How to defeat bad work habits Written by Johanna Salu
An academic environment can be unforgiving for the casual procrastinator . On the one hand , work to be done abounds while on the other hand , the lack of direct oversight and clear deadlines may lead even the more diligent of us down the wormhole of procrastination .
It can be difficult to admit to yourself , not to mention to others , how much you procrastinate and this dynamic can easily lead to a familiar but false (!) perception that everyone but you is on top of their work . I ’ ve found that opening up about my own bad habits often elicits a relieved sigh from my conversation partner , followed by an eager enumeration of all the bad habits they wish that they could change . The apparent high prevalence of procrastination does not , of course , validate it as acceptable . However , this initial confession of sins can be cathartic . It can relieve one of feeling like an unusually weak-willed , lazy or unmotivated individual – a damning mindset which , like a self-fulfilling prophecy , can transform anyone into exactly that .
In addition to making one feel alone in their problems , concealing bad habits engenders reluctance and embarrassment towards implementing antiprocrastination tools and techniques . If willpower is enough to keep everyone else on the right track , why can ’ t I pull myself together and do the same ? Admitting that you need certain rules and limitations can feel like admitting defeat .
There is no use in entertaining the illusion that one would ( and should ) be able to overcome bad habits with determination alone . While it may seem infantilizing at first , employing a few simple rules and techniques to keep your irrational compulsions in check is a much more mature approach than ignoring the problem altogether . Here are a few techniques that I have employed at various times , as well as others that have been recommended to me by friends and colleagues .
16 | NEUROMAG | July 2018