Procrastination is a phenomenon in which people unnecessarily postpone fulfilling tasks. Procrastination may include, for example, spending time on social media instead of working on reports, taking too long breaks during the day, or postponing an important phone call. The phenomenon of procrastination is rather common; studies show that it regularly accounts for more than a quarter of many students’ working days, and about a half of college students say that it is permanent and problematic.
Procrastination seriously undermines human capacity to do necessary things in time, therefore the goal for resolving this problem is to help people reach their full potential achieving more in a given period of time. Apart from that, fight against procrastination aims at helping people move up a career ladder so that they do not fall behind with their tasks. Another goal is assisting in finding an optimal work-life balance so that people do not have to catch up with tasks in their free time. The results of problem solution lie in seizing opportunities and using them to accomplish more in a given period of time.
The boundaries of the problem encompass unwillingness to do certain tasks at a given period of time as well as daily interruptions that prevent people from completing what needs to be done. The problem largely deals with time management issue when people are unable to properly plan their actions and foresee the amount of time different actions will take. The limitation of procrastination problem encompass people’s inability not to be distracted by outside events such as phone calls, urgent massages and some others to fully concentrate on their work or studies. Indeed, the limitations were especially felt in a pandemic when people had to work or study from home and could not help being distracted by children, relatives or household needs.
The possible option for solving procrastination problem comprise changing surrounding to more work-oriented ones; breaking activities into smaller parts that can be managed in a relatively small amount of time without any distractions; making goals measurable and realistic in terms of the achieved progress (Van Eerde & Klingsieck, 2018). The advantage of changing surroundings is that new environment helps to eliminate many factors that distract a person from work or studies. The disadvantage is that this option is not always possible due to the specifics of a person’s work or studies. The advantage of breaking activities into parts lies in the fact that like this people see the goals as more achievable and are less likely to procrastinate over something that will not take much of their time. The disadvantage of this strategy is that some people have difficulty in setting down to a task, however small it is, and breaking tasks into pieces may enhance these difficulties. The merit of making goals measurable and realistic is that this strategy allows people to see what results they will get for achieving tasks they set. To additionally evaluate each option, information on a person’s priorities is needed as well as on the character of work and studies he or she does.
Out of the enumerated options, I believe breaking tasks in small portions will be the optimal one since it allows to see goals as achievable and motivates people to embrace portions of tasks willingly since they do not take much time. To act on the option I have chosen, a person will have to first of all consider what stages are necessary for the completion of a certain task; what are the the sequence of these stages and what time each stage is likely to take. Then the timetable of the completion of the stages should be drawn up so that a person works or studies according to a plan and finishes the task at a planned moment in the future.
References
Van Eerde, W., & Klingsieck, K. B. (2018). Overcoming procrastination? A meta-analysis of intervention studies. Educational Research Review, 25, 73-85. Web.