Sunday, November 30, 2008

Idiots Guide to My Life (source: Wiki)

Procrastination is a type of behavior which is characterized by deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Psychologists often cite procrastination as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision. [1] Psychology researchers also have three criteria they use to categorize procrastination. They believe that procrastination must be counterproductive, needless, and delaying.[2]

For an individual, procrastination may result in stress, a sense of guilt, the loss of personal productivity, the creation of crisis and the disapproval of others for not fulfilling one's responsibilities or commitments. These combined feelings can promote further procrastination. While it is normal for people to procrastinate to some degree, it becomes a problem when it impedes normal functioning. Chronic procrastination may be a sign of an underlying psychological or physiological disorder.

The word itself comes from the Latin word procrastinatus: pro- (forward) and crastinus (of tomorrow). The term's first known appearance was in Edward Hall's The Union of the Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre and York, first published sometime before 1548.[3] The sermon reflected procrastination's connection at the time to task avoidance or delay, volition or will, and sin.


Academic procrastination

While academic procrastination is not a special type of procrastination, procrastination is thought to be particularly prevalent in the academic setting, where students are required to meet deadlines for assignments and tests in an environment full of events and activities which compete for the students' time and attention. More specifically, a 1992 study showed that "52% of surveyed students indicated having a moderate to high need for help concerning procrastination"[7].

Some students struggle with procrastination due to a lack of time management or study skills, stress, or feeling overwhelmed with their work

Student syndrome refers to the phenomenon that many students will begin to fully apply themselves to a task only just before a deadline. This leads to wasting any buffers built into individual task duration estimates.

The term originated in Eliyahu M. Goldratt's novel-style book Critical Chain. The principle is also addressed in Agile Software Development.

For example, if a group of students goes to a professor and asks for an extension to a deadline, they will usually defend their request by noting how much better their project will be if they are given more time to work on it; they request this with the intent to distribute their work time across the remainder of the time until the deadline. In reality, however, most students will have other tasks or events that place demands on their time. They will often end up close to the same situation they started with, wishing they had more time as the new delayed deadline approaches.

This same behaviour is seen in businesses; in project and task estimating, a time- or resource-buffer is applied to the task to allow for overrun or other scheduling problems. However, with student syndrome the latest possible start of tasks causes the buffer for any given task to be wasted beforehand, rather than kept in reserve. Like students, many workers do not complete assignments early, but wait until the last minute before starting, often having to rush to submit their assignment minutes before the deadline. A similar phenomenon is seen every year in the United States and Mexico when personal tax returns are due, as large numbers of people queue until their post office closes, in order to get their tax return postmarked.


Types of procrastinators

The relaxed type

The relaxed type of procrastinators view their responsibilities negatively and avoid them by directing energy into other tasks. It is common, for example, for relaxed type procrastinating children to abandon schoolwork but not their social lives. Students often see projects as a whole rather than breaking them into smaller parts. This type of procrastination is a form of denial or cover-up; therefore, typically no help is being sought. Furthermore, they are also unable to defer gratification. The procrastinator avoids situations that would cause displeasure, indulging instead in more enjoyable activities. In Freudian terms, such procrastinators refuse to renounce the pleasure principle, instead sacrificing the reality principle. They may not appear to be worried about work and deadlines, but this is simply an evasion.[8]

The tense-afraid type

The tense-afraid type of procrastinator usually feels overwhelmed with pressure, unrealistic about time, uncertain about goals and many other negative feelings. Feeling that they lack the ability or focus to successfully complete their work, they tell themselves that they need to unwind and relax, that it's better to take it easy for the afternoon, for example, and start afresh in the morning. They usually have grandiose plans that aren't realistic. Their 'relaxing' is often temporary and ineffective, and leads to even more stress as time runs out, deadlines approach and the person feels increasingly guilty and apprehensive. This behavior becomes a cycle of failure and delay, as plans and goals are put off, penciled into the following day or week in the diary again and again. It can also have a debilitating effect on their personal lives and relationships. Since they are uncertain about their goals, they often feel awkward with people who appear confident and goal-oriented, which can lead to depression. Tense-afraid procrastinators often withdraw from social life, avoiding contact even with close friends.[8]

Stigma and misunderstanding

Procrastinators often have great difficulty in seeking help, or finding an understanding source of support, due to the stigma and profound misunderstanding surrounding extreme forms of procrastination. The problem is often mischaracterised simply as laziness, a lack of willpower, or lack of ambition.[citation needed]

Monday, November 24, 2008

22.11.08

I’m supposed to be writing my essay for the upcoming English exam which contributes to 30% of the school mark going towards the final HSC mark. If I don’t attempt this test, my mark is capped to 85%. Considering my English skills, my mark is capped to about 60%. In plain English (note the pun! hehe), If I don’t put some effort in this essay, I’m screwed.

But the words are not flowing out of my fingers. All I see is facebook photos of year 12 formals and forwards from people I never talk to. By the way, some of the formal photos left me gaping for a while. The tall and nerdy Alex and annoying Danijela actually look like, um, ‘grow-ups’. I can imagine Alex studying literature in Sydney Uni, passionately talking about some old book he dug up two days ago; or strumming a guitar, wearing those daggy clothes that all musicians seem to wear. I can also totally imagine the skinny, annoying Danijela in a dinner table, looking like someone from TV. I can’t believe these people are only a year above me!

And I can’t believe I’d see two new countries in two weeks time!

A lot of things are happening in (or around) my life right now.

1. Our house is getting painted by the men in our family. They want to paint the bathroom the same colour as the kitchen.

2. My first exams for the final year of my schooling life start in seven days.

3. I helped a friend with a huge decision. This makes me feel like I have a say in someone’s life. It feels great. :D

4. We’re packing many suitcases for our journey to three, possibly four, countries. (The rest of the family is; I’m usually just sitting with a book in front of me. No, I don’t study 24/7. But I’m getting quite good at pretending to study 24/7!)

5. Life is wonderful when God makes you feel like you’re in control of parts of it.

This blog is so dead I don’t even know why I write here any more. I remember ‘those days’... the days when Flynn and Ashes and Daggers and Snowy and Doe and Peach and Nira (occasionally her two sisters too) were still alive. Daggers was in year 12, just like me now. Flynn, Emu and Hijabi Princess were younger. Ashes and Nira actually talked to us. We had long and reflective discussions about marriages and weddings, which none of us knew about back then, and wondered about the unknown life. Everyone was so full of dreams and hopes that nothing seemed impossible.

24.11.08 - I feel like something bad is going to happen any moment now because life is just too perfect right now. Perfection is not reality.

p.s: I'm really looking forward to 11th December 08.

p.p.s: Our bathroom isn't the same colour as the kitchen. Now its pink. Its better than olive, because that colour reminds me of olives, and then food. I'd rather not, not in the bathroom!

p.p.p.s: I've finished a third of my essay!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Shine.

You can give your life, you can lose your soul
You can bang your head or you can drown in a hole
Nothing lasts forever, but you can try
Look around you
Everyone you see, everyone you know is gonna
shine

You say that you never had a moment and nobody needs you
So cry, so cry
You believe that life rolls by just to deceive you
By your time, by your time
You’re getting old
And the longer you take, the slower your pain will grow
It will grow, it will grow
You can close you eyes
And hope that when you open them you’ve got a brand new life

You can give your life, you can lose your soul
You can bang your head or you can drown in a hole
Nothing lasts forever, but you can try
Look around you…
Everyone you see, everyone you know is gonna
Shine
(Don't, don't, don't, don't you do it)
(Don't, don't, don't, don't you do it)
Shine
(You can try)

Grow up and make the best of what you’ve got
Of what you’ve got
The days are going by and you’re sittin’ on your arse
And you’re wondering why, why, why, yeah

You can give your life or you can lose your soul
You can bang your head or you can drown in a hole
Nothing lasts forever, but you can try
Look around you…
Everyone you see, everyone you know is gonna
Shine

You say that you’ve never had a moment and nobody needs you
So cry, so cry
You believe that life rolls by just to deceive you
By your time, by your time
You’re getting old
And the longer you take the slower your pain will grow
It’ll grow, it’ll grow
You can close you eyes
And hope that when you open them you’ve got a brand new life

You can give your life or you can lose your soul
You can bang your head or you can drown in a hole
Nothing lasts forever, but you can try
Look around you
Everyone you see, everyone you know is gonna
Shine

(Don't, don't, don't, don't you do it)
(Don't, don't, don't, don't you do it)

You can bang your head or you can drown in a hole
Nothing lasts forever, but you can try
Look around you
Everyone you see, everyone you know is gonna
Shine

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Live, please?

I know you'll be here. And yes, I was there, even though you thought no one could find you there. Don't hide from life, don't run away, and it will give something to you. You worry about your age, but it is nothing compared to the world. Billions and billions of years old - but it is still getting damaged by people. Who cares if others want to damage you? Please don't damage yourself!
I also know you would rather listen to famous, reliable people, rather than my advice. I picked out some for you, hope you like it.
Hope you would give your life another chance.

“Enjoy life. There's plenty of time to be dead.”
Unknown

“Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once.”
Lillian Dickson

“Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.”
Henry Van Dyke

“We all carry around so much pain in our hearts. Love and pain and beauty. They all seem to go together like one little tidy confusing package. It's a messy business, life. It's hard to figure - full of surprises. Some good. Some bad.”
Henry Bromel

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
Unknown

“Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.”
William James

“The fear of life is the favorite disease of the 20th century.”
William Lyon Phelps
(please don't conform!)

"He is able who thinks he is able."
Buddha

“Competence, like truth, beauty, and contact lenses, is in the eye of the beholder.”
Laurence J. Peter

And this are snippets of lyrics from some of my favourite songs.

"Youth is like diamonds in the sun,
And diamonds are forever,
So many adventures couldn't happened today,
So many songs that we forgot to play,
So many dreams swimming out in the blue,
Let them come true"

"Find your mirror go and look inside
And see the talent you always hide
Don't go kidd yourself well not today
Satisfaction's not to far away"

"But if we hide ourselves away
Afraid to grow and learn
We might wake up in the flames
Of the ignorance that burns
And we’ll never be much more
Than only casualties of war
In a struggle we can’t win
If we have no faith to begin
We’ve got to tip the lid
And let some sunlight in
Cause the world is not a box"

You can't take your life away. You'll be wasting a brain, a heart and a soul. None of these are yours.