Introduction

Everyone procrastinates. We put things off because we have too many other things on our plates because we don’t want to do them, or. Putting things off—big or small—is section of being human. If you’re scanning this handout, however, the likelihood we write your paper is that your particular procrastination is troubling you. You suspect you didn’t put off writing projects until the last minute that you could be a much better writer if only. You will find that just when you have really gotten going on a paper, it’s time for you to transform it in; so, you never really have time for you carefully revise or proofread. You adore the rush of adrenaline you can get whenever you finish a paper ten minutes before it’s due, however you (and your body) are becoming sick and tired of pulling all-nighters. You’re feeling okay about procrastinating while in college, but you worry that this habit shall follow you into your working life.

You can tell whether or perhaps not you have to do something regarding your procrastination by examining its consequences. Procrastination can have external consequences (you get a zero on the paper as you never turned it in) or internal consequences (you feel anxious most of the time, even when you are doing something that you enjoy). In the event that you put off washing the bathroom, but the dishes don’t bother you, who cares? When your procrastination leaves you feeling overburdened and discouraged, however, it is time to do something.

Is there hope?

If you were to think you are a hopeless procrastinator, take heart! No one is beyond help. The reality that you procrastinate does not mean that you will be inherently lazy or inefficient. Your procrastination is certainly not an untamable beast. It really is a habit that has some origin that is specific which is a practice that you can overcome. This handout shall assist you to commence to understand why you procrastinate and give you some approaches for turning things around. For the majority of procrastinators, however, there are no quick fixes. You aren’t planning to get up and never procrastinate again tomorrow. You might wake up tomorrow and do 1 or 2 simple things that will allow you to finish that draft only a little earlier or with less stress.

You may not be surprised to find out that procrastinators are usually self-critical. So, as you think about your procrastination and find it difficult to develop different work habits, try to be gentle with yourself. Punishing yourself every right time you recognize you have got put something off won’t help you change. Rewarding yourself whenever you make progress will.

About it. in the event that you don’t care why you procrastinate—you would like to know what to complete about it—then you may as well miss out the next part of this handout and go directly to the section labeled “What to do” If you skip into the strategies, however, you may only end up more frustrated. Taking the time to learn about why you procrastinate may help you prevent the cycle whereby you swear up and down you will never procrastinate again, simply to find that the very next time you’ve got a paper due, you might be up to 3 a.m. wanting to complete the very first (and only) draft—without knowing why or the manner in which you got there.

Why it is done by us

To be able to stop putting off your writing assignments, it is important to realize why you have a tendency to do this within the first place. A few of the reasons that individuals procrastinate include the annotated following:

Because we are afraid

• Anxiety about failure: If you are scared that a particular piece of writing isn’t going to come out well, you might avoid focusing on it to prevent feeling the fear.
• Concern about success: Some procrastinators (the writer of the handout included) fear that they will turn into workaholics if they start working at their full capacity. That we will also write compulsively; we envision ourselves locked in a library carrel, hunched over the computer, barely eating and sleeping and never seeing friends or going out since we procrastinate compulsively, we assume. The procrastinator who fears success could also assume that if they work way too hard, they will certainly become mean and cold to the people around them, thus losing their capacity to be friendly and also to have a great time. Finally, this sort of procrastinator may genuinely believe that then they will start writing better, which will increase other people’s expectations, thus ultimately increasing the amount of pressure they experience if they stop procrastinating.
• Concern with losing autonomy: Some people delay writing projects as a means of maintaining their independence. When they receive a writing assignment, they procrastinate as a means of saying, “You can’t make me do that. I am my own person.” Procrastinating helps them feel more accountable for situations (such as college) by which they think that other people have authority.
• Fear of being alone: Other writers procrastinate because they would you like to feel constantly attached to other folks. For example, you might procrastinate until you come in such a bind that someone has got to come and rescue you. Procrastination therefore means that other folks is likely to be involved in your lifetime. You may put off writing because you don’t desire to be alone, and writing is oftentimes a activity that is solitary. In its worst form, procrastination itself can be a companion, constantly reminding you of all you need to do.
• Fear of attachment: in the place of fearing separation, some social people procrastinate so that you can create a barrier between themselves yet others. They may delay to be able to create chaos inside their lives, believing that the chaos will keep other people away.

Whether these fears come in our conscious or subconscious minds, they paralyze us and keep us from taking action, until discomfort and anxiety us to either a) get the piece of writing done or b) give up overwhelms us and forces. (The preceding is a summary of Chapters 2-4 of Jane B. Burka and Lenora M. Yuen’s Procrastination: Why you will do It, What to Do about any of it.)

Because we expect ourselves to be perfect

Procrastination and perfectionism often go turn in hand. Perfectionists tend to procrastinate since they expect a great deal of themselves, and they’re scared about whether they can meet those high standards. Perfectionists sometimes believe that it is far better to give a half-hearted effort and keep maintaining the fact they might have written a fantastic paper, rather than give a full effort and risk writing a mediocre paper. Procrastinating guarantees failure, but it helps perfectionists maintain their belief if they had tried harder that they could have excelled. Another pitfall for perfectionists is that they have a tendency to ignore progress toward a target. So long as the writing project is incomplete, they feel as though they aren’t getting anywhere, in place of recognizing that all paragraph moves them closer to a finished product.

Because we don’t like our writing

You might procrastinate on writing because you don’t want to re-read what you have written; you hate writing a primary draft and then being obligated to evaluate it, in all its imperfection. By procrastinating, you ensure that you don’t have time and energy to read over your projects, thus avoiding that moment that is uncomfortable.