It's Sunday night--you're sitting with your laptop, aimlessly scrolling through Twitter, while you should be studying for that history test you have first period tomorrow. You begin to question how you even got in this position; what happened to your plans Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, or even a few hours ago to study? How could you have ever come to the decision that watching five hours of Friends was more important than the Great Depression? Well,
new books by Dr. Gino, a psychology professor at Harvard, and the
Heath brothers, who work at Stanford and Duke, explain how we end up in these situations.
We may not consciously be making these decisions, but there are underlying unconscious reasons that fuel these choices. According to Gino, we are constantly bombarded with "irrational" factors that change our mindsets. The example she gives is adding extra items to your Amazon shopping cart just to get free shipping. Then, once the object gets delivered, it gets tossed in the back of a drawer to be found on a later date. This has happened to me multiple times, before realizing what I ordered cost me more than the price of shipping.
Maybe the reason we find ourselves wondering what was going through our minds when we decided to not study, or make any other decision that strays from our original objective, is because it was not a conscious choice, but instead a choice made behind the scenes. As we read in
Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, we make unconscious decisions all the time, affected by the priming and other "irrational factors." Additionally, having too many decisions to make seems to be a pitfall for many, especially for those who (like IHA girls) do not even have time to think a certain decision through. Too many influences can fall prey to outside influences, and biological science backs this. As teenagers, our frontal lobes are still developing, and we weigh the immediate benefits of a choice more than the risk that comes with it. So maybe that's why sitting and watching just one more episode of Friends is more appealing than getting up getting our history textbook--we forget that later we'll be in the same position as every Sunday night, wondering where the weekend went.
Emotions also come into play, and we'll blame a current choice without acknowledging how we were feeling when we made that decision. When you have a bad workout, you may blame it on the fact that you went at the wrong time or you were too sore--but you fail to acknowledge that you were in a bad mood when you go there because of a fight you had with your sister before leaving. This same kind of thinking can come into play when we make decisions, and we blame the choices on external factors instead of the true culprit: our emotions.
So if you've been extremely productive each consecutive Sunday and cannot relate to the first example, think to any other decision you've made that's had you wonder, "
What was I thinking?!" Can you trace back that choice to how you were feeling at that moment, or other factors that could have unconsciously influenced you? Or do you think there is a conscious aspect to this seemingly irrational decision making?
I've definitely had a few of those nights myself. Too often, I only think about the immediate gratification of my actions instead of the long term benefits or consequences. I push off homework to go out with friends, I avoid cleaning my room to do that homework I should have done the night before,and then I am unable to do what I want to because I have to finish tidying up my dirty room.
ReplyDeleteWhile this does tend to happen often, I noticed that it occurs some times more than others. If I know I really need to get work done, I will consciously make myself do it. It's the homework that I can "get away with not doing" or "finish in homeroom tomorrow" that I tend to avoid in those situations. I believe that this subconscious telling us to avoid making concrete decisions works more often when we aren't positive that something needs to get done. If we question its importance, our mind will believe that it's less important than enjoying something pleasurable for a while. If we can convince ourselves that unnecessary work is a priority, then our conscious won't get in the way as much of our work getting finished.
Unfortunately, I can relate to the first example Cristina wrote in her post. I often find myself planning to study or finish my homework at a certain time, then once it's time to begin, I get distracted or am just not as motivated to follow through with my original plans. I've noticed this trend over the past few years, however, it didn't really become a problem for me until I got to IHA, which is probably due to the fact that the work here is, of course, harder and more demanding than the work assigned in middle school. I agree with what Cristina wrote about realizing that, ultimately, you are going to have to do the work sometime, and I often forget that fact when I make the spontaneous decision to watch TV or go on Twitter instead of finishing studying. I've realized that it's better to "work now and play later" because I know that I feel so much more relaxed and accomplished when I know that I've already finished my work and have nothing else to worry about.
ReplyDeleteIt takes a great deal of motivation and focus to avoid procrastinating because of the "irrational factors" that your unconscious may present. By having the correct mindset and understanding that the hours spent doing homework are inevitable, we can work to overcome these unconscious influences and begin to think more rationally by weighing in the risks and consequences that may erupt as a result of procrastination.
I can definitely relate to the example of stressed Sunday nights with piles of homework that I could have finished earlier. I do this almost every Sunday, and yet, I never change my habits. This is not the best work ethic to have, but I've learned to make it work. Out of all of my subjects however, English is the worst one by far. No matter the length of the paper or the importance, I always end up writing it the night before it's due. I know I would save myself a stressed, sleepless night, however I continue to do this time after time. In a way, the pressure to get it done on time makes me write better, with less unnecessary "filler." I hate the stress that my procrastination creates, however it does force me to sit down and get it done because there are consequences if I don't. I think this is the reason why we subconsciously choose to push off work. We know that we have the choice to do it now, but that we have to do it later or we'll get into trouble or get a bad grade.
ReplyDeleteI have definitely had some of these nights, actually make that weekends. I always plan to distribute my homework though out the weekend but somehow Sunday night comes along and it’s still not even started. Going back though my though process of putting off my homework I realized I will make any excuse to put it off even if I planned to do it. Friday’s excuse is always I’ve had school all day I’ll just do a little more work tomorrow. Then Saturday plans come up and I just decide to dedicate all of Sunday to doing homework. Sunday comes and I don’t want to get out of bed let alone do homework and then it’s all pushed to Sunday night. There is an ongoing trend of procrastination and excuses. I agree with the article’s point that we will face consequences later to have a little bit of instant gratification. When I am putting off everything, I don’t think of the reality that I will eventually have to do it. I do things to make me happy in the moment and subconsciously put off my problems.
ReplyDeleteEvery IHA girl undoubtedly has experienced the Sunday night madness before returning back to school on Monday. Perhaps an even better example of this "what was I thinking?" moment is coming back to school after a vacation. Every year at the end of Christmas break, I find myself asking, "where did the time go?" Not only that, but I usually also end up asking myself why I didn't do things sooner and I come to regret leaving it to the last minute. At the beginning of break I usually take on an ambitious attitude of trying to get everything done early on so that I can enjoy my break. While that sounds like a fantastic idea, I have yet to ever actually follow through with it. After two weeks off every year and plenty of chances to have done my work, I find myself doing it all the night before school starts. Along the lines of what Cristina said with watching an episode of Friends as being more appealing than doing our work, I have come to realize that the reason I seem to procrastinate my work for so long is that more enjoyable activities or ideas pop up along the way. It seems that every time I sit down to do my homework, a friend calls inviting me out to dinner or a movie. Who would honestly turn down a fun night out with friends to stay home and do homework? Especially at IHA where fun really only exists on Friday and Saturdays, we can't seem to say "no" to a little fun and relaxation when we get the chance. However, down the line, this usually leads to regret. "Did I really have to go out Friday AND Saturday?" I usually find myself saying as I'm up until midnight on a Sunday night doing everything last minute. While, in the moment, I enjoyed what I was doing and felt that it'd be worth procrastinating my homework a little longer for, in the end, I realize that the consequences outweigh all of the weekend festivities. I come back into school on Monday already feeling stressed and exhausted and the jovial weekend activities are a distant memory and are erased by my last-minute Sunday night chaotic cram session. I am certainly guilty of procrastination.
ReplyDeleteI definitely relate to Cristina and everyone else who posted. I think we've all had those nights where we procrastinate and wait until the very last minute until we actually start our work. I get distracted pretty easily, and I usually end up saving most of my homework until Sunday night even though it would have been much easier to evenly distribute the work I had throughout the weekend.
ReplyDeleteI've also noticed that this trend of procrastination has been increasing as my Senior year progresses. I find that I wait until even as late as Monday morning to fit in some last minute assignments that I should have done over the weekend. I get frustrated with myself and ask myself "What was I thinking?" I think that some of this has to do with the senior mentality of "I'm going to college". I think that the state of mind a person is in while they have assignments to complete influences their motivation to complete those assignments. Someone who is only half way through high school will have more motivation to complete their assignments ahead of time or on time than a senior in high school only a few months away from graduation.
I also feel that the length or importance of the assignment also has a lot to do with how much a student procrastinates. If I have a small assignment, such as completing some problems for Math or a small reading for History, I am less inclined to complete it ahead of time than a paper for English or a project for Psych. However, if I have a lot of big assignments that are due the same day that I need to complete, I feel intimidated and stressed, and ironically enough, I end up procrastinating more to avoid enduring the stressful process of completing all of my assignments. Regardless of these circumstances, I think it's important to keep in mind the consequences that can occur if assignments are not completed on time. As long as I keep that in mind, I usually garner the motivation to get out of my procrastination funk and complete my work.
I notice myself falling into this trap far too often. I tell myself I can watch just one more episode, or wait just another ten minutes before starting an assignment. Then, when the time finally comes for me to do it, I continue to push it off. I wait and wait until I have to do it at the last minute in the morning. I think part of this is because I keep telling myself I have more time. If I go to start my homework at 4, I question why when I have so much time left in the night. I always think I would rather do what I want now and do what I have to later.
ReplyDeleteLike Stephanie said, I feel like the habit has gotten worse this year. I find myself minimalizing the importance of assignment and therefore the amount of time I need to spend on them. The less important I think something is, the less likely I am to do it sooner. When I come home from a long day at school, I just want to relax and put the stress out of my mind for a little while. But so many times, I put it off too long and end up even more stressed from all the work I have to do at a late hour because of my procrastinating. I think it is important for me to remember that work earlier can be quicker and more well done, as well as less stressful.