Have we all, at some point in our lives, as students not procrastinated on many occasions? Be it putting away an important assignment during high school by watching hours of TV, playing games, or going out instead? Or postponing test preparation till the actual date arrived? Or deferring important work on a major assignment and putting it off for a later date and instead working on smaller unimportant tasks.
There are two main reasons why students procrastinate. Firstly, fear of failure and secondly, confusion about the steps to start an assignment.
As against the common perception that students delay action because they don’t care about the assignment, researchers have shown that students procrastinate more likely when the task is meaningful, and they want to execute it better.
The indecisiveness in how to start the task adds to the pressure. In both these situations, the students resort to procrastination as a cope-up mechanism and avoid stressful experiences.
Other reasons are perfectionism, lack of motivation, task aversion, physical or mental exhaustion due to high academic workload
How does one deal with this situation?
There are two sets of people who can help a student overcome this. The student themself, and authority figures in the student’s life, i.e., teachers and parents.
Spaced-out deadlines: Evenly spaced-out deadlines are proven to be more effective than a single deadline to submit everything at once towards the month end. Breaking the task into parts makes each part more manageable and helps coping with the associated anxiety of impending deadlines. It also reduces the chances of deadlines getting missed.
Zeigarnik effect: It is the psychological finding that people remember unfinished tasks better than completed ones. The student can start by taking the first step, no matter how small. This way, the student will find himself/herself thinking of the task at hand until it is finished.
Pomodoro technique: It is a highly effective time management system wherein you break workday into 25-minute slots, followed by a 5-miute break to recharge yourself. After four such cycles, you take a longer break of about 15 to 20 minutes. This technique helps in working on a task without distractions, becoming more disciplined, combating multitasking and improving concentration.
Identify productivity cycles: The student should be aware of their most productive part of the day-some work best in the morning, while others are more focused at night. Care should be taken that in case of the latter, insufficient or disturbed sleep should not be the side effect.
Starting with best or worst-some students find working on the easier problems more satisfying while others choose to get the worst out of their way first and move to simpler ones. The students should identify what works for them best and still be flexible to see what works best in what scenario.
Self-appraisals: It is a good idea to subject oneself to taking short time-bound tests or quizzes and slowly move on to longer duration tasks and start scoring them to assess your performance. This helps in instilling better time management skills in students and helps them in learning how to take control of their situation themselves.
Improve your environment: If it is the Internet that brings distraction and hinders productivity, then it is better to switch off the Wi-Fi during study time and leave your phone outside your room or switch it off. Phone free periods are equally crucial for overall health.
Seeking feedback: Students should be encouraged to seek constructive feedback and progress about their assignments and projects from their teachers, who are the students’ best guide and support system.
This is particularly important in the case of students who are afraid of failing and have relatively low self-esteem. The approach should not be only correcting the mistakes but learning alternative ways of solving problems at hand.
Keep progressing, no matter how small the progress is, it is still progress.
Dr Priti Sambhalwal
drpritiswarup@gmail.com
The writer is an HR expert, speaker and columnist
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