The Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and Procrastination Among University Students

Have any of you ever procrastinated before? If the answer was yes, you would not be the only one. We all procrastinate from time to time. Statistics showed that procrastination affects over 20 percent of the population, and 85 to 95 percent of students have problems associated with procrastination. All the time, not doing the important task when we know we should can lead to anxiety, guilt, stress, and even depression. In the reality, the activities we were doing while procrastinating are never fun or relaxing because we know we should be doing work. So, procrastination is so horrific, then why do we do it? Therefore, today, there are two subtopics procrastination that I want to talk about which are the reasons why we procrastinate and some strategies on how to avoid it.

Many of us can recognize that leaving things to the very last minute is not very wise and can cause an abundance of unnecessary stress. Procrastination is self-sabotage whether it’s to pay a credit card bill, fill up gas in your car, or complete your homework. Procrastination ranges from the most miniscule task to the most significant ones so the question is why do people procrastinate? For myself I rationalize this behavior by saying I work best under pressure but through my recent discoveries I found this isn’t true at all, it was just an excuse. The heavy pressure we feel when an important deadline is approaching physically forces us to complete our work but that doesn’t always mean that our work is good. Starting a project weeks before it is due guarantees that we had time to think and process your ideas therefore our work is our work is generally well-prepared. Starting an assignment the night before it’s due forces us to rush through it just to get it done it does not ensure that our best abilities are being put to use and usually ensures that our best abilities are being put to use and usually ensures that it’s satisfactory at its best from a psychological standpoint procrastinators can adapt

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.

The two articles, 'The Procrastination Doom Loop- And How to Break It' and 'This Was Supposed To Be My Column For New Years' both provide much information about procrastination. One example is that it has more to do with emotion than time. In the article, written by Derek Thompson, he talks about how each of us recognizes it is important to go to the dentist, but still put it off. We look away from this because the pain is too upfront and the rewards are too small. Another example is having nothing to distract you and everything ready to go, but not writing an email back because you don't feel like it. Procrastination can be an effective tool for getting things done.

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.

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:

Thesis: Procrastination is the main result of disorganization whether it’s at home, work or school.

Attention Getter: A famous author by the name of Wayne Dyer once said, “Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is incredibly heavy.”(1) In todays society it seems as if procrastination has become a normal and acceptable thing to do. It is often joked about amongst schoolmates and co-workers around the world. Nothing seems to get done until it absolutely needs to get done, then everyone runs around getting things done quickly and often times inaccurately. The trouble with this mentality however is that some things will never get done because something will come up tomorrow or the next day and what you are putting off now gets pushed even further back. Today I will persuade you to stop this habit from continuing. I will be explaining the problems we face when dealing with procrastination as well as how to deal with it and actions you can take to prevent it in the future.

Each college student will face procrastination at some point in her college career. It is an epidemic of the academic world. Depending on the student it will impact her sleeping habits, grades, and overall health. However, each student will handle it differently. Some will depart from college with minimal stress and others with grey hairs. Either way, procrastination will surely be a part of the college world

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).

“A Dictionary of the English Language” written by Dr. Samuel Johnson, defined procrastination as “delay.” This common issue mostly around everyone. Many people struggle with deadlines every day. It is one of the largest problems seen in college counseling centers. (Grohol, Psy.D.)

“I’ll stop procrastinating…Tomorrow.” This is a mindset that is possessed by a majority of students today. Although putting off writing that English paper until the night before it is due may not seem like a big deal, it has many harmful effects. In fact, what better topic is there for that English paper? Very few are spared from the epidemic known as procrastination. Even less overcome this issue. In order to successfully defeat procrastination, we must first understand it.

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

Procrastination is a challenge that can impede academic success. Procrastination is when someone leaves everything they have to do to a later time. There are many reasons why people procrastinate. Two examples are; “I don’t feel like doing it’, and “I don’t know how.” Personally, I procrastinated all the way through senior year in high school and until my first semester in college of freshman year. I thought that procrastinating could work all the time, but over time procrastinating actually got stressful and caused me to feel down upset, I also ended up not getting the grades I wanted. so, I am trying to learn to stop and do all my work right when I get it, and break it up into parts so I can be done early and not have to worry about all the work piling up.