Procrastination Among College Students

...

Secondly, a long-term impact of procrastination has also been found in health. The Psychology Today’s study claimed that students procrastinating on a regular basis seem to contract more colds, influenzas and gastrointestinal diseases. Also, insomnia is another implicit problem that almost students frequently catch. Especially, students having a heavy coursework or an occupied schedule but setting them aside may feel the massive burden. What’s more, Hussain and Sultan (2010, p.1903) acknowledged that procrastination also generates detrimental consequences relating to improper social actions and attitudes namely addiction. Such matters increase disincentives and easily make university students engage in and addict to smoke, drink and take sleeping pills, which is a really harmful threat to health. The more they involve themselves in doing those deeds, the higher anxiety and depression become.

Additionally, procrastination can menace happiness. To illustrate, The Procrastination Research Group from Carleton University in Canada, carrying out an online survey with a view to discovering the real influence of procrastination on happiness, figured out its serious harm. Basing on the result, 2,700 replies to the question: “How much does procrastination impact on your happiness negatively?” were received. Interestingly, 46 percent admitted “pretty a little” or “very much”, while other 18 percent responded a “terribly negative impact” (Levin 2016).

With all the exhaustive research and studies, it can be concluded that procrastination seems to be students’ enemy because of its deleterious pervasion.

- Positive effects

As mentioned above, it will be indeed deficient if people just still acknowledge the bad side of procrastination and then deny its importance. In fact, procrastination is proved to induce several optimistic infuences.

Steve McClatchy, a famous speaker and entrepreneur, the author of the world-renowed book: Decide: Work smarter, Reduce Your Stress and Lead by Example – ranking second on the New York Times Bestsellers list and considered a New York Times Bestselling Business Book for February 2014, has given his ideas on this matter. His views are extensively accepted not only in America but also worldwide. According to Steve, there are four tacit advantages of procrastinating.

First, it generates a breakthrough of energy. Having been stated above, one of the typical reasons for students’ procrastination is the difficulty or the tediousness of the tasks. Students, thus, will immediately think that they do not have enough energy or motivation to do them. In this case, procrastination is considered a tool using fear to inspire and encourage. Provided that students are aware of the fact that a deadline is coming nearer and nearer, they will be fearful and anxious about the bad outcomes of not having the tasks done in time. Thereafter, it is the fear of a forthcoming deadline that releases hormone adrenaline which can generate noticeable strength and energy. That hormone, in turn, stimulates students and simultaneously helps them complete their tasks much easier. Specifically, procrastination “boosts inspiration, innovation and creativity” (Bairre 2013).

Second, keeping postponing and only starting to finish the task when procrastinators do not have much time will enable them to improve their concentration significantly. Since they are hasting to deadline, there is little likelihood that they will be distracted or abstracted from unimportant matters such as surfing the Internet, hanging out with friends, etc. Instead, they will pay all of their attention and totally focus on accomplishing the tasks.

Third, it is the shortage of time that allows students to accelerate their working speed incredibly. When students are conscious of not having much time available to finish their task, they will spare no efforts to have it completed faster. The task seems to be so boring and tiresome that students will attempt to spend the least time on.

Last but not least, procrastination also do help decrease students’ own initial expectations. At first, students may set their own standard about the quality of the task. However, delaying over the time, they are fearful about completing the prearranged task. Then, they have the tendency to finish the task as a way to cope with the deadline rather than concentrating on its quality. Should the quality be not as high as they expect, lack of time is to blame for that failure. The common sophism students use for not feeling guilty is: “Had I had more time, I could have accomplished it better. This, nevertheless, is the best product that I could do within that time limit”.

- What should be done to tackle procrastination?

Despite the fact that procrastination can bring to students numerous inevitable benefits as a useful strategy in study, none can deny the fact that the disadvantages of procrastination outweigh the advantages. Therefore, it is imperative for students to find out practical measures in order to remove this habit out of their lives.

Resurrecting students’ interest as well as pursuit should be the first thing to do seriously. According to a thorough study about students’ procrastination, Schraw, Wadkins and Olafson (2007, p.18) stated that a lot of students blame their procrastination behavior for the boredom and tediousness of the tasks for which they are responsible. He also believed that students delay their assignment in order to wait for a certain time when they are able to make it more stimulating and desirable. For this type of student, it is advisable that they should attempt to turn the tasks into more applicable.

Another method which is highly appreciated is that students had better make a detailed plan to divide a task into more frequent deadlines. Normally, students would prefer to give their priorities on tasks required to be finished sooner than others and then have a tendency to defer tasks given with longer deadline. Therefore, a meticulous plan is there to assist students in achieving several small goals gradually. In this case, no longer is task a burden itself; instead, it will be easy, simple and effortless.

Finally, in the fight against procrastination, it is suggested that students should be given incentives to select their efficient environments basing on their personal strengths. Immersing in the appealing and fascinating tasks certainly attracts students and encourages them to do their utmost. As a consequence, they set to work immediately, which means they avoid delaying their work; thus, they are more likely to engender their best product. Besides, predicting undesirable

...