Premium Essay

Procrastination Essay

In:

Submitted By snorbraxen
Words 853
Pages 4
Procrastination – An essay on If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler written by Italo Calvino

Perhaps this sentence would suit as the closing one. Well at least I have to consider it. Finally, ideas are starting to evolve now that I have sat myself down with my cup of coffee; Calvino thought drinking coffee was adequate for reading and writing, so I drink it while I do just that, read or write. The amount of procrastination this essay has received is not even measurable through the metric system; such large amounts are we talking about, well that is how my mind put it. I think the deadline was the 21st of December and today it’s the 14th of March, the accurate word for this instance would be insane. An understanding for how evil my procrastinating self can become has been stated. Let’s google procrastination, did you get the same hit as I did? “Procrastination refers to the act of replacing high-priority actions with tasks of lower priority” I could not possibly agree more. “To beat procrastination you have to win the performing-race against your procrastinating self”, well let’s start beating this procrastinating dude then, to begin with, what should I write about? Maybe I can use this procrastination situation in my essay, after all the first six pages in If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino are all about procrastination. Or should I write about how the novel is structured with every second chapter being a separate story and how that is entwined with the duality of procrastination? Perhaps I could relate the novel to a movie or two, now that I think about it The Matrix has quite a parallel I could write about.

The exordial six pages of the novel are all about procrastination. When you have read them you have not actually began read the actual story yet. His prefatory sentence is “You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel, If on a

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Essay On Procrastination

...A droopy, red-eyed student stares at her computer screen while typing the last few sentences of her research essay at lightning speed. She looks at the clock: it reads 2:30 AM. She texts her friend who is working on the paper as well and decides to take a break. She opens Snapchat and sends her friends who are also awake pictures of her computer screen. She looks at the clock: it reads 4:23 AM. She still has a paragraph left of her essay, and she quickly types something presentable. It is 5:10 AM, and she is finally done. She turns off the light and is finally able to slumber. People often put off important tasks, whether it’s something easy or challenging, until the last minute. It’s not something to be proud of, but it’s not something that one can easily overcome. As most know, procrastination, according to the online Cambridge Dictionary, is the act of delaying something that must be done, often because it is unpleasant or boring. Although many dawdle due to psychological factors, more people, especially students, now find themselves being drawn to ongoing distractions from advancing technology and easy access to social media platforms that are affecting GPAs, sleep patterns, and general health. Technology was initially...

Words: 1317 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

I Ll Do It Later Analysis

...To Be Determined at a Later Date The word procrastination often evokes images of sitting on the couch and watching TV, however, there are many different types of procrastination. There are many types of procrastinators: The Avoider, The I Will Do It Later, The Let Me Finish This First, The Ones Who Know What They Should Be Doing But Simply Do Not, and The I Deserve a Break. To make this essay easier to understand, the example of writing an essay will be used-- not that anyone procrastinates on writing essays. The personal mantra of the I Will Do It Later is as simple one might expect, “I will just do it later.” As soon as the essay is assigned this procrastinator just simply tells themselves that they will do it later. Often times in a chronic...

Words: 640 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Why Do Procrastinate

...ticket for Broadway show. We do not start our Christmas shopping until Christmas Eve… Procrastination is a curse to modern people. Every body knows that it is a hindrance on the way toward success. But we still deliberately postpone our job in spite of knowing this fact. Why is the evilness of procrastination so powerful? Is there anything under the curse? What on earth makes us procrastinate? People tend to avoid the job they dislike. For most of us, a lack of motivation plays a major role in keeping us away from focusing on our tasks. When we are assigned with something that are not interesting to us, we cultivate a listless attitude towards them. We are reluctant to even think about them. Even when we start our job, we constantly get distracted, especially ones that do not take lots of commitment on their part. Checking what’s up on Facebook group or our email perfectly satisfy this purpose. We assume we won’t waste much time on those unrelated things but actually we do. By clicking a link on Facebook page, we are attracted to thousands other links on it. By entering the e-mail box, even if there’s nothing new, we can’t help but start deleting the past spams. Why? We are simply avoiding something that we are not motivated to do. On the other hand, we procrastinators fear making mistakes. We worship perfectionism and it directly leads to procrastination. Oftentimes, procrastination is a sign of fear of making mistakes. We sometimes have extremely high or unrealistic expectations...

Words: 627 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

How to Not Procrastinate

...Megan Major Essay 1 ENC 1101 October 14, 2014 Valencia 1275 words How to Not Procrastinate Perfectionism and procrastination go together like peanut butter and jelly. By people expecting too much of themselves, they tend to become scared of writing and the essay not meeting their expectations and therefore procrastinating until the last minute. Although many more elements come into play, priorities and organizational skills are a big role in the way you may procrastinate. Many people may just need help in the organization department in order to not procrastinate and others may need help dealing with many more issues they have with the issue of procrastination. I believe in order to help prevent or totally eradicate procrastination from your work method; you must first look at yourself. Are you struggling with confidence or is it simply that you are too much of a perfectionist and nothing you seem to write is up to par? Well, the first step would be to stop over thinking everything you decide to put down on paper; it probably isn’t as bad as you think it is. When you stop over thinking, writing will come a lot easier and less forced than before and you may feel that you don't have to wait until the last minute to write your assignments. Also, with putting less pressure on yourself and constantly forcing yourself to rewrite the assignment over and over again; you’ll feel the weight of an elephant being lifted off your chest. Good organizational skills have been...

Words: 1310 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Personal Responsibility Rough Draft

...University of Phoenix Personal Responsibility Essay: Research and Organizatio Resources: CWE Annotated Bibliography and CWE Reference and Citation Generator Review the CWE Annotated Bibliography. Prepare an annotated bibliography for the sources in your Personal Responsibility Essay. Include the following information: * Reference citation for each source * Summary of the information in the source and how you determined it to be reliable Write a 250-word explanation of the following: * How you determined the sources to be reliable and relevant, and whether or not there is an author bias * How this information might strengthen or weaken your essay Format your explanation consistent with APA guidelines. Thesis Statement: Even though someone with personal responsibility values the consequences of their acts; having personal responsibility is also knowing how to manage your time wisely, and recognizing what sacrifices will need to be made to meet deadlines, and puts special attention to its compromises in order to meet them. To be successful in college as a student, you must maintain good attendance, make substantial post in discussions, and turn all of your assignments in on time. Rough Draft Responsibility is a virtue that must be learned and practiced. Being successful requires taking personal responsibility for your actions. In order to be accountable in all aspects of life, it is important to be focused on what you want to accomplish. Establishing...

Words: 1624 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Business

...Last Minute-Panic (Procrastination) Throughout a person’s life, they are faced with different obstacles, and different challenges of all different types. My life in particular has been full of ups and downs related especially to procrastination. Throughout my life whenever I feel that something isn’t really worth my time or imp just to “busy” to do it. Over the past two years I’ve challenged myself to improve and stick to my words, and start thinking positive about the task at hand. I’ve come up with multiple ways to overcome my issue to better myself and my life. I’ve come up with 7 steps that has helped me through most situation in my life. The first step I take is, analyze the consequences. In this step I start off asking myself, What are you procrastinating that’s actually limiting your life, draining your energy, and keeping you from a 4.0? I soon after answer my own question. For example,  If I procrastinate picking your clothes up off my bedroom floor but it doesn’t bother me, then it’s not really a big deal. However, if imp not getting the grades I want, missing opportunities, or disappointing myself and others, I come to the conclusion that it’s time to seriously change my habits. The second step in the process is, knowing my excuses. I pay close attention to the excuses I make to continue my procrastination. Excuses to me are those...

Words: 881 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Foces

...The behavior pattern of procrastination can be triggered in many different ways. In other terms, you will not always procrastinate for the same reasons. For instance, people might procrastinate because they are overwhelmed with many tasks, procrastination therefore gives them an escape. For the most part, procrastination is due to laziness. We will in this short essay first define procrastination and its causes then in a second part we will propose some solutions to this issue. The dictionary defines procrastination as the practice of carrying out less important tasks to the detriment of the most important ones, or it is prioritizing the most pleasure tasks than lesser ones, therefore pushing the important tasks to a later time. The lack of discipline is in our opinion the major cause of procrastination. Individual with no discipline are more likely to procrastinate than those with discipline. As mentioned above, laziness is another factor that causes an individual to procrastinate. Laziness makes even the simplest task look like too much work to do, it makes you feel as your energy is inferior compared to the energy required by the task. If you blame the task for being too difficult or tedious, you will procrastinate to conserve energy. If the lack of discipline and laziness are factors of procrastination, then practicing discipline and being active are logical solution to this dilemma. Practicing discipline will prevent someone from procrastinating,. This can be achieved...

Words: 333 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Anti Procrestination

...Serge Arnaud Amangoua August 22, 2013 Short Essay 1 Topic : What helps you to procrastinate and what can you do when you are faced with these issues? The frequent thinking I have about work I should get done is "Why do I keep procrastinating when I know it causes me so much anxiety?" I usually know what I need to do, but I don't do it, or I wait until the last minute. And, time and again, the pattern repeats itself. I feel caught, trapped in a vortex of anxiety, stress, and procrastination. After self-criticism, I think the most common factor which helps me to procrastinate is because I'm disorganized, and I want to do everything at the same time in the last minute. The answer of this question warned me to take action and step up strategies that I can apply in my life to face these issues. So from there to face these issues , I write down my goal and give myself a deadline. Because a goal without a deadline can put me off. Visualize the future I want. I Imagine the emotions I will feel. Picture myself in a favorite place celebrating what I’ve accomplished.I Imagine those who love me most celebrating my success. And I act bravely daily. Starting today.I Build momentum because it is crucial as I start out. So I commit to stepping out of my comfort zone at least once per day. Every I keep positive...

Words: 293 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Procrastination

...0033-2909/07/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.65 The Nature of Procrastination: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review of Quintessential Self-Regulatory Failure Piers Steel University of Calgary Procrastination is a prevalent and pernicious form of self-regulatory failure that is not entirely understood. Hence, the relevant conceptual, theoretical, and empirical work is reviewed, drawing upon correlational, experimental, and qualitative findings. A meta-analysis of procrastination’s possible causes and effects, based on 691 correlations, reveals that neuroticism, rebelliousness, and sensation seeking show only a weak connection. Strong and consistent predictors of procrastination were task aversiveness, task delay, selfefficacy, and impulsiveness, as well as conscientiousness and its facets of self-control, distractibility, organization, and achievement motivation. These effects prove consistent with temporal motivation theory, an integrative hybrid of expectancy theory and hyperbolic discounting. Continued research into procrastination should not be delayed, especially because its prevalence appears to be growing. Keywords: procrastination, irrational delay, pathological decision making, meta-analysis Procrastination is extremely prevalent. Although virtually all of us have at least dallied with dallying, some have made it a way of life. Estimates indicate that 80%–95% of college students engage in procrastination (Ellis & Knaus, 1977; O’Brien, 2002), approximately 75% consider...

Words: 28985 - Pages: 116

Free Essay

Personal Responsibility Essay

...Personal Responsibility Essay Donald Upward GEN/200 January 15, 2014 Dan Barbara, MAEd Personal Responsibility Essay Personal responsibility is the necessity and willingness to complete tasks in a timely manner, and it is essential to achieving success in college. The key to this is exercising careful control over one’s time, finances, and health. There are benefits to engaging in responsible behavior along with negative consequences for engaging in irresponsible behavior. Two areas of improvement as a college student are procrastination avoidance and time management. Staying well ahead of deadlines is one effective strategy to help manage time. According to Hersh and Geary Schneider (2005), “Personal responsibility and social responsibility involve the moral obligation to both self and community, and both forms of responsibility rely upon such virtues as honesty, self-discipline, respect, loyalty, and compassion.” (p. 8) As far as the student experience is concerned, the three main factors of time, finances, and health govern personal responsibility. A deficiency of any of these will have a detrimental effect on the chances of success. If one does not put aside enough time or is constantly procrastinating, they will likely miss deadlines and consistently will turn in work that is lacking in refinement and detail. This can lead to the belief that just scraping by with barely adequate work is acceptable. Similarly, if one does not do what is necessary to...

Words: 1047 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Idea of Suce

...management plays an integral role in the idea of success as I believe this is the basis on which success emerge. Without effective time management skills, would tasks be able to be completed on time to meet required deadlines? If tasks are unable to be completed then a problem immediately stems which affects the accomplishment of both short term and long term goals thus impeding the attainment of success. Hence, time management is vital and mandatory to developing effective time management skills in order to meet one’s idea of success. There are numerous ideas of success that aids in effective time management skills all of which will be elaborated on throughout this essay they are; pushing oneself to utilize time wisely, mapping out activities and tasks for a week and month and practicing strategies to avoid procrastination. Firstly, providing the adequate push towards utilizing time wisely can contribute towards better time management skills. Often times we get comfortable doing activities that are not related or of contributing factor to our goals, this should not be the case as this is a vivid obstruction to our success. By providing the push you instantaneously provide the reassurance needed to focus on what is really of importance. Thus facilitating in management of time as sometimes all we need is a little push. Utilization of this idea of success in class can implemented by ensuring that when tasks are allocated and the urge to indulge in activities that are not...

Words: 623 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Persuasive Essay

...PERSUASIVE ESSAY DANA SCOTT COMM/215 November 10, 2014 MARY THOMAS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT PROCRASTINATE There are many ways to avoid success in life and the number one cause is procrastination. Procrastinators sabotage themselves. They put obstacles in their own path. They actually choose paths that hurt their performance. First, we must ask what exactly procrastination is. According to dictionary.com, procrastination, pronounced proh-kras-tuh-ney-shuhn, is the act or habit of procrastinating, or putting off or delaying, especially something requiring immediate attention. If you still do not understand, I will put it in a sentence for you. “He was smart, but his constant procrastination led him to be late with almost every assignment.” According to Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at De Paul University in Chicago, twenty percent of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators. For them procrastination is a lifestyle. It cuts across every aspect of their life. They do not pay bills on time. They miss birthday parties and other important activities. They get bad grades in class. They file income tax returns late. They leave their Thanksgiving dinner shopping until the night before thanksgiving. They are always a day late and a dollar short. Theres more than one flavor of procrastination. People procrastinate for different reasons. According to Timothy Pychyl, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa Canada...

Words: 612 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Personal Responsibiity

...Personal Responsibility Essay Tramell Arceneaux GEN/200 October 25, 2012 Mr. Ed Williams When it comes to personal responsibilities, everyone has different perspectives. Personal responsibility does not have a set definition. However, personal responsibility deals with one’s personal beliefs. For example, some may feel they are solely responsible for obtaining their class syllabus while others will feel that it is the instructor’s reasonability to make sure students receive the syllabus. There are those that face daily challenges because they do not take personal responsibility. In contrast, there are those who accept their responsibility and succeed far beyond their expectations. Throughout this essay I will describe the personal responsibilities I have and how their association will ensure successful completion of my college education. My own definition of personal responsibility is the ability to do positive things for myself and taking full responsibility for my life. For many adults, personal responsibilities are endless, just about every adult has bills and for those like me, with a spouse and dependents, those personal responsibilities are much greater. Paying the mortgage and bills on time, keeping food on the table and providing whatever other needs are not just things you would do, but are now personal responsibilities. When I get out the bed in the morning to go to work regardless of how I feel takes responsibility, because I have to maintain a career in order...

Words: 1024 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Cause and Effect Procrastination

...friend of mine, and playing Warcraft. “I’m just taking a break.” I said to myself, as though I don’t know I’m lying to myself, or I actually did a bit of work. “New message from Felix!” a message pops out on my Facebook page. Felix: “Warcraft?” Me: “Heck yeah!” I turned away from my English homework which I’ve been staring at for the past five minutes, and got myself lost in the world of dota (Defense of the Ancient). I knew all along that I was procrastinating. I steer myself into anything else rather than homework, and after hours of dipping myself into games, I’ll eventually totally forget about what I was supposed to do. I perfectly know that if this essay was not due tomorrow, I wouldn’t be writing it right now. As my mind is still here, I wonder how poor homework completion due to procrastination can take its toll on me. The first thing my laziness hits directly is my grade. I got a big fat B for my English, or it might get even worse than B, which is not what I expected -or what I wanted. I have the embarrassment among my family that I haven’t been delivering the great things they expected from me. And all through my life, I will only have one set of family and one set of parents. How can I go back and try my life again? How can I do a “do over”? When I was a boy, we played games in the street, games with cans and bottle tops. Sometimes, I would make a very bad shot, a really bad shot that costs us the game. The other boys in the interest of having...

Words: 1011 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Procrastination and Perfectionism

...<Definition of Procrastination> - To voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay. - Put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done. - To postpone doing something, especially as a regular practice. Milgram (1991) <Four components of procrastination> - A behavior sequence of postponement - Resulting in a substandard behavioral product - Involving a task that is perceived by the procrastinator as being important to perform - Resulting in a state of emotional upset <Procrastination Vs. Being Lazy> (they are different) - Early authors on the subject (e.g., Augustine of Hippo) tend to association procrastination with sin - Lazy: unwillingness to use effort, energy or apathy - Procrastination: active process of avoidance (fear, uncertainty, feeling uncomfortable) energy, focus and effort are misdirected to other tasks/ activities <Procrastination – Who dose it? > - Procrastination is an almost universal affliction, one that occurs in almost every culture and is reported as early as 800 BC The Romans and ancient Egyptians both had trouble with procrastination - It affects 95% of the population (Ellis & Knaus, 1977) - and approximately 20% of those chronically (Harriott & Ferrari, 1996) - 95% of undergraduates report that they procrastinate (5% lie) Problem areas: writing papers, studying for tests, keeping up with readings <Myths and Challenges of Procrastination> Myth...

Words: 1683 - Pages: 7