CASE STUDY: PROCRASTINATION

Bolanos, Patrick Ivanne

Locsin, Sheila Mae
Mayao, Manuel
Mendoza, Kim Oliver
Villanueva, Ethel Jasmine

GED-107
Mr. Dave Zimram P. Lim
December 2, 2022
Procrastination in Filipino Culture

Introduction

Most successful people highly value their time and stated that it is their most valuable
asset to accomplish more in life. According to Whelan (2020), The way you spend your time
reflects how you view time and priorities and, eventually, how you envision yourself. Time is
one of the fundamental parts of the life of people but some factors contribute to the laziness
or waste of time of people specifically postponing activities or much known as
procrastination.
Procrastination is a phenomenon that can affect all areas of a person’s life. The word
procrastination comes from the Latin word “pro” which means forward and “crastinus” which
means tomorrow. It is a tendency to put off, avoid or delay activities. It has also been
characterized as “delaying task completion to the point of experiencing subjective
discomfort” an “intentional delay of an intended course of action” or as a stable personality
trait with negative consequences. Delaying activities, tasks, and work not just happens to one
person but to all people.
Academic procrastination occurs in students of all ages. They procrastinate on a wide
variety of activities and in a wide variety of circumstances, whether it is putting off
completing projects, homework, assignments, or other school work. Such procrastination can
place undue stress or anxiety upon individuals as they hasten to meet deadlines and complete
assignments. This results in failure of attaining good grades and laziness. Putting things off
can not only affect one’s psychological well-being but can also affect one’s relationship with
others.

As individuals fail to meet deadlines and commitments, relationships become strained.

However, research is somewhat mixed on the effects of procrastination. Some studies have
established that procrastination corresponds to less success in life. The concentration of this
research, like most others, is on the negative form of procrastination.

There are numerous major problems that result from or can be a factor that contributes
to procrastination. The key drivers of procrastination identified are the following:

● Anxiety (fear of failure)

● Stress
● Low self-esteem
● Poor Study Habits
● Poor Time Management
● Pile of Task
Context

Procrastination is the act of postponing or deferring tasks until the last minute
sometimes after their deadline. Procrastination is identified by some researchers as a "form of
self-regulation failure characterized by the irrational postponement of tasks despite
potentially negative consequences." Procrastinators habitually avoid challenging tasks,
whereas everyone occasionally puts things off. They procrastinate at home, at work, and in
their relationships, which has an unavoidable impact on the quality of their performance and
overall well-being.
Procrastination is also known as the Mañana habit in Filipino Culture synonymous
with the Filipino expression “Mamaya na”. People set tasks and decide that they will do them
later, or on another day, and start cramming or doing a full load of stuff in a short time.
Mañana habit prevents people from starting an activity or task on its set date, and delaying
doing it until the due is over. This kind of habit is common in Filipino Culture, especially
among Filipino students. Academic procrastination can be regarded as a behavioral, affective,
and cognitive phenomenon that results from an individual’s fear of failure and task
aversiveness (Solomon & Rothblum, 1984). Several studies have found that procrastination is
linked to various personality traits and psychological categories. Aside from that, the
researcher Joseph R. Ferrari, PhD, also reveals how the behavior is more similar to
self-sabotage. Demotivating psychological factors, such as fear of failure or anxiety,
outweigh self-control to get something done. People would rather avoid a task than risk the
embarrassment of getting it wrong or making mistakes.
People procrastinate for a wide range of reasons. Sometimes it is the result of too
much family pressure, such as growing up in a strict household. Others may refrain from
doing something as an act of defiance. When we reject doing something, there is definitely a
reason behind all this, even if it isn't logical or beneficial. Procrastination retains you from
reaching your maximum potential in relationships, career, and life in general. It stifles
collaboration, weakens self-esteem, and can sometimes lead to depression and job loss.
Besides that, people tend to avoid important wellness habits such as visiting the doctor and
engaging in regular exercise.
According to research, procrastination can be caused by a person's perfectionism.
People tend to put off their work because they believe they can always do better when they
take things slowly. Perfection is impossible to achieve, and aiming for it creates unrealistic
expectations. As a result, they become afraid of failing. They end up putting things off
because they are afraid they will not do something well or correctly. They wait for the perfect
moment when they can't fail—that "perfect moment" that never comes. Aside from that,
unpleasant or stressful tasks, such as completing a large work project, preparing taxes, or
studying for a final exam, cause unpleasant feelings such as fear, stress, or inadequacy.
Dragging your feet and focusing on low-priority tasks is an example of unconscious
avoidance. Procrastinators prefer pleasure to progress. They are task averse, putting off
important tasks in favor of something more productive, easier, and enjoyable. They are
disconnected from their future selves and do not seek rewards that appear far in the future.
According to the research, people who procrastinate have lower well-being and higher levels
of stress and anxiety, which can lower self-esteem and lead to depression. Procrastinators
frequently claim that they put off tasks because they "perform better under pressure," and
they have a habit of waiting until the last minute to experience the rush of euphoria that
comes from finishing a task on time despite the odds. When we have too many options, we
may procrastinate. Making decisions requires mental energy. Procrastination is common
when a task appears too difficult. A person avoids taking on a challenge because they are
afraid they will fail miserably. They may not feel up to the task and may even feel anxious or
guilty, making them prevent it even more. Aside from this, there are a lot more reasons that
cause people to procrastinate.
Students came up with the topic of procrastination as one of the negative common
habits of Filipinos. Researchers find the indicators of procrastination and create a study to
find out relevant facts and information about how procrastination occurs and its negative
impact. Students conducted this study to solve the problem of procrastination and bring out
solutions for a better and more productive life.

Related Local Studies

Internal locus of Control, Social Support, and Academic Procrastination among

Students in Completing the Thesis

Procrastination is a common trait in modern civilizations. Many people put off work
without recognizing why. Almost 20% of adults put off ordinary activities in order to pay
bills, pay taxes, or get medical checks. Delaying activities occur not just in the area of 'job,'
but also in the area of the school or academic activities. Delays in the execution of
'assignments' are common in academic activities at colleges; also, students frequently
postpone assignments until the last minute. According to another study, roughly 95% of
college students procrastinate. According to Solomon and Rothblum, 46% of their
participants always or mostly always postpone on terms of paper completion. Academic
procrastination includes procrastination relating to academic tasks. The hesitation in finishing
the thesis is known as academic procrastination. The truth is that procrastination occurs in
many aspects of daily life; however, academic procrastination is highly widespread among
students and has been identified as detrimental to academic development and achievement,
justifying its study. Academic procrastination in academic assignments is believed to be a
prevalent problem for approximately 70% of university students.

The researcher discovered that they procrastinated in writing their thesis after
conducting interviews with five college students from a university on November 8, 2016.
Students are delaying their 'assignments' due to difficulties in overcoming hurdles in
completing their theses, such as difficulty in meeting with supervisors, challenges in
obtaining research subjects, and obstacles that arise from inside themselves, such as
nervousness, pessimism, and laziness. Furthermore, procrastination has been identified as
connected with a number of issues, including exam anxiety, missed deadlines for
assignments, poor semester grades, depressed affect, low esteem, and social anxiety.
 Although procrastination happens in many types of daily work, academic
procrastination is extremely widespread among students and is considered detrimental to
academic advancement and study success. Academic procrastination may have negative
implications since it causes students to squander time, abandon tasks, and fail to complete
them completely. Procrastination may ease stress in the short term, but other studies have
discovered that it can also cause stress, including feelings of anxiety and guilt. Postponing
behavior can also lead to delays in studying/learning, completing work or reports, missing
deadlines for submitting papers, and delaying administrative procedures for academic
activities like returning library books, registering for exams, and so on.

Prediction of Academic Procrastination by Fear of Failure and Self-Regulation

Many students in higher education do not succeed and experience academic failure
(Vossensteyn et al., 2015). Academic procrastination is one of the factors connected with
academic failure (Kim & Seo,2015; Steel, 2007). Procrastination happens when one action is
excessively postponed, and When people start thinking about it, they become tremendously
agitated (Motie et al., 2012). Procrastination frequently has negative implications, such as late
assignment delivery, worry and rushing through exam preparation, and social anxiety.
However, people are fully aware of the negative consequences of this delay, and this
phenomenon has the potential to reduce satisfaction with individual performance. This issue
is so common that one-fifth of the adult population is unable to complete their daily
homework tasks (Klassen et al.,2008).

Procrastination is a widespread self-regulation problem that affects almost half of the

student population (Rozental & Carlbring, 2014). Different types of procrastination have
been mentioned in terms of various emotional, cognitive, and behavioral factors of
procrastination, including academic procrastination, neurotic procrastination, compulsive
procrastination, and decisional procrastination, with academic procrastination coming out on
top (Jokar & Aghadelavarpour, 2007). According to a study conducted by Chehrzad et al.
(2017), 70% of university students had moderate procrastination and 14% had severe
procrastination, with older age, academic level, and gender being the key predictors of
procrastination. Poor sleep, high levels of stress, delayed work owing to a lack of time,
incomplete homework, perplexity, self-blame, feelings of guilt and inadequacy, and low
self-esteem are all symptoms of academic procrastination.

According to studies, learners with strong self-regulation tend to obstruct their own
demands, have an inner interest in performing their own assignments, and exert more effort to
complete their projects (Darling Hammond et al., 2019; Sevari & Neisi, 2012). Instead of
relying on others, individuals may lead themselves.
teachers, parents, and the general public to directly begin and lead this initiative
(Sevari & Arabzade, 2013; Wigfield et al., 2011). Academic self-regulation is one of the
factors influencing academic performance engagement. It is possible that this is why
procrastination is regarded as a failure of self-regulation. Time management is an important
aspect of balancing procrastination and self-regulation.
 Procrastination: A serious problem prevalent among adolescents

Today, procrastination has become more prevalent among students than before because
technology has given them the platform to explore a virtual global world where they have
many tasks to do in a restricted time span. Academic procrastination includes delaying
academic tasks such as submitting assignments, making projects, depositing fees, etc. Such
activities are postponed till the deadline approaches. Solomon and Rothblum (1984) have
described academic procrastination as postponing primary academic tasks such as preparing
for exams, preparing term papers, administrative affairs related to school, and duty of
attendance. According to Yong (2010), - academic procrastination is an irrational tendency to
delay the beginning or completion of an academic task. Many students intend to complete
their academic tasks within the time frame, but they lack the motivation to get started.

Academic procrastination is considered a pervasive trait that can have mostly grave
outcomes for students, who are encountered recurrent deadlines. Due to their constant
delaying behavior, academic procrastinators may have certain negative effects, such as low
self-esteem, hopelessness, and educational failure. Ellis and Knaus (2002) regard
procrastination as an interactive dysfunctional behavior avoidance process, characterized by
the desire to avoid an activity, the promise to get to it later, and the use of excuse-making to
justify the delay and avoid blame. It may often be reinforced by achievement after
last-minute preparations, which leads to belief in this approach as a practical technique.
Ferrari (1991, 1992, and 2001) maintained that academic procrastinators are unable to
achieve educational ambitions due to avoidance of the task at hand and fear of failure.
Research has consistently demonstrated that procrastination is one of the leading hindrances
to the academic performance of students at various educational levels.

On the Behavioral Side of Procrastination: Exploring Behavioral Delay in Real Life

Settings

This research article consists of the results of the conducted studies among the
procrastinators and non-procrastinators. They studied how procrastinators and
non-procrastinators differ in behavior. They focused on time-related attributes of behavior.
They also discussed the possible mechanisms responsible for the delays in part of
procrastinators and how such mechanisms generate and sustain dilatory behavior.

Temporal discounting of negative stimuli is also a possible mechanism causing

behavioral delay. Response cost may serve as an example. As the cost of immediate action is
more salient than the perceived cost of future action, behavioral delay may occur because the
cost of performing it now seems higher than performing it later (e.g., Akerlof, 1991).

A related and probably more important mechanism is avoidance of aversive tasks,

preventing the occurrence of negative feelings, stress, and other forms of aversive states,
resulting in avoidant styles of functioning (e.g., Díaz-Morales et al., 2008) along with
subsequent delays in task execution.

Proposed Solution

● Awareness: The Initial Step

In order to stop procrastinating, you must first grasp the REASONS WHY you do it
as well as the purpose it serves in your life. If you don't fully comprehend the cause of
the issue, you can't come up with a workable remedy. The secret to learning how to
stop procrastinating is awareness and self-knowledge, just like with other difficulties.
For many people, realizing how procrastination shields them from feeling inadequate
and remembering this when they are tempted to relapse into old, fruitless postponing
patterns goes a long way toward curing the issue.

● Time Management Techniques: “One Piece of the Puzzle” time management

strategies and tools are essential for overcoming procrastination, but they are
insufficient on their own. Additionally, not all time management techniques work
equally well for overcoming procrastination. Some time-management strategies can
help you beat procrastination, while others can actually make it worse. The most
effective ones lessen fear and anxiety while highlighting the satisfaction and benefits
of finishing tasks.

● Motivation: Finding Useful Justifications for Task Engagement keeps yourself

motivated for Constructive REASONS, which I define as motivation for learning and
achievement that results in positive, productive, and rewarding feelings and behaviors
if you want to conquer procrastination. These motivations stand in contrast to doing
something out of a sense of obligation to "show off," out of a want to avoid upsetting
your parents, out of a desire to avoid looking foolish, or out of a desire to avoid
failing.

● Staying Motivated: Be involved by being active. Maintaining active participation in

your classes is a further strategy for combating procrastination. Your motivation will
be weakened if you behave passively in class because you are probably not "getting
into" the subject matter of the course. Additionally, if you are passive, it's likely that
you are not getting the most out of the course and its materials.

● Initiation: After conditioning oneself, create a schedule of tasks and reminders, should
begin with the simplest work, and consider the deadline so that the chores can be
completed properly and sequentially with adequate time management. List the tasks
and chores, and prioritize the most important and urgent ones. As per advice break
down the task into little ones to have a better approach to the activity and have
 consistency in doing the task. Make it a routine and stick to it, and focus on the
important things.

● Monitoring the progress can help to identify whether there are improvements in the
execution of the proposed solution. Consider the progress, not the result because
considering results can lead to anxiety and other problems. Better to consider the
step-by-step action, and create a daily task log book to monitor the effectiveness of
the step of solving procrastination.

● The proposed solution is the easiest way to start removing procrastination habits in
your life and start motivating yourself to be more productive. It does not include any
fees and it is a voluntary act to start your improvement.

Conclusion

Procrastination is one of the major problems of most people around the world,
especially Filipinos, and is common in Filipino culture mostly among students. It can affect
the entire progress of a person, from day-to-day activities and living conditions. It can also
result in delays in progress or success and academic failure for the people who mostly
procrastinate. Procrastination is linked to the irrational behavior of a person, also known as
the Mañana habit in Filipino Culture synonymous with the Filipino expression “Mamaya na”.
Students postpone their activities and do them later, whenever or at the last minute until it's
due.

This kind of behavior is linked with numerous key drivers such as fear of failure,
stress, low self-esteem, poor study habits, poor time management, and a pile of tasks that
results in procrastination. People procrastinate for different reasons, intentionally or
unintentionally depending on the situation they are in. Procrastinators are unmotivated to
start with their task, feel tired even before they start, lose focus, and are distracted or it is just
their habit.

As this study reveals how procrastination starts, this also leads to discovering a
realistic and effective solution. Awareness of the reasons why you procrastinate, your habits,
and the thoughts that lead to procrastination. Next is having proper time management;
coordinating tasks to allow specific tasks in their set time. Motivation such as finding the
importance of the result or progress working on. Lastly, the execution of the step and
monitoring of the progress can help to identify the effectiveness of the proposed solution.
 Recommendation

● To solve an issue, the person needs to understand it first. Understanding

procrastination, why people procrastinate, how it affects them, and what the possible
outcome can help a certain individual overcome procrastination.
● A thorough research study about the reasons and outcomes of procrastination can be
conducted to see procrastination in a deeper sense.
● Advocacy about procrastination in different organizations like schools, and the
workplace can help to give awareness to people about procrastination’s effects.
● Another advocacy about how people can practice overcoming procrastination. It can
be advocated in school, the workplace, etc.
● The task-givers can also help by giving “enough” not ample time in doing their task.
It’s because it is the number 1 trigger of procrastination.

Photos and Graphics

Procrastination Word Cloud Concept

https://www.123rf.com/photo_26579933_procrastination-word-cloud-concept-with-great-ter
ms-such-as-anxiety-delay-behavior-and-more.html
Procrastination Cycle

https://thecreativelife.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/shutterstock_601623479.png

“One reason we may procrastinate in studying is that we often judge our learning based on
what feels easy right now, so we don’t recognize how ineffective it is to cram the night before
an exam,”

https://pittnews.com/article/138722/news/students-and-faculty-examine-procrastination-cures
/
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