Procrastination...

Fireup2020

Fireup2020

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How much/often do you procrastinate? This is my final semester of grad school, and I am practically frozen! I cannot seem to get motivated to get moving on one of my classes - already discussed my coursework with the professor - as long as I slide into the last day with all my stuff completed, I'll be graduating - but for some reason, I just keep blowing it off. Too much of my energy is sickenly invested in avoiding this...I'm not normally this bad, but the end is so near...not sure if I am feeling overwhelmed, or just being a stubborn PITA...

Anyone deal with this self-inflicted drama occassionally?
 
Make a list of what you have to do. Pick any one thing on the list and do it. Start as early in the day as you can, before you have a chance to think about it.
 
Set a timer for a short period of time, like 15 minutes or an hour. Start on your task and when the timer dings, decide whether to stop or continue. Once you get going, you'll find it's easier to keep going. But you also know you can stop in that short timespan. It works.
 
A former :dance: co-worker was in the habit of starting his day with the most distasteful task on his list. He wasn't much fun before lunch.
 
Just guessing here, but maybe it is because of the current job market? Maybe you subconsciously want to drag grad school out until unemployment is lower?

When I procrastinate it is usually because I am trying to avoid something that is not necessarily the thing I am procrastinating on.
 
ESRwannabe said:
Just guessing here, but maybe it is because of the current job market? Maybe you subconsciously want to drag grad school out until unemployment is lower?

When I procrastinate it is usually because I am trying to avoid something that is not necessarily the thing I am procrastinating on.
Click to expand...

No job market issues - on mil leave from one gov't job - and on active duty with the USN....

Just really really really sick of school!
 
Fireup2020 said:
How much/often do you procrastinate?
Anyone deal with this self-inflicted drama occassionally?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I've been meaning to do something about that...

Grad school is a poorly-defined grind, and you never really know when you've done enough. My master's thesis drowned my thirst for higher learning.

The mantra in our house is "20 minutes a day". Like Martha said, make a list and spend 20 minutes on something-- even if it's just organizing a binder.
 
Martha said:
Make a list of what you have to do. Pick any one thing on the list and do it. Start as early in the day as you can, before you have a chance to think about it.
Click to expand...


I second this idea . It is so satisfying to cross things off the list that it keeps me semi-motivated .
 
I'm a list maker, but sometimes my list is so huge it's depressing. So, now I try to do 3 things off of it. As long as I do 3, I'm successful for the day. Sometimes I do more too.
 
All the time...


I remember one self paced class that I had... WAY back...

I think the semester was 13 weeks (not sure)... so you had to have done work chapter 4 by week 4... with a total of (I believe) 12 chapters for a C, 14 for a B and 16 for an A... you could not get to the next chapter without making a 100 on a test and turning in the program (Fortran).. you could take as many tests as you wanted on any chapter... (not sure how many were made up for each chapter)...

BUT, the prof dropped me in week 9... as I had only done 4 chapters... I went to him and asked why.. he said I was so far behind I could not catch up... HA... you don't know me....

The next week I went in and did weeks 5 to 9 on Tuesday and 10 to 16 on Thursday... also turned in the programs we had to write for each chapter.. so in one week went from the bottom to the top..

The prof was very surprised as nobody had ever done more than 3 chapters in a week...



As my sister told me once (and she is the same way).... we are 'deadline' people... so we don't do anything until we are approaching a deadline... and we are usually good at estimating the time needed... so we do not miss them... I suspect you might be the same...
 
Texas Proud said:
As my sister told me once (and she is the same way).... we are 'deadline' people... so we don't do anything until we are approaching a deadline... and we are usually good at estimating the time needed... so we do not miss them... I suspect you might be the same...
Click to expand...

:rolleyes: yup...
 
I am deadline person too. It forces me to work quickly and efficiently. If I start working on something weeks before it is due, I tend to lose focus more easily and waste a lot of time along the way.
 
I was an awful procrastinator. In school it affected my grades. At work I compensated and no one was the wiser. I learned at age 50 that it was ADD and ritalin let me coast thru the last 6 years of work. Now (unmedicated) I am back to my old ways but it doesn't seem to mater. DW knows how to get me to finish the important stuff :)
 
I should be doing my homework now. But the way I see it, playing in the snow is a lot more important. Out here I'm learning skills that I can apply throughout the rest of my life - procrastinating and rationalizing.
-- Calvin
 
CuppaJoe said:
A former :dance: co-worker was in the habit of starting his day with the most distasteful task on his list. He wasn't much fun before lunch.
Click to expand...
One of the Western Electric senior engineers where I worked had this posted on his desk: "Eat a live toad the first thing each morning, that will be the worst thing you have to face all day."
 
"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow" - Mark Twain. ;)
 
You know, I think I do that just to make things challenging. Sort of like creating a self made crisis so I can rise up and solve it. School is very easy for me. I usually wait until the last minute too. Maybe I like the adrenaline? Or maybe just looking for a challenge?
 
I never did anything about my procrastination. I am a deadline person as described above. So far it hasn't bitten me yet. Once that happens I may need to come up with a solution.
 
When I retired I stopped procrastinating. It was really quite simple, I just never set a time anything has to be done.
 
Procrastination is one of my biggest problems.

The thought of knowing what you want to do but not making any progess hurts alot.
 
Neil Fiore's "The Now Habit " has helped my a lot to overcome procrastination when I was writing my thesis and during some other projects.
Even though, I cannot say that I have overcome proc. completely. I re-read, re-train and then slowly slip back after a while...
But funnily, I am perceived by others as active and energetic. Only that I know better....
 
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