Week 8-The End

1. As much as i wanted my behavior to change drastically, sadly i did not receive the results i was hoping for. Although i have become more organized with my work and scheduling when to do my work, i still haven't found a good enough motivation to completely stop procrastinating. Compared to my baseline behavior, i have improved in a couple of areas. Instead of doing my blogs in the honors room before class, i'm doing them before class (or at least the morning of). I start to read the book the night before class and complete the quizzes either the night before or well before class starts. I've noticed that my reasons for procrastinating have changed. Before, i would look at my load of work and think that it's too hard/complex to do, but i've noticed recently that i'm not "scared" to do my work. Instead i think that my work is easy, therefore i procrastinate. Recently for my geography class i had to do an article review and i completed it on schedule (kinda). I was able to jump right into it since i wasn't thinking of how hard it would be. Also, thinking of how i would feel once i completed it, as well as the sleep i would get served as motivation for me to finish.

2. The first time i tested my program, my positive punishment of going to buy something for myself didn't really work since i didn't have money to spend and i didn't have the urge to go shopping at the time. My negative punishment really did work. This past weekend i was miserable since i was not able to watch new moon with my friends, go to disneyland, or hang out with my boyfriend as much. If i continued with this program, i really believe that i would finally quit procrastinating since going out is a huge reward for me.

3. Although it wasn't the sole reason why i tried to stop procrastinating, it brought to my attention how badly i procrastinate. Everyday i would think, i shouldn't procrastinate, i should do my work, and on some days i would actually go to work. Knowing that i would have to publish my progress motivated me to keep going and actually try to improve my behavior. However, even though i would think "i need to start my work" without the punishment, i wouldn't have tried as hard to not procrastinate.

4. In order to make long-term changes i would probably have to ask another person to act as my authority to keep me in line. If i were to tell my mom to ground me whenever i don't follow my homework plan, i KNOW i would do everything in order to keep her impressed and stick to my plan. My mom is cool, but she knows that i procrastinate (i get it from her haha) and she would make sure that i do my work according to my schedule.

5. The most challenging aspect of this assignment was the start of changing my behavior. The first time you try and change anything with yourself it's always a challenge. The first week i acted on my program, i struggled, and the past week when i had a lot of work i struggled even more. The challenge was not to fall back on my laziness and get to work. It's so easy to fall back into bad habits.

6. The most important aspect of this assignment for me was the realization that if i really put my mind to changing my behavior, it's possible. There are so many websites that offer great advice, and they've really helped me. I would never try to stop procrastinating if it weren't for this assignment, and i'm glad i didn't go with the easy route (to stop cussing). When i would record my progress, i was able to see how well or how badly i was doing, and it opened my eyes to how bad of a problem procrastinating is for me.

Also, i liked this assignment because we were going through changes together as a class. Reading other people's plans and looking at their progress was very interesting, and it was nice that we were able to offer our own advice as well.

7. This assignment has enlightened me on how operant conditioning works on everyone. Some people work best when they receive a reward for their progress instead of a punishment for their lack of progress. Short term and long term punishment/benefits also play a key part in a person's motivation to change their behavior.

Even though my results didn't turn out like i wanted them to, this behavioral change blog has benefited me in so many ways. I will continue with my program and hopefully by the end of the winter intersession i will be free of my procrastination!

Happy holidays to everyone! Thanksgiving, christmas, new years! oh my goodness i'm so excited!!!!!