6. Procrastination
Procrastination
Many of us have great intentions about how much study we'll do when it's really needed. Unfortunately, our future self often turns about to be as useless as our past self at working hard.
In this workshop we look at whey do we procrastinate things that we know are worth doing. Like it or hate it, there are distinct advantages to doing well in your Leaving Cert.
Tim Urban - Procrastination
There are countless books on overcoming procrastination but of the best authors I've come across is Tim Urban who writes the Wait but Why blog. He has written several entertaining but very informative essays on the topic. Our workshop is a simplified (and sanitized) version of Tim's work with a few things added.
You can read Tim's posts by clicking the links below.
Why procrastinators procrastinate
They were so good that he was invited to give a TED talk and you can watch that instead if you prefer.
Create a Study Group
One way to help beat procrastination that we explore is to set your self a mini-deadline (creating a Panic Monster if you've read the posts above) is to set up a study group. Some guidelines for this are:
Choose a group of 3-4 people
Plan to meet each week at a specific time
Choose a place where you can work undisturbed
Pick the subject you will be working on and agree any work that will be done beforehand
Examples of Study Group Activities - Spanish
Bring an example of the letter/postcard question to the group. Swap things around and give each other 2 stars (2 things they did well) and a wish (one thing they could improve on). Learn from the good things that others have done and help each other fix any mistakes.
Have a conversation in Spanish
Examples of Study Group Activities - Technical Graphics
Choose a long exam question to answer and all draw it together, discuss any problems as they arise and help each other solve it
Do a long question and bring it to the group, mark each others work and help each other with any problems
Each person picks a different short question topic, prepare notes on it and explain how to do it to the group