Inquiry Final
Content
Moo-Young 1 Elise Moo-Young Professor Presnell English 1103 20 Nov. 2013 The Little Secrets behind Procrastination Have you ever heard Thomas Jefferson‟s saying, “Never put off tomorrow what you can do today.”? I sure have. A bazillion times. I‟ve heard it from my mom and my dad ever since I was a young child and eventually it just stuck like glue. It‟s because of them that I‟ve never been a procrastinator in my entire life, or at least not intentionally. I mean, let‟s be honest. Even if we don‟t think we procrastinate, we must all at least procrastinate once in a while even if we might not know it ourselves. I‟ve always had a keen interest in knowing more about procrastination-its causes, effects, and ways that people have tried to overcome procrastination. What is Procrastination? Procrastination is a habit that can be considered bad or good depending on what subcategory of procrastination a person falls under. We‟ll get to that later, but for now, know the simple definition of procrastination. According to Oxford Dictionaries, procrastination is defined as, “the act of delaying or postponing something.” The Causes of Procrastination There are a variety of reasons why people procrastinate and even though not all reasons apply to the same person, chances are the reasons apply to at least one person. On the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Liberal Arts & Science website, they list ten reasons why people procrastinate. They use the ideas developed by Dr. Burns, a professor who works in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and an author who has
Moo-Young 2 written numerous self-help books including The Feeling Good Handbook (the book where Dr. Burns lists the causes of procrastination). One cause of procrastination is the fear of failure, in which procrastinators believe that if they try hard and fail, it is much worse than not bothering to try at all. Another cause of procrastination is perfectionism. Perfectionists tend to procrastinate because they want everything to be PERFECT, which causes them to put more pressure on themselves. The lack of rewards, passive aggressiveness, “should statements”, and unassertiveness also play a role in the occurrence of procrastination. However, the most common cause of procrastination is the lack of desire. In an online survey I conducted of 49 people, 71.43% answered that one of the main reasons why they procrastinate is because they just don‟t want to complete the task. The other major cause of procrastination according to my survey results came from the idea that they often get distracted whether it is because of their cellphone apps, texting, Facebook, Twitter, email, music, or Instagram. Whatever the distraction is, it needs to be minimized. Minimizing distractions will allow people to focus more on their work. Other minor causes of procrastination include forgetting, believing it‟ll get done while under pressure, not feeling well, feeling rebellious, waiting for the perfect moment, and wanting to do another task instead. There are Styles of Procrastination…Say what?! When I first began my research, I learned that there are six styles of procrastination. These styles are developed by Dr. Linda Sapadin, a psychologist who is notable for writing selfhelp books as well. According to Dr. Sapadin, the six styles of procrastinators include “the perfectionist,” “the dreamer,” “the worrier,” “the defier,” “the crisis maker,” and “the over-doer”. “Perfectionists” are the type of people who procrastinate because they can‟t accept anything less than perfection. The high standards that they have set for themselves cause them to
Moo-Young 3 procrastinate. When I conducted my survey, I saw that 40.82% of my responders called themselves “perfectionists.” This is the exact reason why I believe I procrastinate unintentionally; I‟m a “perfectionist!” Throughout my life, I never had an issue starting an assignment, but instead, I have had trouble finishing and submitting it because I want it to be the best it can be. Oh, the struggle I have to face in my life sometimes. “Dreamers” are the type of people that fantasize about everything and want to take the easy road out, so they refrain from completing tasks that seem challenging, difficult, or stressful. They are also more on the passive side of procrastination which is not a good thing. We‟ll discuss passive procrastination later. “Worriers” are the type of people that need constant advice and reassurance to boost their self-esteem. They also lack confidence and are indecisive when it comes to decision-making. This was the second most rated style of procrastination for those who took my survey. In my email interview with my friend, Caroline, the biggest procrastinator I personally know, she classified herself as a “worrier” when it came to working on large projects and intensive/complex assignments, giving me the example that when she is allowed to choose a topic, she fears that she won‟t be able to stick with it because she might get bored of the topic or wouldn‟t be able to find enough information on it. “Defiers” are the type of people that resent the authorities and are usually pessimistic. They typically procrastinate because they want to be rebellious (one of the causes of procrastination). “Crisis-makers” are the type of people that underreact in the beginning, but then overreact at the end, creating an imbalance in the task that they have to complete. They also tend to dramatize the situation. Caroline also believes that her procrastination style can partly be
Moo-Young 4 defined as the “crisis-maker.” Whenever she has work to do, she saves it for the last minute because she knows that it‟ll get done in the end, no matter how hectic or stressful it is for her. In fact, she acknowledges that her behavior leads to stress, yet continues to procrastinate anyways. “Over-doers” are the type of people that have trouble saying no and asking for help. They lack self-discipline and feel guilty while they are relaxing. Over-doers also lack self-esteem which results in them taking on more than they can handle. These are the people that “bite off more than they can chew.” Everyone has a different procrastination style. Some people, like Caroline, may even have a combination of them. Below are the results displaying the type of procrastination style that my respondents classify themselves as.
Moo-Young 5 Two Types of Procrastination Just like Dr. Sapadin identifies six different styles of procrastination, Angela Hsin Chun Chu, a doctoral student at Columbia University and Jin Nam Choi, a business professor at Seoul National University in South Korea, identify two distinct types of procrastination in their scholarly journal, “Rethinking Procrastination: Positive Effects of “Active” Procrastination Behavior on Attitudes and Performance:” passive procrastination and active procrastination. Passive Procrastinators-Drop that Habit Chun Chu and Choi define passive procrastinators as people who are paralyzed by their indecision to act and fail to complete tasks on time. I call passive procrastinators “couch potatoes” because they just sit around, be lazy, and don‟t do anything else. Even though they do not intend to procrastinate, they end up postponing the important tasks because they lack the ability to make a decision. The negative thoughts that passive procrastinators have increase their chance of failing and cause them to feel guilty and depressed. Active PROcrastination The other type of procrastination is active procrastination. This is the more positive form of procrastination and if some do feel the need to procrastinate, I advise active procrastination, not passive procrastination. Chun Chu and Choi define active procrastinators as people who prefer to work under pressure and therefore choose to procrastinate. Active procrastinators are similar to nonprocrastinators as both of them take advantage of their time and are efficient in their time use. The benefit of active procrastinators is that they are more likely to experience positive outcomes than the passive procrastinators. Active procrastinators are also able to do some of their best
Moo-Young 6 work while procrastinating. Another benefit to being an active procrastinator is that sometimes it allows for ideas to come up as time passes by. Caroline says that she sees herself as an active procrastinator because just like the definition of an active procrastinator, she prefers to put off work and do it under pressure at the last minute so that she can get it done in a shorter period of time and get other short and easier assignments done in the meantime. While Caroline procrastinates and is relaxing during her freetime, ideas for her writing will come to her, making it easier on her when she actually starts the assignment. Then when the assignment needs to get done before the day it is due, she goes allout, getting caffeine and snacks for stress-eating and stays up as late as she possibly can to finish the assignment. As a result, she gets everything done and she makes a good grade. How lucky is she! If I were in her shoes, I would be sweating stress from the time I start it to the day I submit it. Let’s face it-Everyone Procrastinates…Even if it’s Not Intentional While I was researching information on procrastination, I came to wonder if everyone procrastinates even if it‟s not intentional. After the survey I conducted and my interview with Caroline, I have concluded that everyone does indeed procrastinate. We may not even know that we are procrastinating, but we do. Caroline backs up her reasoning as to why she believes everyone procrastinates once in a while even it might not be intentional saying, “I think this is true because there are so many ways for procrastination to occur. Unfortunately, our schedules sometimes work out so that many responsibilities are piled on at once, and when this happens we have to prioritize and get certain things done first, saving others for last. This probably happens often for the “over-doer” procrastinators. During times when schedules are very busy, we also need to just relax, take a break and get some rest, even if
Moo-Young 7 it means saving some work for later.” In cases where there is too much busy and not enough relaxation, procrastination can be beneficial and acceptable. In my case as I stated before, because my style of procrastination is being the “perfectionist,” I have a hard time submitting an assignment because I want the best outcome. I remember a couple years ago when I first applied for a full ride scholarship to study abroad in China and I had to fill out an application that consisted of a host letter and two essays. Once I completed the whole application the day it came out, I feared that it wasn‟t perfect. Days and weeks went by when I would just sit at my desk and tweak my application. I didn‟t submit it until a couple minutes before it was due. The outcome: I became a semi-finalist and was interviewed and a couple months later, I earned the scholarship! I don‟t mean to procrastinate on purpose and I don‟t procrastinate on completing the assignment, but rather, I procrastinate on turning it in whether it‟s online or in person. It‟s a slightly unbreakable habit for me, but there‟s nothing wrong with being a perfectionist, right? Hopefully not. So, when someone says, “I‟ve never procrastinated in my entire life,” don‟t believe them. It‟s a lie. Even I admit to procrastination and that‟s saying a lot! At least, I‟m an active procrastinator (minus the fact that I don‟t work well under pressure). Needless to say, there are ways to overcome procrastination if people want to stop procrastinating for the better. A Couple Strategies to Overcome Procrastination…Hooray! It‟s fine and dandy to be a procrastinator whether a person is an active one or a passive one. Even though I think active procrastination is much better than passive procrastination, I decided to research the ways that people can overcome procrastination if they just want to minimize their habit in general. I pretty much attempted to have my inquiry go two routes after finding the causes and styles of procrastination: people becoming an active procrastinator if they
Moo-Young 8 feel the need to procrastinate and strategies that people can use to overcome procrastination. The tips below by Dr. Burns can aid in defeating procrastination. One way a person can overcome procrastination is to create goals and understand what their values and priorities are. Identifying goals, values, and priorities is one of the important steps to overcoming procrastination because having their goals and aspirations in mind, will help them to work hard in a timely manner to achieve their success. Without goals or a drive, procrastination is bound to occur in some way. Another way a person can overcome procrastination is to use a reward system. People who reward themselves after completing a task is helpful because it motivates and pushes them to do their work in exchange for a small treat afterwards. When it comes to schoolwork for me, I am almost always swamped with schoolwork. If it‟s not a paper, it‟s math problems or pre-lab preparation for chemistry lab. Of course, I am intrinsically motivated, but I am also a fan of rewarding myself with some television after I get an assignment done. It‟s the best strategy that I have used to keep me from procrastinating. A great tip to overcoming procrastination is to get in the habit of developing a plan for how the goals and projects will be completed by breaking the assignment up into smaller chunks. Once a plan is developed, it is imperative that people discipline themselves to do the chunks in a timely manner to prevent procrastination. Caroline has tried this strategy multiple times, but it hasn‟t been successful for her (she puts off the chunks for such a long period of time that she just ends up recombining the chunks into a large last-minute task). However, she says that she enjoys when her professors create separate deadlines for different parts of the project. People can also overcome procrastination by identifying the reason why they are procrastinating in the first place. Maybe it‟s because the task is too hard for them. Maybe it‟s
Moo-Young 9 because the task is too difficult to understand. Maybe it‟s because they are getting distracted. Maybe it‟s because they just don‟t feel like completing the task. Whatever the reason is, people can overcome their problems by finding a solution to minimize the motives in why they are procrastinating. Caroline says that she procrastinates because there are numerous distractions that prevent her from learning. She says, “I think the most helpful strategy is to be somewhere without friends, TV, and other distractions. Putting my phone away would be ideal, although I don‟t have the willpower to do it.” If only Caroline had the self-discipline to put away that phone, she would be one step closer to tackling her bad habit of procrastination. Breaking a bad habit is hard enough as it is, but with perseverance and determination, it can be broken. One Stat. Multiple Effects. Procrastination is such a broad topic and I had a little trouble finding out what I desperately wanted to know. Although my mind went into different directions, I searched for the statistics regarding procrastination. Even though I only found one that was mildly surprising, I was able to get great comments about it from Caroline. In the American Psychological Association‟s article, “Procrastination or „intentional delay‟,” Amy Novotney writes a little information about Dr. Piers Steel who is a psychologist, well-known researcher, and speaker on motivation and science behind procrastination. In a 2007 study, he reported that 80%-95% college students procrastinate, particularly when it comes to coursework. I didn‟t know what was more surprising: the fact that the statistic was close to 100% or the fact that college students still continue to procrastinate despite the possibility of leading to a serious downfall in academic performance. When I first started my research, I tried to find the
Moo-Young 10 correlation between procrastination and academic performance, but it just became too confusing for me to understand. Caroline says that she believes the statistic is absolutely true since it‟s a natural human tendency to procrastinate anyways. As a college student, she sees procrastination every day and everywhere amongst both her friends and her peers. She understands the difficulty to stay on the ball when it comes to schoolwork because of hectic schedules. Caroline ends her comments saying, “Procrastination in school is not only common, it‟s expected among college students. But I think this is just a part of growing up and learning how to plan and prioritize. Depending on their personalities, I think some students will grow out of it as they mature while others will experience problems with school or work due to procrastination and will have to actively change their behavior.” What a great answer. I couldn‟t agree more. My Final Thoughts on Procrastination From all the research gathered, I have seen enough information to understand procrastination. Did I get all of the answers I was looking for? Not necessarily. I wanted to research the real science behind procrastination, but decided against it because there was the angle of active procrastination that intrigued me. When I first started the project, I didn‟t even know there was such a thing called active procrastination, but through my research, I have learned a lot. My opinion on procrastination has changed to a more optimistic perspective. I realized that while procrastination is negatively viewed, active procrastination can benefit others just like it does for Caroline. It‟s important for all of us to understand that it is passive procrastination that has led us to view procrastination with despise, misinforming us that procrastination can be GOOD if active procrastination is practiced. With that being written, the main idea I‟ve taken
Moo-Young 11 from all the research I have gathered within two and a half weeks is this: Stop procrastinating. If you want to procrastinate, at least be proACTIVE about it. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Moo-Young 12 Works Cited Bowes, Caroline. E-mail interview. 20 Oct. 2013. Chun Chu, Angela, and Jin Choi. "Rethinking Procrastination: Positive Effects of "Active" Procrastination Behavior on Attitudes And Performance." Journal of Social Psychology. 145.3 (2005): 245-264. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. Moo-Young, Elise. "Responses about Procrastination." Survey. SurveyMonkey. Web. 28 Oct. 2013 Novotney, Amy. "Procrastination or „Intentional Delay‟?"American Psychological Association. Jan. 2010: 14 Web. 31 Oct. 2013. “Procrastination.” Oxford Dictionaries Sapadin, Linda. "A Procrastination Mini Quiz: It's About Time!" PsychWisdom. Penguin Press. Web. 2 Nov. 2013. "Why People Procrastinate." Undergraduate Students Academic Skills Workshop. UIC College of Liberal Arts & Science, n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.
Moo-Young 2 written numerous self-help books including The Feeling Good Handbook (the book where Dr. Burns lists the causes of procrastination). One cause of procrastination is the fear of failure, in which procrastinators believe that if they try hard and fail, it is much worse than not bothering to try at all. Another cause of procrastination is perfectionism. Perfectionists tend to procrastinate because they want everything to be PERFECT, which causes them to put more pressure on themselves. The lack of rewards, passive aggressiveness, “should statements”, and unassertiveness also play a role in the occurrence of procrastination. However, the most common cause of procrastination is the lack of desire. In an online survey I conducted of 49 people, 71.43% answered that one of the main reasons why they procrastinate is because they just don‟t want to complete the task. The other major cause of procrastination according to my survey results came from the idea that they often get distracted whether it is because of their cellphone apps, texting, Facebook, Twitter, email, music, or Instagram. Whatever the distraction is, it needs to be minimized. Minimizing distractions will allow people to focus more on their work. Other minor causes of procrastination include forgetting, believing it‟ll get done while under pressure, not feeling well, feeling rebellious, waiting for the perfect moment, and wanting to do another task instead. There are Styles of Procrastination…Say what?! When I first began my research, I learned that there are six styles of procrastination. These styles are developed by Dr. Linda Sapadin, a psychologist who is notable for writing selfhelp books as well. According to Dr. Sapadin, the six styles of procrastinators include “the perfectionist,” “the dreamer,” “the worrier,” “the defier,” “the crisis maker,” and “the over-doer”. “Perfectionists” are the type of people who procrastinate because they can‟t accept anything less than perfection. The high standards that they have set for themselves cause them to
Moo-Young 3 procrastinate. When I conducted my survey, I saw that 40.82% of my responders called themselves “perfectionists.” This is the exact reason why I believe I procrastinate unintentionally; I‟m a “perfectionist!” Throughout my life, I never had an issue starting an assignment, but instead, I have had trouble finishing and submitting it because I want it to be the best it can be. Oh, the struggle I have to face in my life sometimes. “Dreamers” are the type of people that fantasize about everything and want to take the easy road out, so they refrain from completing tasks that seem challenging, difficult, or stressful. They are also more on the passive side of procrastination which is not a good thing. We‟ll discuss passive procrastination later. “Worriers” are the type of people that need constant advice and reassurance to boost their self-esteem. They also lack confidence and are indecisive when it comes to decision-making. This was the second most rated style of procrastination for those who took my survey. In my email interview with my friend, Caroline, the biggest procrastinator I personally know, she classified herself as a “worrier” when it came to working on large projects and intensive/complex assignments, giving me the example that when she is allowed to choose a topic, she fears that she won‟t be able to stick with it because she might get bored of the topic or wouldn‟t be able to find enough information on it. “Defiers” are the type of people that resent the authorities and are usually pessimistic. They typically procrastinate because they want to be rebellious (one of the causes of procrastination). “Crisis-makers” are the type of people that underreact in the beginning, but then overreact at the end, creating an imbalance in the task that they have to complete. They also tend to dramatize the situation. Caroline also believes that her procrastination style can partly be
Moo-Young 4 defined as the “crisis-maker.” Whenever she has work to do, she saves it for the last minute because she knows that it‟ll get done in the end, no matter how hectic or stressful it is for her. In fact, she acknowledges that her behavior leads to stress, yet continues to procrastinate anyways. “Over-doers” are the type of people that have trouble saying no and asking for help. They lack self-discipline and feel guilty while they are relaxing. Over-doers also lack self-esteem which results in them taking on more than they can handle. These are the people that “bite off more than they can chew.” Everyone has a different procrastination style. Some people, like Caroline, may even have a combination of them. Below are the results displaying the type of procrastination style that my respondents classify themselves as.
Moo-Young 5 Two Types of Procrastination Just like Dr. Sapadin identifies six different styles of procrastination, Angela Hsin Chun Chu, a doctoral student at Columbia University and Jin Nam Choi, a business professor at Seoul National University in South Korea, identify two distinct types of procrastination in their scholarly journal, “Rethinking Procrastination: Positive Effects of “Active” Procrastination Behavior on Attitudes and Performance:” passive procrastination and active procrastination. Passive Procrastinators-Drop that Habit Chun Chu and Choi define passive procrastinators as people who are paralyzed by their indecision to act and fail to complete tasks on time. I call passive procrastinators “couch potatoes” because they just sit around, be lazy, and don‟t do anything else. Even though they do not intend to procrastinate, they end up postponing the important tasks because they lack the ability to make a decision. The negative thoughts that passive procrastinators have increase their chance of failing and cause them to feel guilty and depressed. Active PROcrastination The other type of procrastination is active procrastination. This is the more positive form of procrastination and if some do feel the need to procrastinate, I advise active procrastination, not passive procrastination. Chun Chu and Choi define active procrastinators as people who prefer to work under pressure and therefore choose to procrastinate. Active procrastinators are similar to nonprocrastinators as both of them take advantage of their time and are efficient in their time use. The benefit of active procrastinators is that they are more likely to experience positive outcomes than the passive procrastinators. Active procrastinators are also able to do some of their best
Moo-Young 6 work while procrastinating. Another benefit to being an active procrastinator is that sometimes it allows for ideas to come up as time passes by. Caroline says that she sees herself as an active procrastinator because just like the definition of an active procrastinator, she prefers to put off work and do it under pressure at the last minute so that she can get it done in a shorter period of time and get other short and easier assignments done in the meantime. While Caroline procrastinates and is relaxing during her freetime, ideas for her writing will come to her, making it easier on her when she actually starts the assignment. Then when the assignment needs to get done before the day it is due, she goes allout, getting caffeine and snacks for stress-eating and stays up as late as she possibly can to finish the assignment. As a result, she gets everything done and she makes a good grade. How lucky is she! If I were in her shoes, I would be sweating stress from the time I start it to the day I submit it. Let’s face it-Everyone Procrastinates…Even if it’s Not Intentional While I was researching information on procrastination, I came to wonder if everyone procrastinates even if it‟s not intentional. After the survey I conducted and my interview with Caroline, I have concluded that everyone does indeed procrastinate. We may not even know that we are procrastinating, but we do. Caroline backs up her reasoning as to why she believes everyone procrastinates once in a while even it might not be intentional saying, “I think this is true because there are so many ways for procrastination to occur. Unfortunately, our schedules sometimes work out so that many responsibilities are piled on at once, and when this happens we have to prioritize and get certain things done first, saving others for last. This probably happens often for the “over-doer” procrastinators. During times when schedules are very busy, we also need to just relax, take a break and get some rest, even if
Moo-Young 7 it means saving some work for later.” In cases where there is too much busy and not enough relaxation, procrastination can be beneficial and acceptable. In my case as I stated before, because my style of procrastination is being the “perfectionist,” I have a hard time submitting an assignment because I want the best outcome. I remember a couple years ago when I first applied for a full ride scholarship to study abroad in China and I had to fill out an application that consisted of a host letter and two essays. Once I completed the whole application the day it came out, I feared that it wasn‟t perfect. Days and weeks went by when I would just sit at my desk and tweak my application. I didn‟t submit it until a couple minutes before it was due. The outcome: I became a semi-finalist and was interviewed and a couple months later, I earned the scholarship! I don‟t mean to procrastinate on purpose and I don‟t procrastinate on completing the assignment, but rather, I procrastinate on turning it in whether it‟s online or in person. It‟s a slightly unbreakable habit for me, but there‟s nothing wrong with being a perfectionist, right? Hopefully not. So, when someone says, “I‟ve never procrastinated in my entire life,” don‟t believe them. It‟s a lie. Even I admit to procrastination and that‟s saying a lot! At least, I‟m an active procrastinator (minus the fact that I don‟t work well under pressure). Needless to say, there are ways to overcome procrastination if people want to stop procrastinating for the better. A Couple Strategies to Overcome Procrastination…Hooray! It‟s fine and dandy to be a procrastinator whether a person is an active one or a passive one. Even though I think active procrastination is much better than passive procrastination, I decided to research the ways that people can overcome procrastination if they just want to minimize their habit in general. I pretty much attempted to have my inquiry go two routes after finding the causes and styles of procrastination: people becoming an active procrastinator if they
Moo-Young 8 feel the need to procrastinate and strategies that people can use to overcome procrastination. The tips below by Dr. Burns can aid in defeating procrastination. One way a person can overcome procrastination is to create goals and understand what their values and priorities are. Identifying goals, values, and priorities is one of the important steps to overcoming procrastination because having their goals and aspirations in mind, will help them to work hard in a timely manner to achieve their success. Without goals or a drive, procrastination is bound to occur in some way. Another way a person can overcome procrastination is to use a reward system. People who reward themselves after completing a task is helpful because it motivates and pushes them to do their work in exchange for a small treat afterwards. When it comes to schoolwork for me, I am almost always swamped with schoolwork. If it‟s not a paper, it‟s math problems or pre-lab preparation for chemistry lab. Of course, I am intrinsically motivated, but I am also a fan of rewarding myself with some television after I get an assignment done. It‟s the best strategy that I have used to keep me from procrastinating. A great tip to overcoming procrastination is to get in the habit of developing a plan for how the goals and projects will be completed by breaking the assignment up into smaller chunks. Once a plan is developed, it is imperative that people discipline themselves to do the chunks in a timely manner to prevent procrastination. Caroline has tried this strategy multiple times, but it hasn‟t been successful for her (she puts off the chunks for such a long period of time that she just ends up recombining the chunks into a large last-minute task). However, she says that she enjoys when her professors create separate deadlines for different parts of the project. People can also overcome procrastination by identifying the reason why they are procrastinating in the first place. Maybe it‟s because the task is too hard for them. Maybe it‟s
Moo-Young 9 because the task is too difficult to understand. Maybe it‟s because they are getting distracted. Maybe it‟s because they just don‟t feel like completing the task. Whatever the reason is, people can overcome their problems by finding a solution to minimize the motives in why they are procrastinating. Caroline says that she procrastinates because there are numerous distractions that prevent her from learning. She says, “I think the most helpful strategy is to be somewhere without friends, TV, and other distractions. Putting my phone away would be ideal, although I don‟t have the willpower to do it.” If only Caroline had the self-discipline to put away that phone, she would be one step closer to tackling her bad habit of procrastination. Breaking a bad habit is hard enough as it is, but with perseverance and determination, it can be broken. One Stat. Multiple Effects. Procrastination is such a broad topic and I had a little trouble finding out what I desperately wanted to know. Although my mind went into different directions, I searched for the statistics regarding procrastination. Even though I only found one that was mildly surprising, I was able to get great comments about it from Caroline. In the American Psychological Association‟s article, “Procrastination or „intentional delay‟,” Amy Novotney writes a little information about Dr. Piers Steel who is a psychologist, well-known researcher, and speaker on motivation and science behind procrastination. In a 2007 study, he reported that 80%-95% college students procrastinate, particularly when it comes to coursework. I didn‟t know what was more surprising: the fact that the statistic was close to 100% or the fact that college students still continue to procrastinate despite the possibility of leading to a serious downfall in academic performance. When I first started my research, I tried to find the
Moo-Young 10 correlation between procrastination and academic performance, but it just became too confusing for me to understand. Caroline says that she believes the statistic is absolutely true since it‟s a natural human tendency to procrastinate anyways. As a college student, she sees procrastination every day and everywhere amongst both her friends and her peers. She understands the difficulty to stay on the ball when it comes to schoolwork because of hectic schedules. Caroline ends her comments saying, “Procrastination in school is not only common, it‟s expected among college students. But I think this is just a part of growing up and learning how to plan and prioritize. Depending on their personalities, I think some students will grow out of it as they mature while others will experience problems with school or work due to procrastination and will have to actively change their behavior.” What a great answer. I couldn‟t agree more. My Final Thoughts on Procrastination From all the research gathered, I have seen enough information to understand procrastination. Did I get all of the answers I was looking for? Not necessarily. I wanted to research the real science behind procrastination, but decided against it because there was the angle of active procrastination that intrigued me. When I first started the project, I didn‟t even know there was such a thing called active procrastination, but through my research, I have learned a lot. My opinion on procrastination has changed to a more optimistic perspective. I realized that while procrastination is negatively viewed, active procrastination can benefit others just like it does for Caroline. It‟s important for all of us to understand that it is passive procrastination that has led us to view procrastination with despise, misinforming us that procrastination can be GOOD if active procrastination is practiced. With that being written, the main idea I‟ve taken
Moo-Young 11 from all the research I have gathered within two and a half weeks is this: Stop procrastinating. If you want to procrastinate, at least be proACTIVE about it. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Moo-Young 12 Works Cited Bowes, Caroline. E-mail interview. 20 Oct. 2013. Chun Chu, Angela, and Jin Choi. "Rethinking Procrastination: Positive Effects of "Active" Procrastination Behavior on Attitudes And Performance." Journal of Social Psychology. 145.3 (2005): 245-264. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. Moo-Young, Elise. "Responses about Procrastination." Survey. SurveyMonkey. Web. 28 Oct. 2013 Novotney, Amy. "Procrastination or „Intentional Delay‟?"American Psychological Association. Jan. 2010: 14 Web. 31 Oct. 2013. “Procrastination.” Oxford Dictionaries Sapadin, Linda. "A Procrastination Mini Quiz: It's About Time!" PsychWisdom. Penguin Press. Web. 2 Nov. 2013. "Why People Procrastinate." Undergraduate Students Academic Skills Workshop. UIC College of Liberal Arts & Science, n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.
