A SUCCESS HINDERING HABIT WE ALL NEED TO STOP

This is something students do a whole lot. You know what, it not just students its every one. We all are guilty of this act. This may be because its the easiest decision or because we apparently, work better under pressure. Yeah, with that last statement, I am guessing you all know what this article is about. And yes, you guessed right. Its PROCRASTINATION.  Procrastinating is "putting off intentionally the doing of something that should be done".

WHY PEOPLE PROCRASTINATE

People procrastinate for different reasons. But I am only going to be elaborating on the common ones. So read on to find out why we procrastinate, the effects it has on us and how to stop this success tapping act.

Lack of Interest

A lack of interest plays a vital role on procrastination. Say there is an assignment or a task at the office assigned to you to be delivered on a specific day and it so happens that you have got little or zero interest in that module or task, the lack of interest would cause you to fish out for all the reasons as to why that assignment/task cannot be done "at the moment". At the end, we find ourselves in a last minute .com situation. 

Lack of Motivation

It so happens that some people are not self motivated. They actually need that extra push from someone before they can get something done. This category of people would leave things until the last minute as well as saying "there is time, there is time". And result, no time at all. Again, find themselves in a last minute .com situation

And the most common excuse:

I WORK BEST UNDER PRESSURE! Yeah don't we all hear that a lot, especially from students? These group of people have convinced themselves so much that they now even believe that they actually do their best work under pressure. I personally call that pure laziness. And no, students cannot possibly get a 3000 words assignment done in the span of two days. Remember there is research involved. Research that has to be from credible sources (newspapers, journals, textbooks, etc). This is a lot for a student to get done in just two days. By the time these are all left till the last minute, the work tends to be rushed with little time to do an in debt research or deliver the best work that they could have. So yeah, you might work faster under pressure but certainly not better.

THE EFFECTS PROCRASTINATION HAS ON US. 

Procrastination has more damaging effect on us than we care to realise. If you are a procrastinator I would advise that you be careful. Procrastinating is a success sucking habit, makes you lose loads of opportunities and denies you the ability of being your best self. When we procrastinate, the quality of the task done is usually poor. This is because we have accumulated a lot of work and chosen to rush through it at the very last minute and overwork the brain. So we end up not caring about the content but the finish product.

"Procrastinators earned lower grades than other students and reported higher cumulative amounts of stress and illness. True procrastinators didn’t just finish their work later — the quality of it suffered, as did their own well-being."

 Eric Jaffe 

When you procrastinate, you think you are saving time but in reality, you are actually wasting more time. I bet you can imagine how much time have been wasted every time you put off doing something. The saying, "time waits for no man" is word. When we as students procrastinate, we end up "over-learning" because we have wasted and misused the time we had. "Over-learning" is when we just learn the facts of things just because we have to know them for an exam and forget everything the week after. In secondary school, my teachers referred to it as "La cram, La pour, La forget". Which is not exactly the best way to study or go through school.

Not only does this habit cause you to "over-learn", it also encourages plagiarism. You know, copying and pasting from other sources and not acknowledging the writers. You can easily see how procrastinating can make you do this. I have a couple of friends at uni who usually leave their work till last minute with the illusion of "I work best under pressure" and they usually end up with not so great grades and a high percentage of plagiarism. This is obviously due to the fact that they had less time to review the materials, make sense of what the authors are saying, make their own notes, paraphrase and reference properly.

HOW I OVERCOME PROCRASTINATING. 

One and the most important step of overcoming procrastinating is to accept the fact that you procrastinate. Being in denial is the worst thing that could ever happen because you fail to see that you procrastinate which leads to you not trying to overcome or sort out solutions on how to stop the habit.

Secondly, I give myself a deadline for everything I do. Normally, assignments have their own deadlines but I set my own deadline for about a week or so before the actual deadline and just train my brain to believe that is the actual deadline (sounds farcical but it works). By doing this, I don't keep telling myself "I have enough time" and then just leave the work. Instead, I do the work because in my head, the deadline is closer. 

Third and lastly, I reward myself for every task I finish. I put off watching movies, going out with friends to the movies or to eat until I actually meet my target. So when I meet the deadline I had set for myself, I reward myself by watching a new episode of a series I love, a new movie, go cinema, or go eat with my friends. Knowing that I get to do all of these or one of these when I get something done in time, I get motivated to do things now rather than later because the later I put off reaching my target, the later I get to do any of those things. So say a new episode of Games Of Throne is released, and the only way you can see it is if you get your assignment done right or meet a target. Would you rather start the assignment immediately or put it off till whenever? Yeah I thought so.

So yeah, a reward system is an amazing way to overcome procrastinating but you have to be true to yourself to get the most out of this technique.  

References
Procrastination: (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/procrastinate).
Image Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lack-interest-studies-sajjad-ali
Image Source: http://www.halogensoftware.com/blog/how-lack-of-motivation-is-killing-your-company
image source: https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/t/under-pressure-deadlines-workload-37904618.jpg

PUT THOSE PRESENTATION NERVES TO GOOD USE!

The one thing I have come to realise that students fear the most, is presentation. I know right! Basically, I started to give loads of presentation when I got into the university. I did get to give presentations in secondary school but not quite as much. A freshman at the time and the first week of uni, i found out that we were supposed to give a presentation the following week. i got so nervous not sure if i would be able to stand in front of all those people to deliver my work. I even went into class sometimes trying to picture everyone naked (as some people say it does work for them) but that did not work. The images popping up in my head were just wrong on so many different levels it would even make me forget my words during the actual presentation. So I came up with something else that could actually work for me and I have been using this technique ever since that first presentation and the results are amazing (my grades does the talking).  

To address this fear of presentation, I thought it would be nice to share with you all the few tips on how I get through it. 

1) Preparation

Ever heard the saying, "preparation is key"? Well yes it is. the only way you can gain the confidence to stand in front of a crowd to give a presentation is if you know exactly what you are going to be talking about. So practice your materials! I recommend that you practice with a friend(s). this way, you can get constructive criticism and then you would know what you are doing right and where improvement is needed.

2) Time yourself!

It can be quite daunting when you are asked by the lecturer to stop in the middle of your presentation because you have gone over the assigned time. It will be very helpful if you use a stopwatch (can easily be found in you phone) while practicing your presentation. 

3) Make sure PowerPoint is on point!

(boundless.com, 2015)

May seem weird but, having a great PowerPoint can help boost your confidence. When you stand in front of the class and you realise people are admiring your PowerPoint, you would be more confident saying what you need to say because you have gotten their attention. But note, it is easy to get carried away whilst designing the PowerPoint. So keep it simple (not too simple). Do not make it look too cluttered with words and pictures. And keep the colours down! you do not want it looking like a child's art work.

4) Arrive early! 

Yes, you read right! be early. This would help you have time to settle in before your presentation begins. Also, you would have enough time to double check your USB, plug it in and figure out how to set everything up. This will definitely put you at ease and calm those nerves.

5) Know you are the boss!

As you stand on that podium, tell yourself you are the boss, you hold the knowledge that they are all seeking and without you talking, they would never know.  

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I am not saying you would not feel nervous anymore. You will but the difference is that you would have control over the nervousness and know deep down that you are going to nail the presentation! I hope this helps you as it has helped me. And please share in the comment box bellow on your experience with these steps. If you have any other tips to contribute, please don't be shy to share them using the comment box bellow.

References 
image source: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/sites/teens/files/styles/article/public/istock_000017356076small.jpg?itok=renqm4vC
image source: https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/567ad04ce6183e55008b48a7-960-720/6-time-yourself.jpg
image source: https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--NkI0WuSp--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/jsutqh6ctvszpynj1uqc.jpg
image source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEila19x91F6nmajq70XNX8Qa5UYCHcroq2XSbiaa1VmWeVfmekhIE256GT0rUKsyQgaYkQMQpjfuXQhFyDpLzjk-ETReaGIochBME1YAPQSjLF6zWrnhkoFnTECi_ulT77FnN5FnPS3P8o/s1600/im-the-boss-f.png