A Rare Sight

          Hello, Hello! Whoever is reading this post is probably wondering why this post is called " A Rare Sight." Well I shall tell you why. It has such a title because I FINALLY FINISHED SOMETHING!... sort of, and that my friends, is a VERY rare sight. This blog was originally supposed to have 10 blog posts, but it was decided that it would be changed to 7, so to be fair, I technically did finish the project. But as expected, I didn't finish it on time. Haha, Typical. But anywho, this is the end of my blog: "I'll do it tomorrow..."

          What I've learned
          Well, through my very brief research on procrastination, I've learned that procrastinating is not entirely my fault. I learned this when I wrote the blog post #2: "Why we procrastinate: the science behind it" when I wrote about the fact that procrastination is due to a mental phenomenon called "Temporal discounting." I also learned through blog #3: "Why we procrastinate: the other factors involved" that many other things can influence us to procrastinate, such as: a lack of interest, confusion and fear. I've also learned that many methods and tricks exist to help fight procrastination, such as: breaking tasks into bite-sized pieces, making lists, changing locations, and simply starting the task. So all in all, procrastination is a problem with many solutions.

          To conclude...
          Well this post ends my little blog on procrastination and the real question is: "With my new knowledge on procrastination, have I improved?" Well to answer that question I will simply say this: it's 1:33 AM, the night before my English exam and I haven't studied yet, the last two blog posts were due like last week and I still have a homework assignment to do that was due like a month ago. So basically.... no, there has been no improvement whatsoever. I guess old habits die hard, but hey, at least I'm a little bit smarter. I swear I will beat procrastination, but I'll do it tomorrow.

       

          Thanks for reading,

Brianna Kormendy-Ramirez

The 'PROS' and 'CONS'

If only we all worked like this

          Hello again, my readers! I have nearly reached the end of this little blog about procrastination. To recap, so far I've shared with you guys my experience with procrastination, I've covered the science behind the habit of procrastinating as well as the other factors that influence this habit; I've also shared some of my personal tips to stop procrastinating and finally; I shared one of my many procrastination horror stories. To be honest I'm really not sure what to talk about anymore. But I'm sure I'll come up with something.

          I've decided the idea for this blog will be one that was suggested to me by one of my readers. A while back, a classmate of mine named Ryan commented on one of my blog posts basically suggesting the fact that maybe procrastinating could possibly be a good thing. That's an interesting thought and I guess it sort of goes against what my entire blog is about, since I've basically just gone on and on about how evil procrastination is. So in this post I will weight out the 'pros' and 'cons' of procrastination. I will attempt to answer the question "Is procrastination really all that bad?"

           'CONS'
            I'll start with the side I most advocate for. I truly believe that procrastination is the plague of today's youth. First off, it is a colossal waste of time. We are limited on time as is, and to think that countless irreplaceable hours are lost due to procrastination is infuriating. Also, it hinders our ability to do well academically. This happens by putting off projects and assignments that are due, as well as by procrastinating on studying for tests or exams. On top of that, it can possibly affect your overall happiness. It can do this because you waste so much time putting off urgent tasks that your time spent doing things you actually like is hugely minimized. Briefly summed up, procrastination sucks because it makes you feel like a lazy, unaccomplished failed potato of a human. Boo to procrastination.

          'PROS'?
          I think this list is going to be super short because I really can't see any good coming from wasting your time, but I'll do my best. I suppose it could make you develop your ability to work quickly under pressure. This would come from scrambling to finish an assignment in time for the due date. Also, I suppose it would allow you to do 'fun' things more often, because by avoiding your responsibilities, you could do things like watch your favourite Netflix show or paint your nails or something. With that being said, just because you do these 'fun' things instead of doing your work, doesn't mean you'll enjoy them as much as you would if you did them with a care-free task-free mindset.  Briefly said, I really don't see much valid good coming from procrastination. You really just waste your time.




          My next post will be my last so stay tuned one last time for that!


       

Procrastination horror story

           Hello again! This blog post represents the halfway point to the completion of my blog and to be quite honest with you, my readers, I'm running out of ideas. I guess there is only so much that can be said about procrastination, but regardless, I promise I will do my best to find interesting topics to write about. Anyways, this time, I thought I would share a personal experience with procrastination.

          I have been procrastinating for as long as I can remember. It really is a fundamental flaw of mine. And this story proves that even at a young age I procrastinated. This story is just a series of bad decisions which added up to a very bad outcome, at my hair's expense.

          So in 7th grade my teacher assigned us a project where we had to build the model of an ecosystem of our choice. She assigned the project two weeks in advance of its due date so I can't even use the typical excuse of "not having enough time" in this situation. I chose to do mine on the ecosystem of the ocean, and quite frankly I was very excited. Regardless of how excited I was, the days went by and I still hadn't even started planning my model. (Typical)

          So finally it was the day before the project was due, and as per usual it wasn't even close to being finished. It was time to do what I do best: cram everything into one night. But as soon as  I got home from school that day... I took a nap, and woke up at 9 o'clock. I frantically started to gather my supplies to build the model, one of them being a blue hot glue gun. I sat down at the kitchen table, near a plug, so that I could use the glue gun. Afterwards, I started piecing the model ecosystem together, gluing things in place as I went.

Me falling asleep at the table

          Near the halfway point I decided to take a little break, and at those late hours of the night, you can imagine how tired I was. I concluded that it was a good idea to rest my head on the table and "rest my eyes" a little while, and so I did. I woke up about fifteen minutes later, and I was petrified when I realized I couldn't lift my head from the table. With a good yank and a whole lot of pain,  I managed to finally release my head from the table's "grasp." I immediately started to touch my head to see what had caused me to get stuck in such a way, and horrified, I realized that I had a heaping chunk of solid hot glue in my hair. Wonderful. Of course, I had fallen asleep with my head right beside the glue gun, that was still plugged in. Idiot. Long story short, I had to cut a large chunk out of my hair to get rid of the glue, oh, and I managed to finish my project as well.

          Moral of the story, don't procrastinate. Also, don't fall asleep next to a glue gun. I hope you enjoyed this "procrastination horror story" of mine, stay tuned for my upcoming posts. :)

My ways to stop procrastinating

          Hello there, dear reader! Welcome back to my humble blog, where I talk about all things related to procrastination. Ah, procrastination, I know it like an old friend, like the back of my hand. So far in my blog, we've covered the 'why' of procrastination, focusing primarily on the scientific aspects of it, as well as the various personal factors involved. If you're interested and you happened to miss out on those posts, scroll down to check them out. In this post, I will be presenting solutions to the problem at hand, or in other words, I'm going to tell you ways to stop procrastinating. Keep in mind, these are my personal methods that help me get the job done.

          Tip #1: Break a task into bite-sized pieces.
As mentioned in my previous post, a common cause of procrastination is confusion. This surges when a task is too big or too daunting to even fathom how to take it on. In personal experiences, I have found that if you separate one big project into several little ones, it really makes it easier to get it done.

          Tip #2: Make lists, lots of them.
Ask any of my friends, and they will tell you that I am a huge fan of making lists. When I have many things to get done, a list really helps me to organize my ideas and know exactly what I need need to take on. I personally first write down off of the top of my head all the things that I need to get done. Afterwards, I list them from most important to least important, then I proceed to getting them done, checking each one off my list once completed. 



          Tip #3: Change locations.
I, like many people, get easily distracted by things going on around me. For example, if I'm trying to get homework done in an area full of people and noises, I most likely won't complete my work. That is why it is ideal to pick a work space that is relatively quiet, where you can dive head-first into finishing your work. Some examples of locations are: a library, alone in your room, or maybe even a quiet little café.

          Tip #4: Just do it.
Most of the time, the hardest part of getting a task done is simply to get started. So if all your other efforts fall through, just sit down, and force yourself to start the task. Trust me, everything after that will be smooth sailing.

 


          With that being said, I conclude this post on my ways to stop procrastinating. If you decide to try out one of my tips, let me know in the comments section. Stay tuned for my upcoming posts. :)

Why we procrastinate: the other factors involved

                                                                                  

Why hello there friend! And Welcome back to my blog.

          As previously mentioned in my last post, today I will be covering all the other factors involved in procrastination. Because let's face it, procrastination has got to be caused by other things, not just simply "Temporal discounting", which we talked about in the last post. There are many reasons as to why someone might procrastinate, and today I'm gonna talk about them.

          Let's begin by first asking ourselves, what makes me procrastinate? I'm not sure about you guys but personally when I think of that I think of laziness. In all honesty I think I'm actually a very lazy person when it comes to accomplishing tasks that I don't directly benefit from. For example, sure studying really hard a week in advance for a test will probably end up getting me a good grade and will definitely benefit me in my report card, but in the present moment I don't really gain anything from studying. More importantly, I don't really enjoy it.

StuDYING

          I also find that I am even lazier when it comes to tasks that don't benefit me in the slightest, such as doing chores. My parents constantly have to push me to do the dishes because it doesn't benefit me, I don't enjoy it and therefore I procrastinate to do it. In other words, if the task isn't enjoyable, I will most likely procrastinate.    
                           
          I found this picture on google that pretty accurately and briefly sums up the usual reasons why I, and so many other people procrastinate:  

          We already talked about how having a lack of interest in a task can make you more likely to procrastinate. Let's talk about confusion. Confusion steps in when you're presented with a project or task that seems too daunting to tackle. I know there's certainly been tasks I've been faced with that seemed so big and complicated that I was confused on how to even begin. And consequently, that task got put off.

          Luckily there's a solution to every problem. A task will seem much simpler if you break it down into little steps instead of one big leap. We'll talk more about this in future posts. Now let's move on to fear.

          Last on this list of reasons we procrastinate is fear. Fear that we might screw up, that we might not get that perfect grade, etc... I strongly believe this goes hand-in-hand with perfectionism. I personally am a  perfectionist, I always want things to be perfect, so I usually put off projects out of fear that they won't turn out the way I want them to. But if you think about it, putting off that project seems counterproductive, how is it supposed to turn out perfect if you don't even get started?

          With that being said, I conclude today's blog post. I'm sure there are many other more specific reasons as to why someone might procrastinate, and they also probably vary from person to person. Stay tuned because in my next blog post I will be talking about ways we can avoid procrastination.

          Oh, and I found this little comic on google, I found it pretty funny and relevant to my blog's topic so here it is:

                                                 

Why we procrastinate: the science behind it

A very warm welcome to anyone reading my blog for the first time, to all my other readers, thanks for coming back!

          As mentioned in my last post, this week I will be covering the 'why' of procrastination. What exactly goes on in our mind and body that makes us say "I'll do it tomorrow". What makes us put off that paper, cram all the studying the night before the exam, just avoid any task in general. I'm diving head first into the science behind procrastination.

          So after intensely researching this topic for a good 5 minutes, I came across this video:

     
          The video was posted by a Youtube channel called AsapSCIENCE and it very effectively went through the 'why' of procrastination. Also, the video began with the narrator saying "you're likely watching this video in an effort to avoid some other task. You're procrastinating to learn how to stop procrastinating." I found that really funny, and although that wasn't the case this time, I can definitely say that has happened to me before. There have been many times where I have been procrastinating to get a task done, realized it, and have gone on the internet to learn how to not procrastinate. What I find unbelievable is that the best thing to do in that sort of situation would be to not be on the Internet and just get the task done, and although I clearly know that, I always fail to do just that.

                                      

          Alright enough procrastinating, lets get to it. In the video the narrator presents us with a phenomenon known as "Temporal discounting". You might be thinking "okay... but the the heck is that?" Don't worry, I thought the same thing and it took me a few tries to understand it, but I think I finally understood it. So the video used the following example: "If I offered you $100 dollars today or $110 in a month, most people would take the $100 and run. But what if instead I offered you $100 in a year or $110 in a year and 1 month? Suddenly you might say to yourself "if I can wait a year, I can wait the extra month." But the time and value difference are the exact same in each example."

          I really liked this example because it really put in to perspective how our brains work when it comes to procrastinating when completing a task. So basically what I gathered from this short video is that if we are presented with reward, we judge it's importance based on how close it is. This way of thinking also translates into our working habits, when completing a task.

                                                  
          For example, let's say you have to write a paper and it's due in a month. You'll probably put it off for a long time and tell yourself "nahh I've got lots of time to finish that paper, it's not that urgent." (Since you have a long period of time your brain is convincing you that its not that important.) But let's say you step into class and your teacher says "You have to write a paper, it's due tomorrow." In that case you'll probably tell yourself "I don't have a lot of time to finish that paper, it is very urgent." (Since you have a short period of time your brain is telling you that it is very important.)
                                               

          After thinking about this for a while, I've realized that I do this ALL the time! I can't even begin to think of the countless times that I've put off projects because I had large periods of time to complete them. I remember this one time for a religion project, I had to fill a scrapbook with 10 different articles, each one having to do with 1 of the 10 Beatitudes from the Bible. And each article had to be resumed, plus a whole lot of other writing. In other words, it was a very BIG project. We were given 6 weeks to get it done, and me being me, I put it off for as long as I could. I kid you not, I left the ENTIRE project for the day before. It was absolutely ridiculous, this was a project that should've taken at least a week to do. Crazy enough, I managed to get it done all the day before, with the help of my mom and sister. Moral of the story: don't procrastinate.  

                                               

          So to conclude this post, I hope I succeeded in making you understand what goes on in your head when you procrastinate. Blame it on Temporal discounting, I say. I'm sure I can't be the only one who's had a crazy bad experience while procrastinating on a project, so feel free to share one of your stories in the comments section! And stay tuned because in my next post I will be tackling the other factors of procrastination. 

                                                   

I put the 'pro' in procrastination.

          They say that the first step to overcoming an addiction is to admit you have a problem so... Alright I'll admit it. I, Brianna Kormendy suffer from extreme procrastination. But I can't be the only one right? Well according to all my friends' tweets and statuses about having so much work to do, I'm obviously not alone in this matter. I am ashamed to say that I procrastinate way too often, heck I even procrastinated to do this blog!

          From what I've experienced, procrastination seems to be a cycle. First I am presented with a task ahead of time, I tell myself "Hey! Maybe I should start it now so I don't have to worry about it later." But that rarely ever happens, I usually end up convincing myself that it's not worth worrying about in that moment and I waste my time doing something much more important, for example, sleeping. You'd think that as the task deadline approaches I would say "Hey I have to get this task done soon, I should do it now." Nope. Rather the contrary, I make up infinite excuses as to why I can't start yet. My usual excuses among others include: eating, because you can"t get anything done on an empty stomach; sleeping, because you can't work well when you're not well rested; checking ALL my social media feeds and making sure to refresh the page 10 times just in case I miss any "important" updates.

            Finally, it's the night before the task deadline and incredibly is STILL manage to convince myself that I've got enough time to take a two hour nap. The cycle finishes in a chaotic and mentally-stressing short period of time where I violently scramble to get all the work done that I could have calmly gotten done beforehand. Once the task is done, I never fail to promise myself to never do that again and time and time again that promise is broken.

This cycle is accurately represented by this little diagram

          Often times, after getting the task done, I realize that it wasn't that difficult and if I would've done the task little by little every day, I could have finished the task without the stress. Without having done any research, this leads me to think that maybe our brains trick us into thinking that a task is too overwhelming and that we should therefore put it off.

How I feel when presented with a task

          The scariest part about procrastination, is realizing all the time you've lost while putting something off. All those wasted days, hours, minutes, seconds that you can never get back. Time you could've used to so something productive, something that you love, like learning something new, creating something, acquiring a new skill. That in my opinion is pant-soilingly terrifying. I'm not sure that 'pant-soilingly' is an actual word but it's the only way I can describe how horrid wasted time makes me feel. That is why I've decided to dedicate my blog to this topic. Because I want to seize life by the ba... horns and I want to stop procrastinating once and for all.

          If after having read my first post you realize that you too are a victim of this time-stealing demon, stay tuned, because in my next post I will be diving head first into the science behind procrastination. Hopefully answering the why of this phenomenon. 

  

This video pretty much walks you through how a procrastinator's brain works when attempting to accomplish any task.