Final Reflection of Blog

Overall I feel like I made a good amount of progress during this project. It was hard to get it started but once it did, my habits did improve. No one is going to become "cured" but this project helped me realize that I can fix this problem. It did show because my grades in the classes that I am struggling in did improve for the most part. I did get more sleep too! My advice to someone would be don't try and fix the problem in one day because that will be a lost cause. Small steps is the key and if you set reasonable easy goals then failing is almost impossible.

In my opinion

Procrastinating is extremely popular and I think society needs to do a better job preparing kids to fight it off. All of this technology is great, but it does hinder students ability to stay on task.

These two books

Were a great help while doing this project. Creating my own schedule really helped me and trusting myself to do the work paid off. I do get stressed out but not as much as I used too.

This weekend

I went down to Florida to visit a college. I got all of my work done on the first night because I realized that I would be way too tired to do it Sunday. I am happy to say that I received my first scholarship offer from Eckerd College. This was a great weekend

Dealing with another Procrastinator

This is definitely trouble. It can be a success. Inspiration, and looking forward to something can motivate both of us to get our work done. (The Now Habit: pg. 184) Classic Example: Me and Mike Halperin trying to get a project done is extremely hard. One day we will just say you know what screw this and watch tv or play video games, but when we really want to get our work done, we work fast and efficiently. All it takes is a little motivation, but we need to be able to do this all of the time. We also need to create our own motivation!

Time

Time is everything, learning how to keep track of it is so important. This project is helping me improve my innability to keep track of my time. It is so easy to lose track of time with all of the technology but I have been pretty good so far. I must admit that I do get off task sometimes.

Setting up a Support system

In order for me to stay on top of my work and studies, i read in the book Procrastination that assembling a group of people can help. So i got my sister, Mike Greengarten and my friend Brian to provide some support. They checked up on me every couple of days and gave me some tips on how to do some of my hw. We established a positive line of communication and I trusted them. (pg. 170) That was great advice and I am glad I tried it.

Mid Terms

As mid terms get really close, I feel some stress, but usually I do have more stress. I guess it can be attributed to it being senior year. Also I have taken some pressure off because I have gotten a good amount of studying done before the weekend. I also plan to get some work done while I visit Eckerd College in Florida, because I probably will have nothing better to do.

Procrastinating and religion?

I came across this weird, but I guess interesting and funny blog while researching procrastination. (http://blog.sarcasmsociety.com/religion-spirituality/god-is-a-procrastinator.html) On this article a blogger named Sarcasmist claims god is a procrastinator. "The latest theo-scientific discussions around religion and the existence of God have produced fascinating results. The theory being proffered is that God is a procrastinator and keeps putting off revealing himself to mankind." I thought that was very funny.

God

"Honey...later. I am watching The Big Bang Theory." (In response to Mrs. God when she commented, "You've put the Revelation off long enough.")

.....people these days right?

Something new to try...Turning it off

Today I am going to leave my phone in my room and not use a computer when I do my homework. The goal is to be done before dinner, and get to bed early tonight.

Bite Size Pieces Try number 2

I did it, it actually worked this time. I got my homework done before 10 pm which I never do! Now I need to build on consistency.

It worked!!

I tried the tip where you breakdown what you need to get done into pieces. In this case I was loaded with homework, and I decided to break everything down, and I gave myself breaks in between (to watch football of course, sorry about your Packers Walter). It is a step in the right direction, but I didn't get enough sleep. I need to do the same thing I did, but at an earlier hour.

Could Procrastination be a Disorder?

I was just looking on google for some facts on this problem and I came across this website http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web1/jmaryasis.html.

Its pretty interesting and tells you which parts of your brain are affected by this. I will post more about this site later

Check this out

If you want to know if you procrastinate, take this quick test!

http://psychologytoday.psychtests.com/cgi-bin/tests/transfer_ap.cgi?partner=pt&part=1&test=procrastination&AMT=9.95&item=Procrastination%20Test

I am not going to take it though because I already know I procrastinate

Picture!

Tip number two

Since I have a pretty big problem I think I should review all of the tips available to me. I found this one on this website www.onlineorganizing.com and out of the 10 or so tips it provided me, I thought this one was the best. It is called "Bite Sized Pieces". I like this idea and when I do my homework this weekend, I will be trying this out.

• don't put any "to-do" on your list that takes more than 30 minutes
• if it takes longer, it's actually a series of smaller "to-do's"
• break each step out and list it separately
• you don't have to tackle all the steps of a project in one sitting
• spread a large task out over several work sessions
• you will see greater progress as you check more items off your list
• you will avoid getting bogged down in one large task or project

first day of this test

The first day went well. I didn't feel to overwhelmed and I got some quality work done. I have set up a certain time table for how long I should be doing things (not to create pressure for myself, because that would probably ruin what I have started, but just as a guideline).

Application of the tool

Ok so here is the test. What could possibly happen if I don't do well? Well that answer is simple, would disappoint me to see myself not do well. What can I do to stop this? I have decided to get extra help every day from Mr. Weiland during lunch. There is a lot of material and the books I have tell me to break it down. It makes things less intimidating and allows me to gain confidence. So I have broken down my studying into sections: Zscores, Different types of graphs and probability. I feel like this is the best way for me to do well, so I am going to tackle Zscores first.

First Tip/Tool

There is a process known as Create your own safety that will help me stop procrastinating. The ultimate goal for this is to create self confidence. If I have a huge project due and I haven't started, and I need to think of the worst case scenario first. What's the worst that can happen? Since I am not in danger of losing a job, I start to feel a little bit better about my situation. Then I must determine what I can do to improve my situation. This process is allowing me to think things through in small steps, allowing for my confidence to build. I am going to try this as I begin my "program" to study for my AP stat midterm. Since I haven't done as good as I have wanted there is added pressure to do well. So I am going to put this idea to the test.