Procrastination

Do you suffer from procrastination? You aren't alone!! According to mentalhealth.net, "Solomon and Rothblum (1984) found that 65% of college students want to learn to stop putting off writing term papers, 62% feel the need to study for exams more promptly, and 55% hope to read their assignments earlier." Almost everyone procrastinates at some point; however, if your procrastination is either keeping you from succeeding academically or is causing you extreme anxiety, you probably want to seek help.

Academic Support Services offers counseling and advising for students experiencing academic difficulty due to procrastination and other problems. You may also find the following strategies useful:

1. Make daily to-do lists. Mentalhelp.net points out that "[f]or perhaps a third of all student procrastinators, a To-Be-Done List, a daily schedule (chapter 13), and a simple record-keeping and reward procedure (chapter 11) will do wonders." Academic Support Services can help you with these strategies.
2. Take a task-oriented, not a time-oriented approach (for more information see Procrastination - Learning to Cope).
3. Figure out what kind of procrastinator you are. Are you an "anxiety-based procrastinator" or a "relaxed procrastinator"? Strategies for coping with your procrastination will differ accordingly. See "How to stop procrastinating" (mentalhelp.net).
4. More tips from the University of Buffalo.
5. Tips from the Chemistry Department (Reed College) on avoiding procrastination.

Procrastination Quiz:

If you have the poster in your dorm room, what type of procrastinator are you?

1. tense-afraid type procrastinator
2. anxiety-based procrastinator
3. relaxed, pleasure seeking procrastinator

Answer: if you took this quiz, your skills at procrastinating are complete. Call Academic Support Services 503/777-7521 for help!

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Resources/Bibliography

Overcoming Procrastination (Counseling Services, State University of New York at Buffalo)
Procrastination (mentalhealth.net)
Procrastination (humorous; despair.com)
Procrastination - Learning to Cope (The Health Center)
Structured Procrastination (John Perry, Stanford)