Are you a procrastinator?
What does procrastinating mean? Do you have problems with procrastination? If you could stop procrastinating, would you? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you’re not alone. In one of his papers, Piers Steel, a professor at the University of Calgary who has spent the last decade studying procrastination, says that “Between 80 to 95 % of college students engage in procrastination, approximately 75% consider themselves procrastinators, and almost 50% procrastinate consistently and problematically.” (65)
Also according to Piers Steel. Most procrastinators have strongly negative opinions on procrastination, with 95% of procrastinators hoping to reduce this phenomenon.(65)
Clearly, procrastination is extremely prevalent. And finding a way to reduce it is crucial for students to find a way to improve their productivity. Although scholars have studied the correlation between poor academic performance and procrastination, few have actually worked on a solution to the problem. I believe that for better academic performance, school institutions should implement educational policies on procrastination, such as giving talks or providing procrastination counseling.
That procrastination is a harmful phenomenon that kills academic performance. Has not garnered uniform support from both procrastinators and non procrastinators.
In college campuses and high schools today, procrastination tends to be viewed as a part of popular culture. It’s not uncommon to hear someone “complain” about how much they procrastinated. Just so they could flaunt their good grades when they come out. These people might argue that procrastination differs for everyone. And that it’s part of a way of life, a “bad habit” that isn’t actually harmful so it should be left alone.
Countless studies have been done on procrastination, and as a matter of fact. There is actually quite a lot of evidence that these skeptics of the negative effects of procrastination might use to support their argument. Studies on procrastination have had varying conclusions, notably, a few even talk about the possible positive effects of procrastination. For example, a study done by Yamada M et al. came to the conclusion that. Self Regulated Learning (SRL) and procrastination affect learning behavior positively.
What does procrastinating mean?
According to Yamada, “Procrastination in this situation can be among the effective learning strategies. As learners can set the appropriate learning time schedule to accomplish their learning goals.”(329) This would prove the existence of a positive side to procrastination. But the type of procrastination that displays positive qualities exists only in a fraction of the population.
Another study on “Active procrastination” by Angela Hsin Chun Chu et al seems to support the idea of harmless. Or even positive procrastination from Yamada’s study. Her paper talks about how procrastination differs for everyone: “Members of this newly identified group of procrastinators, active procrastinators, prefer to work under pressure and make deliberate procrastination decisions. They are more likely to accomplish tasks with satisfactory outcomes than passive procrastinators, who are often paralyzed by indecision regarding action and haunted by past failure to complete tasks.”
Although few exist, studies like these carry great weight, acting as outliers.
Our modern world is creating more and more procrastinators, and procrastination has become socially acceptable.
What does procrastinating mean?
Granted that only few individuals benefit off of procrastination, should it be recognized as a way of life? And should it be left alone in general? This brings about the fundamental question of whether procrastination is malignant or benign by nature. To answer this question, it’s possible to look at the history of procrastination for some insight. Although today procrastination might be a tool for some people to seem smart, it turns out that our ancestors have always regarded procrastination with disdain. In his research paper, Steel cites various quotes from different locations throughout history that criticize procrastination.
One of the earliest warnings against the effects of procrastination was from around 800 BC, written by one of the first recorded Greek poets: “Do not put your work off till to-morrow and the day after; for a sluggish worker does not fill his barn, nor one who puts off his work: industry makes work go well, but a man who puts off work is always at hand-grips with ruin.” (Steel 67) (After citing these quotes, Steel touches upon the irony that science did not address procrastination sooner given how long procrastination has been around.) From a historical standpoint, procrastination has always been the bane of diligence. Therefore we must try to fight it just as our ancestors have, in order to live fruitful and successful lives.
For the average college student, what’s alarming about procrastination is it’s disturbance to his or her academic performance. You could put off non-academic things like going on dates or movies with friends, but bad academic performance leaves a permanent scar on your transcript. Procrastination reduces the productivity of a college student, which reflects in their
What does procrastinating mean?
GPA, test scores, and other forms of academic evaluations. Many studies have been done on the correlation between procrastination and academic performance. Academic performance indicators used in these studies include GPA, course grades, examination scores, standardized tests, and combinations of these indicators. These studies showed disturbing results of the severity and extensiveness of procrastination. One major study done on students from two universities in Hong Kong is an example: “The data acquired show that the correlation coefficient between G.P.A. and API (A test which measures one’s procrastination level) is -0.233, which is significant at 0.01 level (N=314, 2-tailed), so there is a significant negative correlation between academic performance and procrastination, which means that the higher procrastination level a learner has, the lower grade point average he/she will get, or vice versa.” (Wong 179)
Another major study involving a meta analysis sums up 33 previous experiments involving a total of 38,529 participants.
What does procrastinating mean?
These studies are both concrete in proving the negative relationship between procrastination and academic performance.
Without a doubt, there is an abundance of evidence supporting a negative correlation between procrastination and academic performance, but these studies, although spearheaded towards a common argument, don’t offer any remedies to the problem of procrastination. Few studies perform research on ways to stop procrastination. Fewer articles actually discuss the implementation of this vast sea of procrastination knowledge.
So how can we reduce procrastination? Specifically, how can we implement this plethora of knowledge from procrastination research? To start off, procrastination research could be generally split into two categories: the first one is the factors of procrastination, and the second one is the effects of procrastination. For example, an article on the factors of procrastination by Marie Rebetez et al called “Cognitive, Emotional, and Motivational Factors Related to Procrastination: A Cluster Analytic Approach,” from the journal Personality and Individual Differences. This article seeks to identify subgroups among procrastinators and the different factors that cause subjects to be in each subgroup. It concludes that procrastination is the result of many different factors.
What does procrastinating mean?
These types of articles allow us to understand procrastination and its different causes. Implementation of these articles could be in the form of analyzing their conclusions. And theories, and coming up with ways to stop the factors from creating procrastination. On the other hand, an article on the effects of procrastination would be one by Marium Saleem and Rafia Rafique. Called “Procrastination and Self Esteem Among University Students,” from the Pakistan Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.
This study proves the negative relationship between procrastination and self esteem. Citing previous studies that are also articles on the effects of procrastination. The knowledge from an article like this could be implemented by allowing students to be more aware of procrastination’s effects. Once students are aware of the effects of procrastination, they can better understand. When they are procrastinating and carry out a series of actions to deal with the problem if there is one.
Here’s an example of how the aforementioned implementations can take place. One of the factors of procrastination, according to Piers Steel, is impulsiveness: “Impulsive people may be more likely to procrastinate, as they are likely beset with desires of the moment and focus their attention upon them … they often pursue immediate gratification, neglecting or ignoring longer term responsibilities.”(70) In his paper, Steel theorizes that impulsiveness might be a factor of procrastination. By becoming aware of this information, an impulsive person might be able to seek treatment to procrastinate less.
In other words, knowledge on procrastination can be implemented by making students aware of its factors and effects. Once students are aware, they can take action to avoid procrastination.
All that being said, all of this implementation is merely hypothetical. Ultimately, it comes down to the higher ups at the students’ respective colleges and universities to implement new policies on procrastination. Students themselves, while capable of changing, have little effect on others, and most importantly lack knowledge on top of that. If left alone, most students will succumb to wrong ideas on procrastination, inefficient time management, anxiety, self-handicapping, and even depression, which will further decrease academic performance not only in themselves but by causing more procrastination. (Steel 68-69)
What does procrastinating mean?
Given the detrimental effect procrastination has on academic performance, in what ways can schools create policies that inform students about procrastination? It’s possible to learn from what we’ve done about other issues on college campuses. Many schools have given lectures on bullying, alcohol consumption, gender equality, racial equality, among other issues. Procrastination should be treated no differently. If anything, procrastination should be given priority, due to the fact that the main focus of college students should be their academics.
According to statistics from the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2013. The reported bullying prevalence for students between 12 and 18 dropped from 28 percent to 22 percent since 2005. This is the result of increased awareness of bullying. Also, according to a CNN article on a study on unwanted pregnancies, “The researchers found that the proportion of pregnancies in the United States that were unintended dropped from 51% of all pregnancies between 2006 to 2010 to 45% between 2009 and 2013.” Again, this is the result of increased awareness. If school institutions follow the way issues such as unwanted pregnancies and bullying were treated, hopes should be high that a similar effect will take place with regard to procrastination as well.
To further argue for the necessity of these policies against procrastination, according to Steel, the student population that suffers from or has problems with procrastination far outnumber those supposed active procrastinators by at least a 4 to 1 ratio. Additionally, the consequences of procrastination can be extremely severe, calling for attention. In an online thread about procrastination on a blog called reddit, users expressed their experiences with procrastination. As expected, some of the most worrying comments were made by college or high school students.
One of the more severe comments was from a user who went by the name of “peteburg”: “I once wrote an 80 page feature length screenplay in one night. It was the final project for a semester long Advanced Screenwriting class. I drank 7 Monster energy drinks that night. And I got a B+.” The binge drinking of energy drinks and the stress from writing an 80 page screenplay in one night cannot be healthy for a young adult.
What does procrastinating mean?
That situation only occurred because of peteburg’s tendency to procrastinate. If policies against procrastination implemented in colleges and high schools, stories like these would decrease. Subsequently, a following comment made by the user with the ironic name of “Un_focused”: “That’s a lot of Monster.
I’m running on my 3rd sleepless night in about 6 days but because it wasn’t too productive last night I didn’t even bother cracking open an energy drink, just fought until daylight to avoid the 15 hour sleep fest I know is coming.” Again, sleep is crucial for the health of a young adult, these are examples of what students might experience if their habit of procrastination doesn’t come to an end. It’s indeterminable whether “peteburg”’s or “Un_focused”’s experiences derived from reality or imagination, but it offers some insight on the severity of the issue. Even if his or her description’s extremely exaggerated, chances are it reflects their opinion on procrastination.
Given its prevalence and proven harm to academia, procrastination is one of the most important and widespread issues that affect college students today. Unlike gender and racial matters, procrastination doesn’t affect solely one segment of the student population, but the majority, if not all. It not only damages students’ academics but also creates stress, which results in a list of other issues such as depression and anxiety, among others. The main purpose of a college student is to engage in his or her studies, and prepare for the future. It’s during these college years that students shape most of their habits carried through the rest of their lives. This hints at additional reasons for ending negative procrastination.
If a student becomes a procrastinator in college, he or she not only threatens their GPA, which is paramount to finding a job in the future, but will also be a procrastinator in the working environment. In college, a very little amount of the work done by students will have a significant impact on the world outside of school. This may be true, but the habits and skills that a student develops follows the student wherever he or she goes. Shown in the statistic that overall, procrastination affects about 15-20% of the adult population. (Steel 65)
Procrastination is something highly prevalent at places that range from school to the workplace; therefore, it is important to address this issue. Implementing this knowledge is definitely a possibility. Schools will have higher average GPAs, less stressful students, and a better academic atmosphere. But the effect of decreased procrastination doesn’t stop there. It shows in the increased productivity and time management of workers too. Finally, It’s important to note the role schools and academic institutions have in reducing procrastination. Schools not only have the chance to to stop procrastination before it impacts the real world, they also have the most effective tool for stopping procrastination-policies.
Works Cited
Saleem, Marium., and Rafia Rafique. “Procrastination and Self Esteem Among University Students.” Pakistan Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. Vol.9, no.3, September 2012, pp. 50-55.
Kyung, Kim., and Seo Eun Hee. “The Relationship Between Procrastination and Academic Performance: A meta-analysis.” Personality and Individual Dif erences, vol. 82, August 2015, pp. 26-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.02.038
Piers, Steel. “The Nature of Procrastination: A Meta Analytic and Theoretical Review of Quintessential Self Regulatory Failure.” Psychological Bulletin, vol.133, No.1, 2007, pp. 65-94.
What does procrastinating mean?
Yamada, M., Goda, Y., Matsuda, T. et al. “How does self-regulated learning relate to active procrastination and other learning behaviors?” Journal of Computing in Higher Education, vol. 28, Issue 3, December 2016 pp. 326–343
Angela Hsin Chun, Chu and Choi Jin Nam. “Rethinking Procrastination: Positive Effects of “Active” Procrastination Behavior on Attitudes and Performance.” Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 145, no. 3, June 2005, pp. 245-264.
Wong, Brian. “Metacognitive Awareness, Procrastination and Academic Performance of University Students in Hong Kong.” Metacognitive Awareness, Procrastination and Academic Performance of University Students in Hong Kong, 2012, pp. PQDT – UK & Ireland.
Storrs, Carina. “Unintended Pregnancy Rate in U.S. Is High, but Falling.” CNN, Cable News Network, 2 Mar. 2016, www.cnn.com/2016/03/02/health/unintended-pregnancy-rate/index.html.
