Jean O'Callaghan

What is Procrastination?

Procrastination has been defined as a trait or behavioural disposition to postpone or delay performing a task or making decisions ( Milgram, Mey-Tal, & Levison, 1998).
It comes from the Latin verb procrastinare, that means “putting forward until tomorrow”. Yet the perception of delay is personal to the individual, as it could be purposely planned or a wise strategy to avoid impulsivity. Procrastination can be distinguished from planning because the delay is not purposely chosen but instead postpones the implementation of what was planned (Van Eerde 2003).

We all procrastinate from time to time, but there are certain contexts in which delay can have serious consequences. In everyday life delaying a visit to the doctor, dentist, or not saving for retirement in time can have long-term serious consequences (Sirois, FM. et al 2003. Steel 2002)
In workplace settings a source of stress in working with others can be due to them offering excuses and not meeting deadlines. Although such behaviour may be procrastination, often workers will not admit to it, as it can be a source of shame in cultures that advocate timeliness and productivity.

Academic Procrastination:

Academic settings are considered an excellent context in which to research procrastination as students’ autonomous lifestyle means that they can do their coursework writing any time in order to meet long-term deadlines. Research to date has mainly focused on students in the United States and the findings report that procrastination can affect academic performance ( Tuckman,2002. Ferrari, 2001, Steel,et al. 2001), stress level (Tice et al 1997), and thus overall satisfaction of university life. Interestingly students who self-report as procrastinators are as intelligent as students who do not ( Van Eerde,2003 ) but often underachieve due to leaving complex tasks until the last minute.
Some students enjoy the challenge of the “last minute all-night stint” but as one progresses through academia, such rushed performances will not accomplish an extensive or complex piece of work such as an extended essay, a masters thesis or a PhD. Procrastinators thus become increasingly frustrated by their inability to control their own behaviour to start earlier so that their writing tasks are paced and enjoyed.

The Demands of Academic Writing:

Zimmerman & Bandura (1994) noted that academic writing presents special challenges for self-regulation. This is because writing activities are usually self-scheduled, performed alone, require creative effort sustained over long periods with all too frequent stretches of barren results and what is eventually produced must be repeatedly revised to fulfil personal standards of quality. They argue that this kind of complex activity requires perceived self-regulatory efficacy.

The “Start Write” Programme:

This programme has been especially designed to work with students. I am a psychologist and psychotherapist and I have worked with students in the RED centre in previous years. I am interested in developing short intervention programmes to facilitate students to become more aware of their own processes and implement changes to enable academic writing to be a productive and enjoyable experience.

What is offered to Roehampton students?

If you are a student at Roehampton and fulfil the following criteria:-

• you are able to write – you’ve produced work in the past.

• you are definitely motivated to do the degree you are doing.

• you are puzzled by your own process – in spite of “good intentions” you continue to leave your writing until the last minute.

• you are willing to honestly describe your experiences about your attempts to write and how you avoid or delay doing it.

• you are willing to try some cognitive strategies to address your procrastinating behaviour.

• Contact – Jean on 020 8392 3624 - from internal phone: 3624.

international Conference - 2005

The 4th biannual international conference will be held at Roehampton in July 2005.
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• Title: "Researching and counseling the procrastinator in academic and workplace settings"

• This conference will be of interest to psychologists, counsellors, workplace trainers and health professionals

• There will be a number of papers presented by the interational group of researchers who have a new book being published in 2004

• Papers are invited from Uk researchers or counsellors working with procrastinators in academic or workplace settings.

2004 Book

• Schouwenburg,H., Lay,C. Ferrari, J.R., & Pychyl, T. (Eds)Counseling the Procrastinator in Academic Settings American Psychological Association.