Consequences of Wasting Time

For this week's Tech Assignment I decided to work on two anti-procrastination strategies. I used Admitting the Consequences and Time Wasters to analyze the reasons I procrastinate, and determine which tasks cause me to procrastinate the most.  I used the Admitting the Consequences strategy for CLS 105 and the Time Wasters Technique for all of my classes. With finals coming up after break I decided it was time to start decreasing the amount of time wasted through procrastination.

The Admitting the Consequences strategy (shown below) is great for finding out the consequences of procrastination. It requires you to list a task, and then state the consequence of not doing it on time. You then rate the consequence as negative, positive, or insignificant based on how if affects your life. I chose to write down two tasks from my Major/Career exploration project because I have been procrastinating on both. The first task, which was choosing the classes I wanted to take for spring semester has been put off because I'm not entirely sure what classes I want to take. I also tend to get lazy when it comes to choosing the classes and the consequence of these actions will be not getting the classes I will want to take. I rated this consequence as negative because not getting into classes that I want will only lower my motivation for those classes once the next semester arrives. The second task I listed was going to the career center to find information on potential internships. The consequences of putting this off would be missing out on opportunities, but I would also get a chance to gain more advice from my family. I could also see if any of my relatives could point me in the right direction if I put off going to the career center. Because there are pros and cons to putting off going to the career center, I rated the consequence as positive because if I put it off for a little while longer I can get all the information I know from family, allowing me to make a better decision with choosing an internship.

Admitting the Consequences

In addition to using the Admitting the Consequences strategy I also made use of the Time Wasters strategy (shown below). The Time Wasters strategy is one that is similar to the Admitting the Consequences strategy as they both require you to list tasks that cause you to procrastinate. However with the Time Wasters strategy you are required to write down specifically what you do when you procrastinate. This is done to see which tasks cause you to turn to those "time wasters." In my case I tend to waste time through social networking, watching movies on netfilx, or playing videogames with friends. Each of these time wasters were done when I had assignments which took over an hour to accomplish. I came to the conclusion that whenever I had a task that would take over an hour to accomplish I would put it off through the use of these time wasters.

Time Wasters

Knowing how I procrastinate and when I tend to procrastinate is very important as managing time and assignments are essential to making good study habits. Now that I know these things through the use of these strategies, I find it easier to avoid falling into the traps of procrastination. I would recommend these strategies to others because finding out how you procrastinate will make it much easier to avoid doing activities that waste time.