Procrastination

In this blog post I will discuss procrastination, the problems it causes me and what I can do to improve on my procrastination.

One problem that has been controlling my life ever since I stared school is procrastination, for some reason I have never been able to control this habit and I honestly never really wanted to. I feel that I preform the best when I am working under a lot of pressure, the issue with this is that I leave most if not all of the work that I have to do to the last second.

This problem has once again surfaced during my last year as a student at Newcastle College. At the start of my Audio Visual course I made sure I was up to date with my blog posts, I was making notes and trying to stand out as a motivated student but as time went on I started to fail at all these specific things. I still did my best on my assignments but I only started working on them the night of the deadline, my mentality was that I would be fine and that I could deliver quality work in a few hours.

Procrastination isn’t a unique character flaw or a mysterious curse on your ability to manage time, but a way of coping with challenging emotions and negative moods induced by certain tasks — boredom, anxiety, insecurity, frustration, resentment, self-doubt and beyond. (Lieberman, 2019). So to find out what causes my procrastination I will have to find the underling roots.

One thing that I have had to cope with my entire life is depression I tends to flair up every once in a while. I have a melancholic personality which means I am in a constant gloomy state of mind.(Definition of melancholy | Dictionary.com, n.d.) I have always had a calm personality even when something I really want happens I find it hard to express this, I feel a genuine thanks or congratulation means more then an overly expressive emotional reaction. This state of constantly being sad is a big reason that I lack motivation, a lot of the time I do not see the point of doing something, even if know the reason and the logical part of my brain wants me to achieve these goals. For some reason I let the emotional part of my brain control my actions and wait till I just can not wait any longer to do something. It happens with small stuff like doing the dishes and it happens with major things like writing a blog that counts for 40% of your grade.

It is hard to see for me how I can solve this obvious problem I have, The main thing I can try to do is keep a tight schedule and set my own deadlines. My goal is to overcome this procrastination problem without losing my melancholic personality. It might seem weird that I do not want to lose this part of me but for me it is not only negative, I like the fact that I am a very calm person, I do not get angry fast and I am able to see things from a logical perspective. I tend to not get too emotionally attached to things so I can always give my own clear opinion on a matter.

My first big step in solving this problem is the acquisition of a calendar and an agenda. With these I will have a constant reminder of the work that I will have to do, I will also set my own deadlines for my projects and assignments that will be set before the given deadline. I hope with these supporting elements I can regain control over this part of my life.

References

Lieberman, C., 2019. Why You Procrastinate (It Has Nothing To Do With Self-Control). [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/smarter-living/why-you-procrastinate-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-self-control.html> [Accessed 26 May 2020].

www.dictionary.com. n.d. Definition Of Melancholy | Dictionary.Com. [online] Available at: <https://www.dictionary.com/browse/melancholy> [Accessed 29 May 2020].