The Challenge of Procrastination
The Challenge of Procrastination
Procrastination has been a challenge that I have had to deal with for a large portion of my life. Ideally, this has translated to most parts of my life, as seen in my academics. I have always preferred to wait for the next time I will feel the pressure of doing a specific task before I can work on something. However, with procrastination comes regret. Arguably, working under too much pressure might be practical to some people, but it contributes to low-quality production as little time is invested in the activity. However, the concepts that have been brought up in the readings this semester can help deal with procrastination. Consequently, evaluating the application of brain rules and brainpower in classwork can shed more light on the matter.
Research shows that procrastination often results from the battle in the human brain between the cortex and the prefrontal cortex. This means that most of the time, the individual does not do procrastinate on purpose. The lectures throughout the semester enlightened me that engaging in physical exercises can effectively increase brainpower. Consequently, I began doing more in terms of practice to beat procrastination. Medina writes, “If all you do is walk several times a week, your brain will benefit. Even couch potatoes who fidget show increased benefit over those who do not fidget”. True to the arguments presented, there was a significant improvement in my need to complete a task so that I don’t have it lingering around me. Physical exercises have proven to be effective for me in particular, as they have created an opportunity for me to improve my grades. The challenge of procrastination has come up once, but I have managed to continue my fight against it.
I have mainly seen improvements in my math practice over the semester. Initially, all I could do was make a timetable where I would put the mathematics of every day’s calendar. However, when the time came to practise mathematics, I always found another thing that would take my time and prevent me from practising mathematics. This has reflected negatively on my grades and has become a bother to my parents and myself. Medina argues, “”If all you do is walk several times a week, your brain will benefit. Even couch potatoes who fidget show increased benefit over those who do not fidget”. After taking up physical exercises for a while, however, I have noticed that my mind is more alert, powerful and relaxed whenever I am doing mathematics, which has also enhanced my understanding. Procrastination is a challenge that many students and even adults face, yet many people have struggled to beat it. However, the people who have managed have mainly applied the use of brainpower and brain rules.
Physical exercise has several benefits for the human brain. A person does not have to do these exercises extensively; instead, they should exercise on a manageable scale. These physical activities improve your strength and bone formation and improve the immune system. It facilitates the fight against toxic substances in our body system and regulates our appetite changing the lipid profile in the body to reduce the risks of having cancer. Therefore, I incorporated exercise as part of my daily activity for eight hours to normalize my brain function, proving very effective. Additionally, sleep loss affects normal brain functions as much; when people are deprived of sleep, they fail in their ability to use their food consumption. This lows brain activities due to low glucose levels and increased production of body stress hormone. I considered this by ensuring that I got enough night’s rest every day and woke up fresh and ready for the daily tasks. Sleep becomes most effective in learning by disrupting my sleep at different stages and resting in the morning.
The application of brain rules has also been effective in solving the issue of procrastination. Once I had checked a concept or prompt and realized it was tough, I opted to do it later when my mind was calmer. The brain has specific patterns or rules that its operations follow to enhance memory development. Ideally, once a person has read or been instructed to do something for the first time, the brain will keep a memory. This means that every time this action occurs, the brain will have more thickness of the memory (Zhang, Shunmin, Liu, and Feng). With time, the brain will find it easy to act on this memory since the wall has thickened. Carey points out, “The connections between the cells, called synapses, thicken with repeated use, facilitating faster transmission of signals”. When it comes to procrastination, the brain rules can significantly change how everything operates. Ideally, the brain rule explains that once an instruction has been given or an instinct detected to act on something, a person should do it within the next five seconds. This will help avoid procrastination which happens when the brain begins leaning towards procrastination. After reading about brain rules, I decided to apply them in my academic work. Every time I had homework, all I could do was read the question and begin doing it within the next five seconds.
Conclusively, improving my performance academically has not been an easy task. However, I have managed to fight procrastination, which was my major undoing throughout the semester. After reading about brain rules and brainpower, I applied these issues to myself and noticed the changes. Ideally, the brain rule encourages operations towards an activity within the next five seconds. Otherwise, the brain shifts to procrastination. Physical exercises enhance brainpower. Each of these has effectively contributed to my success.
Carey, Benedict. How we learn: The surprising truth about when, where, and why it happens. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2015.
Medina, John J., and David Hanlon. 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School. Pear Press, 2009.
Zhang, Shunmin, Peiwei Liu, and Tingyong Feng. “To do it now or later: The cognitive mechanisms and neural substrates underlying procrastination.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science 10.4 (2019): e1492.