We all do it; we've all done it before, and we'll keep doing it in our futures. Procrastination is merely avoidance of some discomfort for a preferred comfort, but limited. In other words, we make to decide to avoid discomfort as long as we can until we face the reality.
But procrastination is exactly what we cannot continue as college students, especially in the first year, and especially community college students. Since only about half of community college students start actually finish, we together must attack each of our challenges, even if we risk making errors. As a professor, I find that students who attack their challenges and make honest errors are much more prone to learn in the short and in the long time. And, as a professor, I find that students who procrastination often merely become overwhelmed with more stress, fewer resources such as time and collaboration, and ultimately they disappear.
The real problem is that when we procrastinate, we simply do not produce, and the game of college is production -- production of writing, projects, performances, exams, learning. We might deceive of temporary relax and recreation, but without production, and especially in college, we will not learn. Sometimes we can "cheat" procrastination, waiting till the last moment, and sometimes our projects may be acceptable. But that is still cheating, not real learning. With procrastination you will not be able to retrieve long-term learning, essential for the new environment of college work.
Another way seeing procrastination is undeveloped thinking. This means that without looking at our college work, starting, observe our own practices, reflecting of our own cognition -- without that real work, our brain actually lacks development. Like a soccer athlete who takes hours and hours and hours a week to develop the best dribble, we have to develop our brain through early and repetitive observation and reflection.
As I've considered before, community college students also are under tremendous stress, such as financial, transportation, intellectual preparation, new academic discourse, healthy food, and even new relationships. Procrastination only makes us more stressed. So, as you retrain yourself to start early and fostering collaborative strategies, you'll be stressed through the week, and through the semester. Your chance of succeeding your community college will increase.
Before you go on, see Vik Nithy's presentation at TEDxYouth about procrastination:
You can find many other resources, but try just these three to start and change your habits.
1. Start with steps. Start your projects in small steps, each day. Each course should be reviewed and practiced each day. Be sure that you push production each day. Often, you'll commit to 15 minutes and your brain will drive to 30 minutes and with a new form of energy.
2. Collaborate. You need to get through college with colleagues. Don't wait for a friend -- talk to someone in your class, suggest meeting today for 15 to start on your project, and check each other's progress.
3. Reward your intellectual labor. Some people dissociate their brain from the body, sitting on their butts for two or three hours without any reward. The brain is pretty smart and if their bodies ache from inactivity, the brain will train to avoid intellectual work. Take a break of 45 minutes, and move the body and get oxygen to reward the brain. Find other small physical rewards so that your brain will be trained to look forward to on-time production.
Jaffe, Eric. "Why Wait? The Science Behind Procrastination." Association of Psychological Science. Observer. 2013. Web. 12 Feb 2015.
Nithy, Vik. "Why We Procrastinate." TEDxYouth. 2012. Video.
But procrastination is exactly what we cannot continue as college students, especially in the first year, and especially community college students. Since only about half of community college students start actually finish, we together must attack each of our challenges, even if we risk making errors. As a professor, I find that students who attack their challenges and make honest errors are much more prone to learn in the short and in the long time. And, as a professor, I find that students who procrastination often merely become overwhelmed with more stress, fewer resources such as time and collaboration, and ultimately they disappear.
 |
| Danger [That's his name] |
Another way seeing procrastination is undeveloped thinking. This means that without looking at our college work, starting, observe our own practices, reflecting of our own cognition -- without that real work, our brain actually lacks development. Like a soccer athlete who takes hours and hours and hours a week to develop the best dribble, we have to develop our brain through early and repetitive observation and reflection.
As I've considered before, community college students also are under tremendous stress, such as financial, transportation, intellectual preparation, new academic discourse, healthy food, and even new relationships. Procrastination only makes us more stressed. So, as you retrain yourself to start early and fostering collaborative strategies, you'll be stressed through the week, and through the semester. Your chance of succeeding your community college will increase.
Before you go on, see Vik Nithy's presentation at TEDxYouth about procrastination:
You can find many other resources, but try just these three to start and change your habits.
1. Start with steps. Start your projects in small steps, each day. Each course should be reviewed and practiced each day. Be sure that you push production each day. Often, you'll commit to 15 minutes and your brain will drive to 30 minutes and with a new form of energy.
2. Collaborate. You need to get through college with colleagues. Don't wait for a friend -- talk to someone in your class, suggest meeting today for 15 to start on your project, and check each other's progress.
3. Reward your intellectual labor. Some people dissociate their brain from the body, sitting on their butts for two or three hours without any reward. The brain is pretty smart and if their bodies ache from inactivity, the brain will train to avoid intellectual work. Take a break of 45 minutes, and move the body and get oxygen to reward the brain. Find other small physical rewards so that your brain will be trained to look forward to on-time production.
Student Learning Involvement
- You know already, but you need to look at your time management, but learn the difference between time obedience, and time management. Write a journal entry that reflects your multiple environments (on and off campus) affect your time management. Explain in your reflection how small steps can push you to production.
- Discuss with other students how the college supports and when weakens your procrastination. Note how professors understand time and projects, and write how you can collaborate with your students to understand the college resources with the professor's project.
Professor Learning Involvement
- We need to understand that many community college students do not, really, know about their time demands -- their need for job, family responsibilities, transportation, and the differences of learning preparation. For example, if a HIST professor expects a major essay project, while the student is still in Comp & Rhetoric and learning about academic essays. Professors need to listen to students as they design their curriculum
- We also need to know more about psychology on procrastination and how our environment is shifting over generation. I don't want to complain about "this generation" -- that's an eternal and failing argument. As scholars, we need to act like scholars and understand social psychology and how to improve the classrooms to help students understanding time, resources, and deadlines for course learning objectives. We just can't condemn students with the argument, "we did it, they can do it."
Resources
Danger, Clark. "Get Shit Done (GSD) - End Procrastination FOR GOOD." YouTube. 17 Aug 2015. Video.Jaffe, Eric. "Why Wait? The Science Behind Procrastination." Association of Psychological Science. Observer. 2013. Web. 12 Feb 2015.
Nithy, Vik. "Why We Procrastinate." TEDxYouth. 2012. Video.
Comments
Post a Comment