The behavior I would like to modify is the level of my procrastination. Procrastination was the first thing that came to my mind as something that I wanted to try to change. I push majority of the things I have to do until the day before it is due, making excuses and thinking to myself that it can wait and does not have to be done now, or there are important things to do or that think to myself that I can do something else at the time. My goal is to eliminate or decrease the level of procrastinating. To begin I decided to make a to-do list or a planner of what things need to be done. Prioritizing from have to do it to would be great if I do it. Especially as a science major every time I decide to procrastinate meaning end up cramming the …show more content…
Rewards will be that if I do absolutely everything then I can watch a movie, McCafe/Starbucks or sweets or go to some activities on weekends. If I only meet my goals, then I get to spent on food (around a $10 budget per week), also an intrinsic reward such as being able to cross off everything that I did and not having to stress out the last minute or lose my sleep. The punisher was a time-out of my phone or any kind of technology, or if the week was a complete disaster then I have to buy my brothers food like chocolates or whatever they want within my budget, but I won’t be able to have any of it not even to taste. Both my rewards and punishments had its failure to begin with. It wasn’t immediate reinforcements which caused it to be lenient on myself. As of rewards during the thanks giving break week even though I didn’t did my to-do-list I watched two movies that week with my family and friends during the gatherings. Also, the reward about being able to buy myself sweets started to feel not so much rewarding since I had to spend money. On the other hand the punisher as in time out from technology was a success but buying my siblings wasn’t, because I ended up not doing …show more content…
Then I started conditioning (6 days), there wasn’t much progress at the start. I started with intrinsic reinforcements such as being able to cross off assignments, and feel happy about it. But it started going down by 1 or 2 tasks so I started using extrinsic reinforcement such as treating myself with McCafe the next day if I met my goal which helped it to increase it. I was able to meet my goals towards the end as of everyday and do some extra but couldn’t succeed 100%. For the next 5 days was my test trials. It started at the same pace I ended with the conditional trial. I was able to complete everything on my to do list for Tuesday (the day before thanksgiving break start), but it went downhill as the break started to almost not doing the important tasks. However, I was able to get back on track by Saturday. Even though I did missed many of the assignments I didn’t use the “buy my siblings food” punishment at the end of the weekend, but did use “time-out technology” which was an immediate punisher and was helpful. Some of the reasons why I felt the behavior was not successfully achieved was because of the problem itself procrastination. I started it barely two weeks before leaving me not enough time to adjust and do the experiment right, and choosing the wrong type of behavior for the timely
I am a procrastinator and I have been ever since I was a child, which I am sure many others have been as well. As a child, I would put off my work mainly because I did not want to do and wanted to occupy myself with something else, rather than to sit there and actually do the work. When this happened, of course, the work would either be done in the morning, at night, or it would not be done at all. In his article, “The 5 Most Common Reasons We Procrastinate,” written for Psychology Today, Shahram Heshmat (2016), “The lack of imposed direction that’s become common in the workplace might contribute to the increase in procrastination” (para. 4). This is something that was more prevalent in my freshmen year of high
Setting a timer can also help because you get to work on it for a minute, then come back at it after 60 seconds. Breaking down tasks into smaller amounts will help you with having to overwhelm yourself with so much. Sometimes you can even help yourself by simply giving treats after a task or being able to know that you can use social media after getting done with the work/task. Also, telling yourself that no one is perfect can actually help with failure because you will think less of trying to be perfect. Then you will actually try to do your task because you won’t be afraid of failure. Since procrastinators tend to say that the tasks are boring you can have a twist, and try to play a game to see how many of the task you can get done in such amount of time. It’s a good method for those who say the task are boring and they lack motive. Stop thinking about other things and focus on what needs to be done. Keeping track of the assignments that are due, and knowing which ones you have to finish first, and working along the way to get all of them done. Timing yourself in an assignment will actually make you want to do it because you got a certain amount time to get things done. Motivating yourself for 5 minutes
3:30 A.M. finds me in front of a glowing computer screen yet again. I’m waiting for inspiration. My friends, kind enough to let me use their dorm room and their Macintosh, are asleep in their beds just feet away in the half-darkness, reaping the rewards of their wisdom: they haven’t waited until the night before like I have. I take swigs of Mountain Dew from a plastic mug; it’s the sweet nectar of the Gods of Last-Minute Paper Writing. No, make that bittersweet nectar -- the taste of sugary green goodness reminds me, with every swallow, that I’ve sentenced myself to another unnecessary all-nighter. I have few ideas and even less time…
Out of positive reinforcement and punishment only the reinforcement was successful for my behaviour modification. I believe this was the case for a number of reasons but dominantly because the positive punishment had a lack of severity. The reason I came to this conclusion was because I realized in the case of positive reinforcement if I committed the operant response at least once my entire day of hard work would be ruined. When I made the switch to positive punishment I realized in the eventuality I performed the operant response I could just do the 50 push ups and be done with it. Upon comparison of my success and failure I reflected and realized if the punishment was more severe than 50 push ups I would not do it for actual fear and reluctance of doing the positive punishment. For example if the punishment was a 1000 push ups each repeated operant response I would most likely not bite my nails. I did enjoy the modified behaviour as my nails seemed fuller and less scarred but it was not long of an experiment enough so refraining from biting my nails was still a conscious action and took a lot of effort.
On any given day, my time regardless of how planned it is by making lists can be thrown off track due to usually a sick child/pet. No matter how hard I try, I know my kids will get sick and they will expect me to take care of. Since I cannot usually control when that will happen, it’s important that I take advantage of what I can control, such looking ahead at assignments that will need my attention to plan adequate time to complete assignments a head of time, instead of waiting till the last minute. When I know what to expect I can make plans. Another
The behavior I would like to change is the management of chronic stress. Chronic stress is a precursor for most health problems in today’s society. If we look at the start of most health problems, we can likely trace it back to chronic stress. Chronic stress releases levels of cortisol higher than normal. Cortisol is a hormone released from someone with chronic stress, which can which can negatively affect the body’s ability to function.
In the first draft of this essay, I had a basic outline of my topic. The essay served as more of a “how-to” than a creative non-fiction piece. I was simply giving people tips on how to avoid procrastination. For my second draft of this essay, I tried to create more of a creative non-fiction piece. Therefore, I wrote two other pieces of writing that described my experiences with procrastination. One piece, was about how I gave into procrastination. The other piece was about how I avoided it and was proud of what I accomplished. However, I didn’t feel that the three separate pieces of writing fit into one essay. I was switching between first and second person, the times of the scenes were different, and the pieces of writing did not fit together to create a cohesive story. For my third draft of the essay, I decided integrate elements of my three pieces of writing into the story about how I avoided procrastination. I did so by describing scenes where I was about to procrastinate, but overcame the temptation. By consolidating my pieces of writing into one story, the essay was cohesive. Also, the essay was more of a creative non-fiction piece. For my fourth and final draft, I added more imagery, metaphors, and dialogue to make the story more interesting and realistic.
Most people are fully aware of the dates the work is due, but most of us get the impression that we have a lot a time before we need to start working on it. So we set it aside to do later and then before we know it, it is too late. The first step to help avoid procrastination is to have a planner. Having a planner will allow you to keep track of all your assignments and their due dates. This way, you will know that you have to finish each assignment by a certain date.
My target behavior was to increase my punctualness/timeliness to early morning activities such as work; class and other scheduled events by altering my sleeping and wake habits. I wanted to shorten the time it takes me to wake up and get ready for such activities. I realized that the action of me waking up in the mornings has several competing behaviors that restrict me from achieving my target behavior. I think that it is very important to be on time for one's morning activities, especially if one has an obligation, this is why I chose this to be my subject of study.
The one behavior that I really want to focus on is my need to over analyze and over think. Of all my flaws I know that this is the one holding me back the most because I tend to talk myself out of things I would actually like to do. It’s also the reason a lot of things haven’t gone, my way in the past either. I’m always trying to protect my family’s name and tending to their happiness rather than my own. It’s stressful and quite frankly, annoying.
How can procrastination lead to students getting bad grades? Procrastination can lead to getting bad grades in any of one’s classes. Procrastination is not only a problem, but a problem that needs to be resolved. One used to procrastinate so much to where one’s grades would began to fall. The more one kept procrastinating, the more one’s grades would continue to fall. Procrastination is not a good thing to play with. There are solutions that can help prevent students from procrastinating.
For many people, they claim that the reason they aren’t doing the task is the lack of motivation. So, in order to solve the complication, is to reward yourself when the task is accomplished. By implementing this belief in order to stop procrastination, I set rewards for myself in order to attain. For example, every time I finish a section for my math class, I rewarded myself by watching Youtube, scrolling through social media, etc. By prohibiting the temptation of going on the internet, it made me finish the task quickly. As a result, being successful in accomplishing the task, compared to endeavoring a punishment due to my lackluster of performance when attaining a goal. Stated by Amelia Earhart, ”The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own
Another effective way to break the habit entails the application of another phenomenon of instrumental conditioning: positive-practice overcorrection. Going back to the example of the major project, after the act of cramming for it in order to decrease the chances of me repeating the same behavior, I would have to redo the whole project again but this time while managing my time wisely and following a strict schedule of work in order to finish the project. This is clearly exaggerated, but I learn through this exaggeration.
I'll Think Of A Title Tomorrow. Staying up until the late hours of the night, scurrying to finish the assignment due by sunrise. Cursing everyone, and their mothers, for not having enough time to complete the work necessary. Trucking through the assignment without a single iota of care or sense of quality control. These symptoms all fall under one diagnosis: procrastination.
Sanson, A., Montgomery, B., Gault, U., Gridley, H., & Thomson, D. (1996). Punishment and behaviour change: An Australian Psychology Society position paper. Australian Psychologist, 31, 157-165.