Psychological strategies

PURPOSE

The purpose of this assignment is to critically reflect upon your experiences with procrastination, and to apply psychological strategies when thinking about how you could overcome procrastination.

STEP 1

Read the article below, which presents psychological theory explaining why we procrastinate, in addition to empirically-supported strategies for overcoming procrastination.

Why You Procrastinate (It Has Nothing to Do With Self-Control) (NY Times, March 25, 2019)

STEP 2

Think of a task that you frequently put off despite your better judgment; that is, something you procrastinate. If you don’t have any problems at all with procrastination, think of someone in your life who does, and focus on a specific task that they procrastinate.

STEP 3

Write a paper that addresses the following questions. These questions are phrased in terms of you and the task you have been procrastinating. If you don’t have an issue with procrastination for any task, you can rephrase the questions with another person mind, and use a pseudonym when discussing this person.

1. What’s the task that you have been procrastinating? What does the task involve? Explain in an appropriate amount of detail.
2. The author of the article presents the inference that procrastination is an emotion control problem, not a time management problem. What is meant by this? What are some negative feelings that you experience when faced with the task? Identify these feelings by name. Here are some mentioned in the article: boredom, anxiety, insecurity, frustration, resentment, self-doubt, and low self-esteem. Do you suffer from “procrastinatory cognitions”—negative thoughts about the fact that you keep on procrastinating? If so, describe these thoughts.
3. What can you do to overcome your problem with procrastination? The article mentions several strategies: engaging in self-forgiveness, practicing self-compassion, reframing the task, focusing on bodily sensations and feelings when the urge to procrastinate is present, committing to the “next action,” blocking your avoidance behaviors by making your “temptations more inconvenient,” and structuring your environment to remind and encourage yourself to work on the task. Which of these do you think would work best for you? How specifically could you implement them? Select two for discussion.

Address each of these questions in a cohesive paper about 2 to 3 pages in length, with double spacing, 1-inch margins, and 12-point font. Make sure to carefully proofread your paper, and run both a spell check and a grammar check.