Monday 27 August 2012

Procrastination

An interesting and timely article on BBC's website - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19389707 - concerning procrastination.

Timely because I feel like I am failing to get through my to do list in any great speed but I have watched a lot of DVD's and read a lot of comics in the last few days.

Often though I find I procrastinate more if I am disinterested in a task. Or an essay. Or some marking.

The only way I find to get through the procrastination stage is to roll with it. To try and get into the tasks again and again but to appreciate that if my heart isn't in something it might be best to do very little than a lot which is rubbish.

I speak from experience having rewritten my undergraduate dissertation repeatedly!

One of the best pieces of advice I was given was from one of my friends when I was doing my undergraduate degree. He said 'if you mind isn't on it, don't bother, do something else'.

To that I would add the caveat 'but make sure it gets done well!'

And that is the whole problem isn't it, where some people take procrastination to a point where it costs them finishing a task. Surely that is where the problem comes.

Or in the case of most of my students doing a task in a poor manner.

Anyways I have just realised spending 20 mins thinking about how to write this - plus the 10 mins to read the BBC article is another 30 minutes where I could have been writing lesson plans!

But that's how procrastination goes I suppose...

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