Are You Setting Yourself Up to Procrastinate?

Are You Setting Yourself Up to Procrastinate? Are You Setting Yourself Up to Procrastinate? \”How can I stop procrastinating?\” This is by far the most frequent question that I get from graduate students and professors. As a dissertation and tenure coach, I’ve come to realize that everyone in academia, whether writing a dissertation, completing an article, or http://commuterage.com/information-you-should-know-about-your-iphone/ doing research, struggles with procrastination. Why is this so prevalent in such a well-educated, intelligent population? You\’ve Got the Wrong Attitude Your belief system is what may be standing in the way. Most academics cling to the belief that they must set aside large chunks of time, do a lot

of preparation, and be in the proper frame of mind to be able to write. What this means is that when you finally sit down to write, it\’s going to be an unpleasant marathon. You have placed such importance on this writing session that you feel anxiety about it living up to your expectations. And you know it\’s going to be difficult. After all, there are thorny issues you haven\’t addressed, articles you haven\’t read or reread, and a lack of coherence to your thinking. You need to solve those problems. And if you don\’t do it now you\’ll be

quite disappointed in yourself. How unpleasant! And how counterproductive! What Should You Believe Instead? Or \”Oh, The Irony!\” Research by Robert Boyce actually shows that first and second-year professors who participated in a study on writing productivity were able to turn out more publishable pages in a year by · Writing 30 minutes a day · Only writing on workdays · Shoehorning that writing into small gaps in their busy schedules The difficult part, it turns out, was convincing these professors to try this low-key method in the first place. Ironically, they all insisted that the only way to

get real work done was to do it in the marathon way that I described above. The second irony was that when Boyce actually measured the amount that they were writing per week (before the intervention,) it was less than 30 minutes per week! This was much less than their retrospective reports of how much time they had been spending writing. The third irony was that those who most adhered to the idea that you must write in large doses were the least productive. The fourth irony was that although these professors considered writing a private activity, they did best

when they were accountable to someone for maintaining their 30-minute writing habit. Do It Already! So what\’s stopping you from learning from these professors and writing a small amount each day? Here are typical excuses: · It\’s just not rewarding writing in small amounts. I feel like I\’ve gotten nothing accomplished. · I have a big issue to work out. It will take more time than 30 minutes. · http://fukushimatimeline.com/iphone-more-than-just-a-cell-phone/ I feel guilty if I don\’t work more each time.

Are You Setting Yourself Up to Procrastinate?