Academic Procrastination and Motivators Essay

I found I’m not alone according to two leading experts on procrastination, Joseph Ferrari, professor of psychology at DePaul University and Timothy Phikul, professor of psychology at Carleton University 20% of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators and up to 70 percent of students in one study said that they procrastinate. This habit affects so many and it one of the most difficult tendencies to kick but fortunately there are ways to go about solving the issue so today I would like to inform you all about why people procrastinate and the effects it can have and also ways to overcome it.

Procrastination and putting things off can have many consequences in your life. I know this because I am always waiting until the last minute to do anything whether it is getting ready for work or getting my homework done. Although you can still get your work done on time, procrastinating can drastically impact a student’s life by leading to decreased grades, an increase in stress, and a lack of responsibility ultimately reducing the student’s chances for success.

Another thing I could relate the procrastination to is a lack of motivation. In high school I didn’t have to do much studying or spend time writing long papers or doing assignments. So when I came to college I thought it would be the same way and I quickly learned that the college work load is much different and more intense than a high school work load. This was a major factor in my GPA being where it was. I was not extremely motivated to be taking all the general education classes I was enrolled in and therefore did not invest the time that I should have. Having a good GPA is not a primary instinct like hunger or thirst, it is taught to you that you should strive to have a good GPA. Hunger, thirst, sleep, and sex are all primary drives of motivation and are all biological needs.

     Procrastination is something that you don’t naturally have an innate ability to do. It is often brought on by finding ways

Besides this omission by Kalat, he still provided an accurate and detailed account of the research article written by Ariely and Wertenbroch. This article is essential in understanding procrastination and answered throughly the three questions it posed. 1.) Are people willing to impose deadlines, with substantial consequences if they are not met, on themselves: yes. 2.) Are these self-imposed deadlines actually helpful in improving overall performance:

Procrastination is ignoring your responsibilities and avoiding them for no good reason. Experiencing procrastination can have a positive or negative reaction according to the amount of the behavior. The person that is procrastinating must first realize that they have a problem in order to find ways to overcome procrastination because they are putting their health, family and job at risk. Twenty percent of people realize they are procrastinators which in the end becomes a lifestyle. There are various reasons why people procrastinate.

Their tired, feeling lazy, find the material boring, and even boredom. Whether it’s paying a parking ticket, doing laundry or organizing your closet, we’ve all put certain things off. Procrastinators live in a constant state of denial not thinking about the long term consequences. As tempting and easy as it is, avoidance always catches up. An example, making changes in your diet right away and not saying you will start till Monday.

The problem of procrastination starts when a student waits until minutes before a class to study for a class. This may seem like a solution for students who are pressed for time; however, this doesn’t allow time for the information to be solidified and vital information can be lost. These behaviors form because students have found that in the past they were able to successfully pass the class by doing their homework literally hours before the projects deadline. This reckless learning may help pass the class, but doesn’t give the information the time needed to be solidified into memory. This reckless learning also produces effects within projects that are often below the students’ academic level and can cause

Procrastination is a tendency to postpone, put off, delay, reschedule, take a rain check on, put on ice, hold off, or to defer what is necessary to reach a particular goal.(Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition. Philip Lief Group 2009.) While attending College some students find it hard to juggle work, family, and friends. Leading most students down a dangerous path to procrastination; that negative impact affect students from their physical health, mental health, and social health.

Procrastination is the act or habit of putting tasks on hold. It is the unnecessary postponement of starting or finishing an undertaking, which eventually leads to distress (Solomon & Rothblum, 1984). The intentional delay of due tasks is very common among students and lately, it has become prevalent in college settings (Rabin, Fogel & Nutter-Upham, 2011).

Procrastination is a common tendency that we all give in to and all of us have at least a little experience with.

Another factor that causes procrastination is fear. Fear is a very powerful emotion. Whenever someone is faced with a difficult task, they can become overran by the fear of not being able to complete it. People who succumb to this are setting themselves up for failure. Whenever someone feels as if they are going to fail, they tend to postpone the task for as long as possible. This means that they often try to avoid the task all together until completion is absolutely necessary. In doing so, the number of tasks that need to be done increases. However, the time required to complete them does not.

“Procrastination is a common form of self-regulatory failure with substantive connections” where the tendency is to put off tasks. (Steel, Farrari, 2013)

In my study, laziness is the most common reason student procrastinate. Timothy A Pychyl, a professor who specializes in the study of procrastination says “procrastinators often remark that they lack the motivation necessary to act. They have an intention to act, but they fail to act in a timely fashion even though they recognize

An equally important cause for procrastinating could be the laziness one might have. For a college student, several amounts of homework could be assigned within the first week of school, but the professor might state that those specific assignments to that class will be due at the end of the semester. So, one would say to themselves that there is plenty of time not to worry, so the student kicks back and worries about other things. Once, the end of the semester comes the person could have forgotten about the assignment that was given in the beginning of their school year. Now, there is little time to get the tasks finished and turned in, while other teachers in other classes might have assigned homework for the same due date as the other professor. Of course, at this point, the student regrets the decision that he or she might have made to procrastinate until a couple of days before the due date, now the