yourself how you felt when you procrastinated in the past

Learning Outcomes

After participating in this workshop, students should:

  • Know what “backward planning” is
  • Know some basics about task analysis to break an assignment down into smaller learning activities
  • Know how to use backward planning and task analysis to plan an appropriate number of study/homework sessions to complete each assignment
  • Know why it’s important to revisit and revise plans during a project
  • Know why reflection after a project is essential to future academic success

Readings

Resources

Related Workshops

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