Procrastinators Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from chronic procrastination.

Hi everyone! :)

Hi guys, 

I'm a first year graduate student whose battled with this issue ever since middle/high school. I mostly struggle with procrastination in homework, studying, and random daily tasks such as returning phone calls, cleaning, and even doing things I rather enjoy doing like sewing, cooking, laundry, etc. In grade school, I used to love getting ahead of my homework but ever since then, I seem to be too lazy to allow myself to be challenged by difficult reading assignments or papers that need to be written. I almost always turn in assignments on time; it's just that I wait until the absolute  last minute to do them. I just finished an important 1200word paper that I scrambled to write in the last 4 hours before the deadline even though I had all day to do it. Most of my stress and anxiety come from writing papers and I seem to thrive on the pressure of an approaching deadline. I turned in several of my applications to grad schools/teaching programs late even though they were my top priority. One of the programs outright wait-listed me because my materials were turned in a few minutes after the deadline.

I'm looking forward to getting to know other people with similar struggles and conquering this along with all of you! I'm also hoping to share some of my anti-procrastination tips and hoping to pick up a few good habits from joining this group as well :)

Cheers!

Yo

whats's up Miraville your story seems similar to mine except I'm a med student but otherwise I'd say we're matched. Well I'd say your story actually sounds more similar to how I was in undergrad and when I first started medical school (luckily I've leaned how to make some good improvements and replace a decent amount of my procrastination so there is hope for your my friend and the fact that you're here to work on your problem is good). I understand the pressure thing, but often times needing pressure to works means you aren't functional unless you're are under a good chunk of stress (this is unhealthy psychologically, and physiologically) chronic stress does a lot of bad things to your brain and body.

So what's my advice? Learn to dislike your present state seriously do so that's what I did. Is it fun to always be crunching deadlines, to have adrenaline pounding through you as you type and then freaking out about whether you will pass or make it because you've left a huge assignment till the last minute because you lacked discipline? I honestly find that most people actually don't like this place that is described as the "procrastinators high or rush" but more or less they are addicted to it or at least very dependent on it to work. And it works sure it get's the job done I got into medical school with such a demeanor, in fact you can do pretty good with this sort of tatic. Heck what do you think motivated our ancestors to run away from lions: a pressing stressor! But at what cost?

once you learn not to like this place, then you got to start to grow an appreciation and good feeling for doing things early. It feels nice when you finish early and you have time to do other things with no other pressing issues on your mind doesn't it? It feels good to finish something early then be able to revise and improve it with new observations you make and insights you obtain from your life. You see if you've been turning in papers last second throughout college then essentially you've been turning in your first draft everytime. And a first draft no matter how good is only a first draft in life it good to have time to let ideas bounce on you for some time and go back and revise. 

this is only the tip of the iceberg I'm glad you're here there is good stuff to be learned. 

:)

Hi, Icemountainguy, 

Thank you so, so much for your enlightening response. You definitely hit on an idea that I've never come across--all of my papers have been first drafts (and my grades have certainly reflected that I'm sad to say). I got a B- on the 4-hour paper that I mentioned in this post and I'm not proud of that by any means.  I have two more papers and a term paper so I'm incredibly thankful that I still have time to pull this up.

I'm going to read back on your post a couple of times just to reflect on your description of this horrible 'crunch time' that I keep putting myself through. A lot of what you're saying just makes very logical sense and I feel plain silly that I can't adhere to a non-stressful academic lifestyle. I have no reason not to! :) Anyway, thanks a lot!

better under pressure?

Well hi there Miravelle! I used to justify my procrastination on my homework (and now on my job) by saying "I'm able to get better results when I have to do stuff under pressure". But I realize I was just trying to sugar coat all that and it was one of those holes I keep digging myself in. I, too, usually get stressed over writing. Heck, I have a weekly report that I've been staring at for more than a day now and I haven't even started on it yet.

But the awareness we have of this problem is a step in the right direction. Our acceptance of having a problem allows us to believe there is hope to change. Slowly, but yes, it is still change.

Cheers!

Bojo 

Hi Bojo :)

Thanks for the welcome and for sharing your empathy. I hope you managed to get your weekly report completed :) Thanks again and take care!