Dealing with Procrastination

August 27th, 2020 News & Tips

Procrastination is the habit of postponing what needs to be done right away. “That’s just my nature!” or “I do my best work at the last minute.” are what some people say to defend this bad habit.  Regardless of the excuses offered, procrastination is nothing but a bad habit. Like all other bad habits, it can be changed.

Procrastination causes problems, such as:

• Failing to finish a task that others were relying on you to finish
• Failing to finish a task you ought to have finished for your own sake
• Failing to finish a task as well as you could have, because you ran out of time
• Feeling guilty about not finishing a task
• Knowing that others think of you as unreliable to finish a task on time.

If one or more of the above phrases is true for you, or you are always saying, “…when I get around to it,” then you just may have developed the habit of postponing doing important things. Procrastination will prevent you in your attempts to successfully complete this program of study and reach your goals. However, you can defeat and break this habit. Read on!

There are various methods you could use to break your habit of procrastinating. Experts agree that the following are some of the most effective techniques:

• Carefully determine the project to be accomplished
• Separate the project down into smaller tasks
• Set reasonable deadlines for each small task
• Schedule time each day/week to finish the smaller tasks
• Schedule these tasks during the time when you are most productive
• Tell others of your commitment to finish the project
• At the start, work on the tasks for short periods of time
• Treat yourself with rewards for accomplishing tasks.

Getting started on a challenging project is often the hardest undertaking of the project. Once you begin working on it, the project is rarely as hard as you thought it would be. We often use up more energy refraining from doing the task than is necessary to actually complete it!

Commit yourself to starting the lesson, if you have been procrastinating about finishing your next home-study lesson. Apply the techniques mentioned above. When you start your lesson, you will probably find that finishing it is a lot easier than you first imagined.

Do not procrastinate any longer — GET STARTED TODAY!

by Gladys Mae

Gladys Mae serves as the General Manager and Head of Student Services at the International Career Institute. Gladys holds a degree in Mass Communication - Broadcast Media from the University of San Jose-Recoletos. She joined ICI in 2010 and has over the past 12 years been instrumental in providing leadership and guidance to staff and students alike. Prior to joining ICI Gladys led a multifaceted career with key roles in the banking and business process outsourcing industries.