Unit 2: Time Traps

In Unit 1 you were asked to think about the two most important things you needed to do to improve your time management. Did they fall into one or more of the following?

To what extent do you fall into one or more of these time traps?

1. Procrastination

Procrastination is the avoidance of starting a task. For some, it can become a habitual way of responding to some, many, or most tasks. This can result from one or more of the following. Tick those that apply to you.

Other students around me are doing or saying things that appear to be more interesting. q

I struggle to make sense of a subject(s) that I find difficult, not engaging, or irrelevant. q

I am anxious about what is expected of me by tutors. q

I worry about failure: I would prefer to be viewed and judged by others as lacking in effort, rather than ability. q

My response to tasks can be affected by feelings ranging from depression, to ‘just not being in the mood’. q

I can sometimes feel overwhelmed or ‘frozen’ by all the tasks I face. q

I can experience boredom, or an aversion to some of the subjects I have to study. q

I am impulsive and easily swayed from one task to another. q

I under-estimate the time needed to complete tasks, so I put things off thinking I have more time than is really the case. q

I enjoy working under pressure and relish the buzz of working close to time limits. q

I do not like to be still or seated for too long. q

I have got into a habit of avoiding unpleasant tasks. q

I don’t like having my life dictated by the demands of others. q

Some students argue that they procrastinate strategically to spur themselves to produce creative work. But you need to be honest - do you really produce good work under pressure?

Or is this just a rationalisation of your behaviour? If you make this claim, can you prove it by comparing work written under pressurised and unpressurised time conditions?

If you ticked any of the procrastination boxes, write in the spaces in the grid that follows:

With regards to procrastination, the two things I would like to change the most are: / My own thoughts, at this stage, on how I might begin to change are:
1. 
2. 

2. Perfectionism

Most people want to do a good job and be rewarded by others for their efforts; this is healthy and normal. But flawed perfectionism is about a compulsive drive toward an impossible goal, and about measuring one’s own worth exclusively in terms of what you have accomplished.

The flawed perfectionist will beat themselves up emotionally for achieving less than perfect results. A less than perfect grade will cause them to fixate on a task and spend more time on it than is reasonable or necessary, whilst remaining oblivious to their own need to rest and keep their life in perspective.

This can result from one or more of the following. Tick those that apply to you.

I want or need to live up to other people’s standards. q

I want or need to live up to an unflawed image I have of myself. q

I am driven largely by work related goals and find it difficult to relax away from work tasks. q

I have built up a reputation as someone always hard-working and capable; I don’t want to do things that risk damaging this self-image. q

I have a real fear of being seen by others to make mistakes. q

I hate criticism and will strive unremittingly to avoid it. q

If you ticked any of the perfectionism boxes, write in the spaces in the grid that follows:

With regards to perfectionism, the two things I would like to change the most are: / My own thoughts, at this stage, on how I might begin to change are:
1. 
2. 

3. Poor Planning

Poor planning is about not thinking clearly enough about how long it might take to complete a task. This can result from one or more of the following. Tick those that apply to you.

I don’t have much sense of how long it takes to complete tasks. q

I come from a society, culture or family that is ‘relaxed’ about time. q

I find it difficult to prioritise tasks: to decide which is the most important. q

I often think I have more time at my disposal than I really have. q

I don’t have a lot of patience for planning; I prefer to just let things happen.

I don’t have much experience or practice in managing tasks for myself q

If you ticked any of the poor planning boxes, write in the spaces in the grid that follows:

With regards to poor planning, the two things I would like to change the most are: / My own thoughts, at this stage, on how I might begin to change are:
1.
2

End of unit 2.

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