Time Strategies
I have always bee a procrastinator. A write-my-ten-page-research-paper-the-night-before-it's-due kind of procrastinator. In college, as I've gotten older and started taking heavier and heavier courseloads each semester, I've been forced, out of necessity, to work ahead sometimes. And as well as it works for me, I am still resistant to any sort of working in advance of a due date -- why study when I've got plenty of time that isn't now?
One thing that I have discovered, a thing reinforced by one of the articles, is checklist making. On Trello, the article "How Checklists Train Your Brain To Be More Productive And Goal-Oriented" by Lauren Marchese indicates dopamine and gamification as two pillars for good list-making. First, checking something off a to-do list triggers a release of dopamine -- our brain's happy juice -- and we feel a surge of gratification. In order to motivate ourselves to begin checking things off, however, we can use gamification, or making things into competitive games. That should spark our good ole American capitalist need to squash everyone in sight underneath the sole of our boot. Or something like that.
In the Harvard Business Review article, "How to Beat Procrastination" by Caroline Webb centers around the idea that we should "make the benefits of action feel bigger, and the costs of action feel smaller." This allows us to eschew present bias, which leads us to want to work on what we can accomplish (and get out of the way) right now, versus making some progress on a big, imposing project.
I already use checklists now, and I plan to continue to use them going forward. I use the app myHomework to stay organized.
One thing that I have discovered, a thing reinforced by one of the articles, is checklist making. On Trello, the article "How Checklists Train Your Brain To Be More Productive And Goal-Oriented" by Lauren Marchese indicates dopamine and gamification as two pillars for good list-making. First, checking something off a to-do list triggers a release of dopamine -- our brain's happy juice -- and we feel a surge of gratification. In order to motivate ourselves to begin checking things off, however, we can use gamification, or making things into competitive games. That should spark our good ole American capitalist need to squash everyone in sight underneath the sole of our boot. Or something like that.
In the Harvard Business Review article, "How to Beat Procrastination" by Caroline Webb centers around the idea that we should "make the benefits of action feel bigger, and the costs of action feel smaller." This allows us to eschew present bias, which leads us to want to work on what we can accomplish (and get out of the way) right now, versus making some progress on a big, imposing project.
I already use checklists now, and I plan to continue to use them going forward. I use the app myHomework to stay organized.
A sample myHomework homepage. Source.
As for beating procrastination... not looking good right now. I mean, I'm turning this assignment in at the last minute. I'm not sure if that's more ironic or more meta. Anyway, I'll try to work ahead in this class when I can, but if I'm being honest with myself, I will be very happy just to keep up on a wee-by-week basis.
Alex I know the life of a procrastinator i did that often in high school and being teachers favorite turning few things a day or so ate did not matter but now in college it is not the way it is in high school if you procrastinate it can be seen that you rushed through. It is great that you use my homework is something you use to keep up but let me tell you in your canvas the calender keeps up with all your assignments and checks it off of your list once you turn it in.
ReplyDelete