Sick of staying up late?...Then don’t procrastinate!

I have always been a procrastinator. I certainly am not a chronic procrastinator, but I do tend to put things off until the last minute. My level of procrastination depends on the assignment and how busy I am that week. I tend to have this cycle that I always repeat. This cycle includes waiting until the last minute, which is usually about 2 a.m. then I begin my homework which leaves me tired the next day, so I take a nap before I begin my work and I click the snooze bar many times and end up starting my work at 2 a.m. the next day also! I procrastinate in every class. I always feel that I cannot complete my assignemtns when I am tired and I sometimes try but end up falling asleep while doing them. I do procrastinate on everything but I always finish my work, therefore I spend some pretty late nights.

Since we have already discussed chunking the task and 10-minute technique, I decided to try a new technique.

I chose to use the Rewards method.

How do you use it?

Choose homework assignments that need to be completed then make a reward for when they are completed. This motivates people considering the reward is desired, It makes the goal seem more achievable, especially when it is split into steps with separate rewards. The reward must be something that you only allow yourself to have if you complete the task, otherwise the method is not working.

How did I use it?

I went to the library three nights in a row to complete two assignments. I used this to write my Phi 107 paper and to write my Human Sexuality (CFS 388) paper which were both due on Thursday. I made a chart and separated my chart into days and the assignments into small chunks and once each was completed I listed a reward that I would do before going back to the next portions of my assignments. I color coordinated the chart to show which class is which. I made charts because I am a visual learner and prefer to see things in this way.

How did I choose my rewards?

I use coffee to keep me focused and I love coffee, therefore it was a legitimate reward choice that I placed early in my evening so it would be desired as well as helpful for the rest of the evening. I go to the library with friends so I try not to get distracted by them, so I set aside some reward time for my friends, as well as the infamous distraction-Facebook! I also enjoy listening to my ipod, so my motivation to complete the entire assignment is to walk home listening to it.

Procrastination

Procrastination is a huge problem that most people have. When you are trying to avoid doing something you will procrastinate and do other tasks first to put off the assignment. The strategy I used to help me with my procrastination was time wasters. I chose this skill because I am a Kinesthetic learner and I was able to make a chart and see what I had to do. This can also work for visual learners.

Time wasters is a way to look at what yo

ur time waster is and the task you are avoiding so you can draw conclusions about what things are making you waste your time. You can use this for any assignment in any course.

I used time wasters for my WGS 203 project and studying for my ECN 203 quiz. What I did was make a chart that on the left column said Time Waster and on the right column said Avoided Task(s). I then went through and wrote out all of the time wasters for my WGS project like going on facebook, talking on the phone, and watching TV. In the next column under Avoided Task I listed out reading the WGS article, typing the essay, studying for econ. I then tried to draw conclusions and realized the reason I was not completing my WGS project was because I was not sure what to do and was not fully clear on the directions. For ECN I realized I was not studying because I was anxious about the qui

z and did not know where to start.

This helped me realize why I was procrastinating and made me take the necessary steps to do the work. I isolated myself from the things that were distracting me and got the help necessary to complete these tasks.

Time wasters is a great strategy for everyone who has problems with procrastination because it will help you get your work done!

Stop making tomorrow the busiest day of the week.

Procrastination gets the best of us. It is all about consequences and becomes a habit. For example, last semester I would put off studying for my History exams until the night/morning of. Though you may think this would prove to be bad news for me, I would often receive an A or a B on the exam. Because I was happy with my grade, I didn't feel like there were any consequences to what I was doing and my 'last minute cram sesh' seemed to work for me. Why would I change?
Then I realized that I hadn't tried it the other way. You know....actually studying. So I decided to try it out.
I have to take about 2 or 3 quizzes on the computer in my Math 121 class. Studying for these quizzes would have been incredibly time consuming if it wasn't for the 10 minute technique. With the 1o minute technique, I broke up how long I would study for the quiz and set up a time I would actually take the exam on iCALANDER on my computer. I set up a series of ten minutes where I would study a section of my notes/book and then spend ten minutes on taking the exam. Within the ten minutes I would knock out a few of the quiz questions. I got to a question where I wasn't sure what I was doing so I took a small break and watched an episode of a TV show I enjoy. After the episode, I finished reviewing the chapter in about 7 minutes. This gave me the perfect amount of time to use the next ten minutes to finish the quiz. I feel that this technique really helped me. I am a Kinesthetic and Visual Learner so drawing up a study schedule really helped me focus and stick to a plan.
Chunking the Task is probably my favorite Anti-Procrastination method. It literally prevents you from procrastination if done correctly. In my religion class (REL 206), there is always a reading assignment for the week. I feel that sometimes I become overwhelmed. When I learned how to "chunk" my tasks, it all became easier. I started separating the amount of pages I would read in a certain setting. Monday night i would read 4 pages, tuseday I would read 4 pages and then wednsday night I would read the last 6 pages and write the one page paper I have to write every week. Breaking my assignment down made it so much easier to get my work done by a certain time.
Both of these strategies work great for people who are tying to get out of their habits of procrastinating.

Try it now....not later.

Motivation!

Academic Fears was a strategy I looked at to help me with motivation. The reason I am either motivated or un-motivated usually comes from fearing the outcome of an assignment. By looking at my academic fears, the outcomes and what I needed to do it helped me get motivated and know what I had to do in order to succeed.

What I did to complete this was look at my math and econ materials. I had test in both of them and needed to get motivated to study for each. I filled out the chart of my academic fears for math which were not understanding the concepts and failing or doing poorly on the exam. The worst outcome for both of these would be getting a bad grade on this test and it hurting my overall grade for the course. The best outcome would be understanding the material to use in the future and doing well on the exam to help my grade and do well. I decided that the action needed to be done was that I would go through all of my lecture notes very carefully, go in for office hours, read the textbook and spend a considerable amount of time doing practice problems. I decided this because all of these things would help me understand the material helping me doing well on the test, accomplishing both of my fears. This got me motivated to start to take these steps on. I day by day did each task by going over each chapter one by one and spending time practicing. I also went into office hours and asked questions and cleared up material I was confused about. This helped me a lot and I went into the test feeling confident.

I also did this for my ECN 203 quiz. My fears for this quiz were similar to my math test. I feared that I would not understand the concepts which were important for not only this test but for the final and doing poorly on this quiz. My worst outcome would be that I did badly on this quiz. The best outcome would be that I understood everything and did well on the quiz. The action that I needed to take in order to accomplish this was to go over the terms day by day and use strategies like LINKS to help me learn these definitions. Once again I was very motivated to get my best outcome possible so I followed the actions I planned out and felt confident going into my quiz at the end of the week.

I think that this is a great strategy for a visual and kinesthetic learner like myself. It lets you write out everything so you have a visual aid to help you know what you need to do in order to do well. This can work in any class with any type of assignment because it helps you get motivated to see what you can really accomplish. I think there are only positives to this strategy and I am going to use it in the future when I need a push to start and do assignments.

Don't wait, Motivate!

MOTIVATION
What about college is motivating?
You're paying over 50,000 dollars a year to be here, you might as well make the most out of your opportunities at school.
Many students do not prioritize doing work and are lazy and unmotivated to achieve good grades in college.
Some students have the attitude that, if they're going to graduate anyways, what is the point of stressing and working hard. College is supposed to be fun.
Other students, take advantage of the privilege of being at school and work their hardest no matter what scenario.

There are two types of motivators in college:
External Motivator VS. Internal Motivator

External Motivation derives from something that is a consequence of doing well outside of how you feel about your achievements.
For example: People are motivated to achieve good grades, because they will be awarded with an achievement of praise from someone else.
Internal Motivation stems from anything that makes a subject feel good about themselves by accomplishing their work or doing well in school.
For example: A student might feel great happiness by doing well on an exam, regardless of what others think or say about the achievement.

My Motivation:
I am almost solely motivated by one goal I have for the school year: to get into Newhouse.
I came to Syracuse with the intentions and dreams of transferring into Newhouse at the end of my Freshman year. To be in Newhouse has been a dream of mine ever since I started thinking about applying to colleges. I have a great passion for filmmaking and plan to, one day, pursue it as my career. I know I will get a wonderful education in Newhouse that will prepare me for a job hopefully in my near future.
Therefore, my motivation stems from the grades I earn in class. Unfortunately, Newhouse acceptance only considers your G.P.A. and nothing else. The only factors they take when admitting students to their school as transfers are what your grade point average was at the end of your Freshman year.
I have challenged myself enough this school year with classes that I thought I would find useful and interesting, but I know that I will not hold back and prioritize thinking just about grades next year when I, G-d willing, am in Newhouse...

I am a Kinesthetic Learner, therefore I prefer to use graphic organizers to see how well my grades will come out IF I achieve a certain grade on a paper or exam. I always anticipate what I will achieve so I know exactly what to expect in my future.

I have specifically motivated myself for two classes individually:
Religion 101 firstly, I am strongly motivated because I find the class to actually be very interesting, and I would be disappointed with myself if I did not achieve as good a grade as I have wanted to for this whole semester. My teacher is very nice and I respect him enough to show that I really care about the class and the taught subject. I am internally motivated to do well for my own self approval.
The other class where I try to motivate myself a lot is CLS 105. This class gives you exactly what you take away from it. I have put enough effort into the assignments that I actually have learned a lot from it already. My motivation to do well in CLS is so that I can actually benefit from its teachings. CLS, in turn, will hopefully also help me raise my GPA in that class and in my others also.

I have never really been pressured to do well in school from my parents, my motivation has always really stemmed from my own awareness and ambition. I am, therefore, almost only internally motivated, not externally. My external motivation is getting into Newhouse.
Because my motivation comes from my GPA, I worry about it constantly. I work my hardest in my classes, but often get overwhelmed with all my work and discouraged when I fail to perform as well as I would have wanted to on a given assignment.
MYSLICE has a great feature: the "GPA Calculator."
You can plug in your already achieved grades and average out your estimated GPA's for your remaining classes of the school year. The system then automatically calculates your total GPA for the year.

I found this 'ultimatum' strategy very helpful. It's almost as if I am threatening myself to do well or else, I will not get into Newhouse or learn things I would never have otherwise...I am always motivated to do well in my classes because of the eventual goal of getting into Newhouse next year.

I have attached pictures to show how IF I achieve the grades I think I am deserving, then what I hope my final GPA will succeed a 3.65 in order to get into Newhouse next year.

BEFORE:


AFTER:

I'm Pretty Much a Motivational Speaker

Motivation. That is one powerful thing. Motivation is the fuel that runs our engines. Without it we would stop moving, roll on our backs and let life pass by. Luckily, motivation is found in practically everybody. In order to look inward and see if you are motivated, you have to think about what motivates you. Motivators can be defined as External or Internal. External motivators are the things that someone else is controlling like your teacher giving you a grade. Internal motivators are more self controlled like the feeling of satisfaction or accomplishment.
Motivation is complicated because it never stays the same. think about the beginning of the semester. I'm sure just like me, you were highly motivated to get killer grades and read all the section your teacher assigns but we quickly lose steam and become less motivated when feeling overwhelmed with work.
I prefer to have a certain goal or reward waiting for me to keep me motivated. It's like tying a carrot to a string an hanging it in front of a horse to go faster. Except in my case the carrot is me transferring into Newhouse which requires a high GPA. This goal has kept me highly motivated throughout the past semester and a half.
Academic fears can be found in unmotivated students who are consumed with fear that sprouts from a specific event like handing in a late assignment or missing too many classes.

My Motivation:
All of my classes are different and with that, my level of motivation in each class is different. They are all motivated by the same goal (to get an A) but with different intensities. I think most of the time it depends on my interest in the material. I have no problems with CFS 388 or ETS 145 because the classes are very interesting to me so I have no problem paying attention. My other classes like REL 206 and MAT 121 require an extra dose of motivation because I have more trouble caring about the material. For some reason, binomial distributions don't really spark my interest as much as watching a movie in ETS 145 does. Lack of motivation can be caused by boredom or lack of interest. Having a good goal can save you from slacking on your motivation. I'm talking about exploring rewards. I had to find a reward powerful enough to motivate me through the stuff I didn't want to do. Making a list of possible rewards can motivate you to get more things done. That's what I did. I feel writing down your goals and putting them a place you look often can make you more and more motivated.
I suggest you all to try it.

Motivation!

Motivation!

What motivates you? What makes you put in the effort to achieve things?

I have never really had much trouble trying to motivate myself to do school work. I am quite lazy and sometimes would prefer to sit on my bed and watch television, but I am sure that this could be said for many people. I may not spend an excessive amount of time on assignments, but I will never skip assignments intentionally or simply not prepare for an exam. I consider myself to be a highly motivated student. I am process-driven in the aspects of organization and study preparation, optimistic, and persistent. I am not too much of a risk taker and I do put in a valid effort to the standards of my ability.

What is an external motivator? It is something other than yourself that motives you.

What is an internal motivator? A motivation that gives you a sense of accomplishment. It would be doing a task for your own personal gain.

What can cause motivation? A consequence or a reward is a good reason to have motivation. If something is very undesirable, most people would give their best effort to be sure it does not happen. For example, I would fail my math class if I don’t get an A on the next exam, the consequence would be my motivation. A reward would be when I was young I got 5 dollars per A on my report card. The reward would be 5 dollars. If someone desires a result, they will usually make sure that it is reached. Simple things can cause such motivation, which causes some to try much harder in school and life.

When I was younger I got good grades because my parents wanted me to and I would get restricted from fun activities if my grades were poor, so I have always found them to be important. I am personally motivated to attend college because I am hoping to pursue a goal for knowledge. I have not chosen a major yet, but I desire to gain as much knowledge as I can about my area of study and help others with the knowledge that I have. I am motivated for internal as well as external reasons. My motivation is simply reward, which could be determined in the future as a goal. I plan to work in either the social sciences, psychology or business. I hope to be able to help others with my work so my motivation is the people’s lives that I can affect and help.

I am motivated for different reasons in each of my classes. Some classes my motivation is to attain a high average, fulfill requirements, personal happiness and to pass a required class. In CLS 105 I am trying to use this class to teach me the skills to raise the grades in my other classes, as well as to get a good grade in the class in order to raise my GPA. I would like a high GPA to be able to get into any major that I desire without difficulty. For CFS 388, I am interested in this area of study so my motivation is to see if this class is something I would be interested in pursuing, which is an internal motivation. MAT 222 is my hardest class and I am doing terribly. I need to pass this class with a decent grade so that I won’t haveto retake it, in hopes of keeping my GPA from being pulled down. I strongly dislike PHI 107, so I will use this to keep my grades up for my GPA and fulfill a requirement. REL 120 is interested but is also motivated by keeping my GPA up at this point. Ski Team is one of my PED classes which I enjoy and I only use it for personal satisfaction. I don’t necessarily desire to be the best skier on the team, but I do enjoy the sport. I am motivated to get a good grade by simply having fun! I am very motivated in my schoolwork and can find many reasons to be motivated for any task.