Workshop helps students overcome procrastination habit

From hanging out with friends to spending time on Facebook to playing video games, students put off doing their homework for a variety of reasons. But there are ways to get out of the habit of procrastination before it's too late, said Charity Krouse, a graduate student and teacher of X150: Managing Resources for Learning. \nKrouse guided about 30 students on how to avoid procrastination in a workshop Thursday at the Briscoe Academic Support Center. As participants introduced themselves, many gave reasons why they procrastinate.\n"I play football, and I am always tired. Always," said freshman Jarrod Smith, who is an offensive lineman on the IU football team. "I play video games a lot, too, watch TV and try to talk to friends from home. Oh, and Facebook is always a problem."\nFreshman Emilia Whited agreed that the Internet, specifically sites such as Facebook, has caused her to procrastinate. "I am probably on (the Internet) two to three hours during the course of the day when I have almost four to five hours of homework," Whited said.\nOther popular distractions students cited were partying and hanging out with friends. \nAs the workshop proceeded, all participants received a worksheet designed to help them find a deeper reason why they procrastinated. Possible culprits for procrastination outlined during the activity included fear of certain assignments, feeling overwhelmed or facing too much stress to tackle their work. Other reasons ranged from time-management problems to lacking the skills needed to do the assignment.\nAfter reading a story about a student whose roommate often procrastinated, participants described the advice they would give, then made a personalized plan to avoid procrastinating and solve the issue for themselves.\nKrouse said the first step is simply recognizing the problem. The second step is to break the inertia, or start one productive task that can carry over to the next one, Krouse said.\n"Procrastination even plagues me," Krouse said. "Overall, I think procrastination is prevalent and problematic in schools of all sizes and grade levels."\nKrouse also suggested that students take her class, X150, for more help in managing their learning skills.\n"We teach a variety of study skills as well as critical learning skills," she said. "Much of the information is the same as the workshops but more much in-depth about time management and procrastination."\nKathryn Brown, a health educator at the IU Health Center, said students should try breaking down large projects into step-by-step processes and planning for extra time to accomplish goals. Developing such study habits will ultimately reduce stress, Brown said.\n"I definitely think stress and procrastination are related because it almost is a circular pattern. If a student tends to procrastinate, he or she will get behind in school work and, as a result of that, can become stressed," Brown said. "On the other hand, a student who is already stressed from being homesick or not liking school will probably not want to do homework and turn into a procrastinator"