Lessons in Procrastination

When looking through the reasons to procrastinate, I immediately laughed because every single one of them applies to me. I am the master of assuming that if I wait long enough I just won't have to do something. While I never truly let myself fall, I often find myself pulling my hair out with days or hours before something is due because I realize how simple it would've been had I just done it over a span of time.

When doing something that I care about perfectionism is always something that bogs me down. Especially when its something that's directly linked to my ego -- that I feel if it's not my best work then I'm just going to end up looking like an idiot. This really hinders my performance on certain tasks.

I also find that lack of preparedness or expertise often finds me putting tasks off. It also ties into perfectionism in that I may actually know how to do something, but because I psyche myself out I end up coming into it with a negative attitude. Fear of evaluation is another reason for procrastination that goes hand in hand with this one. I definitely fear criticism and sometimes when I do an assignment, I can barely think because I'm imagining all of the horrible things someone could say about what I am doing.

Low motivation and avoidance tend to come into play with more mundane tasks, or tasks that I feel just aren't very relevant to me. Typically I'm able to eventually buckle down and complete the task,  but sometimes for lower level CRW classes that I'm taking now -- which are replacement classes for other classes I couldn't get into because I'm only a CRW minor -- I often find myself not even really having the capability of forcing myself to do the assignment. It just seems so silly to put time into a 500 word critical analysis when I have classes that have larger repercussions assuming I don't fulfill my obligations.

In order to curb my tendency to procrastinate, I should really take advantage of the time management skills we've learned in Visions. I feel like I will be more apt to get things done in a timely manner to ensure I have that recharge period that's so important to all of us.