Gabi Pontell's Procrastination

This weeks topic is Procrastination. It is difficult to avoid procrastinating because it is so easy to put off assignments to do later. Most of the time, the assignments will be done at the last minute and students are pressured to hand it in on time. Personally, I typically procrastinate by finding other things to do than my work which is a bad habit. There are often times I stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning doing work. I'm glad that this weeks topic is procrastination because I need to stop putting off my work and just get it done.

There are many types of procrastination strategies that students can use in order to do their work. I tried using the 10 Minute Technique.

Here are the steps:

1. Choose the highest priority task to focus on that you have been putting off.

2. Decide which day and time you will work on the assignment.

3. When the day and time you scheduled arrives, work for only 10 minutes.

4. It is likely you will spend more than 10 minutes on the task, but if you stop, schedule another time to for for another 10 minutes.

5. Work for another 10 minutes.

6. Repeat until the assignment is done.

This past week I had a paper to do for my HTW 408 Addictions in Cultural Context class. I planned to work on the essay for 10 minutes starting Tuesday. I worked for another two 10 minutes throughout the day on Wednesday. On Thursday, I began working, and didn't stop for approximately 40 minutes. That night I also scheduled anoth

er 10 minutes to work. On Friday I worked on my essay for three 10 minute intervals and Saturday I worked for two more 10 minute intervals. It is now Sunday and I am almost done with my paper which isn't due until Wednesday.

Overall, I think this method was very effective because instead of waiting until the last minute, I am almost done with my essay days before it is due. Only working for 10 minutes most of the time, the breaks in between and coming back to work on the essay were helpful ways to keep me focused on the essay.

The other procrastination strategy I used was Chunking the Task. This method is useful to break down large assignments into manageable sections. In the exercise, in the left column is a list of typical tasks. In the right column, you write two ways to divide the task so it is easier to complete.

Here is my chart:

This strategy was effective by breaking down my assignments, which made it easier to complete everything because it wasn't in one sitting.