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What is Procrastination?

In a nutshell, you procrastinate when you put off things that you should be focusing on right now, usually in favor of doing something that is more enjoyable or that you’re more comfortable doing.

According to psychologist Professor Clarry Lay, a prominent writer on procrastination, procrastination occurs when there’s “a temporal gap between intended behavior and enacted behavior.” That is, procrastination is occurring when there’s a significant time period between when people intend to do a job, and when they actually do it.

How to overcome Procrastination:

Follow these steps to deal with and control procrastination:

Step 1: Recognize That You’re Procrastination:

If you’re honest with yourself, you probably know when you’re procrastinating. But to be sure, take our Are You a Procrastinator? self test.

Here are some useful indicators that will help you know when you’re procrastinating:

• Filling your day with low priority tasks from your To Do List.
• Reading e-mails several times without starting work on them or deciding what you’re going to do with them.
• Sitting down to start a high-priority task, and almost immediately going off to make a cup of coffee.
• Leaving an item on your To Do list for a long time, even though you know it’s important.
• Regularly saying “Yes” to unimportant tasks that others ask you to do, and filling your time with these instead of getting on with the important tasks already on your list.
• Waiting for the “right mood” or the “right time” to tackle the important task at hand.

Step 2: Work Out WHY You’re Procrastinating:

Why you procrastinate can depend on both you and the task. But it’s important to understand which of the two is relevant in a given situation, so that you can select the best approach for overcoming your reluctance to get going.

One reason for procrastination is that people find a particular job unpleasant, and try to avoid it because of that. Most jobs have unpleasant or boring aspects to them, and often the best way of dealing with these is to get them over and done with quickly, so that you can focus on the more enjoyable aspects of the job.

Another cause is that people are disorganized. Organized people manage to fend of the temptation to procrastinate, because they will have things like prioritized to-do lists and schedules which emphasize how important the piece work is, and identify precisely when it’s due. They’ll also have planned how long a task will take to do, and will have worked back from that point to identify when they need to get started in order to avoid it being late. Organized people are also better placed to avoid procrastination, because they know how to break the work down into manageable “next steps”.

Even if you’re organized, you can feel overwhelmed by the task. You may doubt that you have the skills or resources you think you need, so you seek comfort in doing tasks you know you’re capable of completing. Unfortunately, the big task isn’t going to go away – truly important tasks rarely do. You may also fear success as much as failure. For example, you may think that success will lead to you being swamped with more requests to do this type of task, or that you’ll be pushed to take on things that you feel are beyond you.

Surprisingly, perfectionists are often procrastinators, as they can tend to think “I don’t have the right skills or resources to do this perfectly now, so I won’t do it at all.”

One final major cause of procrastination is having underdeveloped decision-making skills. If you simply can’t decide what to do, you’re likely to put off taking action in case you do the wrong thing.

Step 3: Adopt Anti-Procrastination Strategies:

Procrastination is a habit – a deeply ingrained pattern of behavior. That means that you won’t just break it overnight. Habits only stop being habits when you have persistently stopped practising them, so use as many approaches as possible to maximize your chances of beating procrastination. Some tips will work better for some people than for others, and for some tasks than others. And, sometimes, you may simply need to try a fresh approach to beat the “procrastination peril”!

These general tips will help motivate you to get moving:

• Make up your own rewards. For example, promise yourself a piece of tasty flapjack at lunchtime if you’ve completed a certain task. And make sure you notice how good it feels to finish things!
• Ask someone else to check up on you. Peer pressure works! This is the principle behind slimming and other self-help groups, and it is widely recognized as a highly effective approach.
• Identify the unpleasant consequences of NOT doing the task.
• Work out the cost of your time to your employer. As your employers are paying you to do the things that they think are important, you’re not delivering value for money if you’re not doing those things. Shame yourself into getting going!
• Aim to “eat an elephant beetle” first thing, every day!

If you’re pocrastinating because you’re disorganized, here’s how to get organized!

• Keep a To-Do list so that you can’t “conveniently” forget about unpleasant or overwhelming tasks.
• Use an Urgent/Important Matrix to help prioritize your to-do list so that you can’t try to kid yourself that it would be acceptable to put off doing something on the grounds that it’s unimportant, or that you have many urgent things which ought to be done first when, in reality, you’re procrastinating.
• Become a master of scheduling and project planning, so that you know when to start those all-important projects.
• Set yourself time-bound goals: that way, you’ll have no time for procrastination!
• Focus on one task at a time.

Read more @ http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_96.htm

Take action quickly when “cracks” start to appear.

© iStockphoto/kulicki

A lot of research has been conducted into stress over the last hundred years. Some of the theories behind it are now settled and accepted; others are still being researched and debated. During this time, there seems to have been something approaching open warfare between competing theories and definitions: Views have been passionately held and aggressively defended.

What complicates this is that intuitively we all feel that we know what stress is, as it is something we have all experienced. A definition should therefore be obvious… except that it is not.

Definitions:

Hans Selye was one of the founding fathers of stress research. His view in 1956 was that “stress is not necessarily something bad – it all depends on how you take it. The stress of exhilarating, creative successful work is beneficial, while that of failure, humiliation or infection is detrimental.” Selye believed that the biochemical effects of stress would be experienced irrespective of whether the situation was positive or negative.

Since then, a great deal of further research has been conducted, and ideas have moved on. Stress is now viewed as a “bad thing”, with a range of harmful biochemical and long-term effects. These effects have rarely been observed in positive situations.

The most commonly accepted definition of stress (mainly attributed to Richard S Lazarus) is that stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that “demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.” In short, it’s what we feel when we think we’ve lost control of events.

This is the main definition used by this section of Mind Tools, although we also recognize that there is an intertwined instinctive stress response to unexpected events. The stress response inside us is therefore part instinct and part to do with the way we think.

Fight – or – Flight:

Some of the early research on stress (conducted by Walter Cannon in 1932) established the existence of the well-known “fight-or-flight” response. His work showed that when an organism experiences a shock orperceives a threat, it quickly releases hormones that help it to survive.

In humans, as in other animals, these hormones help us to run faster and fight harder. They increase heart rate and blood pressure, delivering more oxygen and blood sugar to power important muscles. They increase sweating in an effort to cool these muscles, and help them stay efficient. They divert blood away from the skin to the core of our bodies, reducing blood loss if we are damaged. As well as this, these hormones focus our attention on the threat, to the exclusion of everything else. All of this significantly improves our ability to survive life-threatening events.

Not only life-threatening events trigger this reaction: We experience it almost any time we come across something unexpected or something that frustrates our goals. When the threat is small, our response is small and we often do not notice it among the many other distractions of a stressful situation.

Unfortunately, this mobilization of the body for survival also has negative consequences. In this state, we are excitable, anxious, jumpy and irritable. This actually reduces our ability to work effectively with other people. With trembling and a pounding heart, we can find it difficult to execute precise, controlled skills. The intensity of our focus on survival interferes with our ability to make fine judgments by drawing information from many sources. We find ourselves more accident-prone and less able to make good decisions.

There are very few situations in modern working life where this response is useful. Most situations benefit from a calm, rational, controlled and socially sensitive approach.

In the short term, we need to keep this fight-or-flight response under control to be effective in our jobs. In the long term we need to keep it under control to avoid problems of poor health and burnout.

Introducing Stress Management:

There are very many proven skills that we can use to manage stress. These help us to remain calm and effective in high pressure situations, and help us avoid the problems of long term stress. In the rest of this section of Mind Tools, we look at some important techniques in each of these three groups.

This is a much-abridged excerpt from the ‘Understanding Stress and Stress Management’ module of the Mind Tools Stress Management Masterclass. As well as covering this material in more detail, it also discusses:

• Long-term stress: The General Adaptation Syndrome and Burnout.
• The Integrated Stress Response.
• Stress and Health.
• Stress and its Affect on the Way We Think.
• Pressure & Performance: Flow and the ‘Inverted-U’.

These sections give you a deeper understanding of stress, helping you to develop your own stress management strategies for handling unique circumstances. Click here to find out more about the Stress Management Masterclass.

Read more @ http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_00.htm

When picking a piece of property, it’s best to follow the flow of positive energy around it.

THOSE who design and build their properties following Vasthu Sastra principles can be assured of harmonious living because the Indian science of construction is result-oriented.

It’s vital to choose the right property based on compass direction and not on gut feelings, so that home owners can benefit from the flow of positive qi or energy.

Research has shown that challenges concerning finance, health, and relationships can be traced to the poor orientation of a person’s house. Several people who have reorganised the placement of things in their homes because they are experiencing problems, have reported improved benefits.

To help potential buyers choose an auspicious piece of property at The Star Property Fair 2011 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre today, I will focus on the dos and don’ts following Vasthu Sastra recommendations.

The surroundings

When choosing a house, go for a property that is built on flat land because land that is elevated or depressed can distort the flow of energy, depending on the direction the elevation or depression faces.

Go for a house that is built on a square or rectangular piece of land. Dismiss corner lots that have cut-outs or bulges in the plot because these make the land shape irregular.

Ensure there are roads on all four sides of the house or row of houses. Avoid purchasing a unit that is located at a T- or a Y-junction because they are inauspicious for living in.

Check the surroundings and avoid properties located close to a place of worship, graveyard or sewage water treatment plant. But having a lake, pond or river in the north-east of the housing site is auspicious.

Ask the developer for the compass direction of the house that you are interested in. Avoid purchasing a unit in which the main door or driveway is located in the south-west because that direction is unfavourable. Having an entrance there will bring financial burdens and health issues to the dwellers.

If you are looking for an apartment or condominium, choose one that is on the fifth floor or below so that you can still be connected to earth energy.

When buying a unit in a high-rise dwelling, ensure that the main door is not located in the south-west, and the toilet and bathroom are not in the south-west and north-east quadrants because it would not be possible to relocate them.

The interior

Don’t be overwhelmed by the facade or buildup of the house; instead, look at the placement of the facilities at the appropriate locations inside it.

When you look at the floor plan, check whether the kitchen is located in the auspicious south-east (fire corner) or north-west (air corner) of the house.

by T. Selva.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?col=vasthusastra&file=/2011/11/27/columnists/vasthusastra/9963258&sec=Vasthu%20Sastra

We all have our favorite authors … of course, most of mine write about teaching and learning. I read everything I can find written by my favorites and they remain favorites because their writing seldom disappoints. Peter J. Frederick, a history professor at Wabash College—he may be retired by now—is one of my favorite authors.

The first article of Peter’s I read has a great title, “The Dreaded Discussion: Ten Ways to Start.” I recently looked at the article again and most of his suggestions are just as good now as they were 30 years ago when the article was published. When you are as old as I am, you come to accept that there are few new things under the pedagogical sun and there is a certain agelessness about many good teaching ideas.

Yesterday, I found an article of Peter’s that I hadn’t read. It’s a brief reflections piece in which he shares four moments that occur regularly in his classroom, followed by four learning principles that support what’s happening during those moments. The paragraph describing those principles is a wonderfully succinct description of what we know about how students learn best.

“First, students learn best to the extent that they are actively involved with the material, in our case history, reading, interpreting, touching, listening to, feeling, role playing and manipulating it. Second, students learn best when they are confronted with a compelling human historical problem, decision, or personal question. It is best to put the problem into a larger context … that connects with problems, questions, and themes in their own lives. Third, learning occurs in a context of frequent and caring (or lovingly challenging) feedback and occasions for reflection, especially with others. Therefore, small groups. The fourth, and perhaps most important, principle is that every learner makes his or her own meaning by reworking prior learning and experiences in terms of new ones. This means we must find ways of connecting what’s already inside their heads with the concepts, ideas, themes, and yes, even the names, dates, and facts we want them to know.”

Peter uses four question sets to keep his instructional decision-making on track. Here is a sample question (or group of them) from each of those sets.

1. “What do we know about who our learners are and what’s inside of them?”
2. “In what ways can we make the historical questions and issues we deem most important connect to student lives and prior experiences, to their goals and aspirations, to their fears and hopes, or to what’s happening on campus that week, or in the news?”
3. “In a typical classroom day, who is doing the talking? Who is analyzing the primary source? Who is interpreting the passage, document, photograph, letter, chart, map, graph, video clip or artifact? Who is making the meaning, identifying recurring themes, sorting out multiple perspectives? Who is doing the synthesizing, the connecting with other cultures, eras, events and people? That is, who is doing the learning?”
4. “What are the four or five conceptual themes that inform our courses, upon which students can hang the myriad of facts?”

There’s nothing quite like a good question to encourage deep thinking and lead to answers we may not like but need to confront.

by Maryellen Weimer.

Read more @ http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/how-students-learn-thoughts-from-a-favorite-author/

Quizzes are standard in many college classrooms, and determining how to best use this learning format generates a variety of discussion and suggestions. I, too, continue to search for ways to inspire the often dull quiz routine. In an effort to bring new strategies to the classroom and keep student engagement high, I have recently discovered a successful strategy that encourages a sense of community in class, offers students an opportunity to engage in collaborative learning, and motivates students to come to class prepared. Let me explain how it works.

First, the chalkboard or whiteboard in the classroom becomes what I call a “community space.” Two students are selected to use the space. They have three minutes at the beginning of class, before the quiz, to write anything from the materials assigned for that day on the board. I use a random process to select the students who write on the board. I allow students to decline the offer to participate, but I do not select alternates if one, or both students, decide not to write on that day.

Whatever information is put up on the board can be used by the rest of the class on the quiz. The students who write on the board are allowed to talk with one another; often, they begin by quickly planning what they will place on the board and who will cover what information. The other students in the class may not talk or consult their notes or the book during the three minutes when their classmates are placing information in the community space. As the course progresses, students start being able to anticipate the kind of information I will be asking for on the quiz, and that’s what they write in the community space. Most pairs tend to use the last 15-30 seconds of time to check each other’s work and to add missing information.

When I first introduced this idea to the class, there were some reservations, especially about my being “fair” when selecting the students. Here’s what we decided I would do: I call on one student and ask that student to designate a number.

by Audrey Deterding, PhD.

Read more @ http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/a-new-kind-of-space-for-quizzes/

With the number of non-traditional students growing, many educators have discovered that adult learners are fundamentally different than their younger counterparts in many ways. Yet, most instructors have been left to their own devices to figure out how best to reach these students who come to class with an entirely different set of challenges, demands and expectations, and generally at a much different level of maturity.

How can instructors better accommodate and encourage adult student success in a classroom setting? Here are a number of ways to create a better environment for adult learners, no matter what the subject material.

• Treat them like the adults they are. Adult learners are generally more sophisticated and experienced than their younger counterparts and they benefit from realistic examples of skills they can use in “real life.” “Adult learners will be empowered as they discover they have a great deal to teach their younger classmates, and the dynamic is mutually beneficial,” said Thomas Lisack, an instructor at Rasmussen College in Wausau, WI. Lisack recommends incorporating intergenerational discussions on issues that otherwise have a generational divide as appropriate for the subject matter to engage learners of all ages.
• Be aware that their classroom skills may be “rusty.” Some adult learners have not been in a classroom for 30 years, so you may need to remind them of basic rules and etiquette, such as raising a hand if you have a question. At the same time, reassure them that, as the instructor, you will not be judgmental of their life experiences or their perspectives, and that they will be evaluated only on their mastery of the content. Be generous when it comes to formatting issues such as APA writing guidelines. Instead, focus on content. “I have found adult learners to be self-conscious, even apologetic, when it comes to being in the classroom,”
• Consider and acknowledge the technology gap. Students in their 50s and 60s are generally not nearly as tech savvy—or tech dependent, as some would argue—as 18 or even 30 year olds. Assess each student’s level of proficiency as it relates to class requirements and compensate.
• Be efficient with lessons and activities. “Move fast and don’t waste anyone’s time,” advises Andrea Leppert, adjunct instructor at Rasmussen College in Aurora/Naperville, IL. “Adult students have jobs, sometimes children and tons of responsibilities, so pack every class with information and useful activities.”
• Be creative: Use the unique vibe or personality of each class to teach the lesson and choose activities that engage, and even entertain to some degree. Pair highly motivated students with those less skilled on projects to create peer encouragement and mentoring.

by Brooks Doherty.

Read more @ http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/tips-for-teaching-adult-students/

Much is pinned on 2012, and as we enter the Year of the Dragon, let it also turn out to be a watershed.

THE dragon is both feared and revered not only by the Chinese but also by almost every ancient civilisation. Fables tell of the wisdom and beauty, as well as the evil and tyranny, of the majestic mythical beast.

The Europeans – whether the Anglo-Saxons of middle Europe or the Vikings of the North – have their favourite tales of the dragon.

The English-educated among us will remember the fable of St George, who rescued a fair maiden from being sacrificed to a mean and ferocious fire-breathing beast.

The Vikings believed that the dragons fought with their gods, and very often won such battles. The ancient Scandinavians hero-worshipped these creatures, and even named and designed famed war boats after them.

The ancient Greeks and Egyptians shared the Vikings’ belief that the dragons fought constantly with the gods, and their battles were responsible for earthquakes, floods and all sorts of disasters that we blame today on nature.

Basically, in the ancient west, dragons were always portrayed as baddies, if not evil itself. Even these days, Hollywood movies would, more often than not, portray the mythical flying and fire-breathing beast as a destructive force.

However, in the east, the dragons were the good guys – often seen as divine beings or blessings from the gods. Regardless of the myth being of Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Bhutanese or Korean origin (all these cultures share the same lunar calendar), the dragon is always a symbol of wisdom, wealth and power.

To the ancient Chinese, not all dragons are created equal because, historically, the winged serpent was the symbol of the Emperor of China. In the Zhou Dynasty, the five-clawed dragon symbolised the Son of Heaven (Emperor), the four-clawed the nobles and the three-clawed the ministers.

This changed in the later Qin Dynasty. The five-clawed dragon became exclusive to the Emperor. Everyone else was free to use the various other claw combinations.

Even in Malaysia, we have our own dragon legends, with the one supposedly in Tasik Chini being the most famous. The Chini Naga fought off the Sri Kemboja Naga, forcing it to flee north to where Cambodia is today.

by Wong Sai Wan.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?col=whynot&file=/2012/1/20/columnists/whynot/10281713&sec=Why%20Not

KUALA TERENGGANU:  Seventeen Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETA) will be placed in premier and elite schools in Terengganu to help raise proficiency in the language.

Terengganu Education, Higher Education, Science, Technology and Human Resources Committee chairman Ahmad Razif Abd Rahman said this is the seventh year the state has benefited from the ETA, a networking programme created to promote educational exchange between Malaysia and the United States.

“The ETA programme, conducted since 2006, is nothing new. However, this year the Education Ministry has taken over supervision from the state government,” he said.

A group of 50 of these teachers arrived in the country on Jan 4. Some of them have been sent to serve in Johor and Pahang for 10 months beginning Jan 31.

BERNAMA.

Read more @ http://education.bernama.com/index.php?sid=news_content&id=642014

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard an adult say, we didn’t do that when we were a kid and we lived to tell about it.  It does seem that we have become a society of over protective parents.  If we could wrap our kids in bubble wrap we would just so they wouldn’t get hurt.  It seems somewhere along the line our world started revolving around our children.  Instead of children being seen and not heard like when I grew up, now my life involves running from one activity to another for my kids.  Check out 10 reasons our kids are not nearly as tough as we used to be.

1. No seatbelts: We grew up before seatbelts were mandatory in every car.  (At least I did.)  On family vacations I used to sit at a small table and chair in the back of the family van and played with my dolls.  There was no such thing as a car seat or being strapped in.  We could fall asleep in our mom’s lap or across the back seat and it was no big deal to leave us there.  We lived to tell about it.
2. No helmets: When we learned to ride a bike we did so by trial and error.  You would get on and ride and if you fell over then you dusted yourself off and got back on until you mastered it.  There weren’t 10 year old kids around that rode bikes with training wheels on them.  We would have so teased them back then.
3. The principal or teacher could spank us: When I was in school I knew that if I misbehaved the teacher or the principal could get the paddle and spank me with it.  My parents would have applauded if I had it coming.  Back then kids didn’t talk back to their teachers or cuss at them.  And we certainly wouldn’t have dreamed of hitting a teacher.  As far as I know no one ever died from getting a spanking at school.  We were a whole lot more respectful back then.
4. We knew how to lose: These days we are so afraid that little Johnny’s psyche is going to be damaged if he loses a game and that his self-esteem will be low.  The kids don’t know how to lose.  They go out for sports and they play games, but no one keeps score.  (Wink. Wink.)  Heaven forbid someone wins and someone loses.  Kids need to toughen up and take their lumps.  This whole thing about everyone getting a participation trophy is a farce.
5. Kids got into fights: When we were young, kids would occasionally get into fights after school.  Was it a good thing?  No, but no one died from it.  We didn’t have to worry about a kid pulling out a knife or a gun.  Things were settled the old fashioned way of fists flying.  Kids today wouldn’t have a clue what to do in a fight.
6. Kids were disciplined when and where they needed it: Back then we knew if we acted up at the store that our parents would not hesitate to spank us.  People expected you to discipline your child.  These days parents are afraid to discipline their kids for fear that someone will call CPS on them or tape it and put it on YouTube.
7. Knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards…: The list goes on and on with safety items for our kids.  When I was young I learned how to roller skate by falling down and getting back up.  Yes, I had my share of bruises, but so did everyone else, so no one noticed.  It was normal to be a bit bruised and scraped up, we were kids.  We have kids so bundled up now when they go out to play I’m surprised they can move with all of the padding on.
8. We went outside and played all day: When I was young our parents would say go out and play.  I didn’t have to stay in the yard and I didn’t have to be watched by an adult every minute.  I knew how to entertain myself.  I would ride my bike and when I got tired I would do something else.  When it was time to eat, mom would let out a yell for me to come in.  We are so afraid someone is going to kidnap our kids that we never let them have any freedom just to play.
9. Teachers gave A’s and B’s: Some schools today don’t give a letter grade to the students.  They don’t want to “label” them.  So instead they grade with a point system as if you were at a job.  4 means you walk on water, 3 means you are at grade level, 2 means you are below grade level and a 1 means you just aren’t getting it.  What happened to F’s?  What happened to failing?  Kids don’t get held back in school nearly as often either.  No child left behind, kind of means that kids get pushed on that shouldn’t be.
10. We drive our kids everywhere: Again, we’re so afraid that someone is going to kidnap our kid that we don’t let them ride their bike to practice or to school.

Read more @ http://www.nanny.net/blog/10-reasons-our-kids-are-not-nearly-as-tough-as-we-used-to-be/