Would you call yourself a procrastinator?  I don’t know too many people who can force themselves to start a task that is really unpleasant, boring or just plain annoying. So many of our students tell us that they procrastinate whenever they face a challenging assignment. And it is not just the kids who procrastinate!  What about the parents?  I have closets that need cleaning and journal articles to read, yet these tasks never seem to get checked off of my “to do” list.

A headline on the morning news last week announced the findings of a new study that links procrastination to heredity. Great, another thing that children can blame on their parents!  However, before I accept the blame for my children’s struggles with procrastination, I believe that we also have to think about the role that the environment plays. According to the study, genes only accounted for half the cases of procrastination; for the other half, the environment was still a culprit.  So, it turns out that this latest round of research confirms much of what we already know.

Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet to conquering procrastination; it takes hard work and diligence.  We know that parents can struggle with procrastination just like their children, and that we need to help our students set up environments that foster productivity.  BUT, we also are painfully aware that this is hard to do!!!

Here is one suggestion that we find helpful.  If your child finds multiple distractions at home and cannot seem to get started on work until late at night, try having him go to a library right after school.  Also, some students have reported that they can really focus at a Starbucks where they can sit with their computer and use the noise to mask any distraction.  The idea is to avoid the procrastination triggers at home by setting a specific amount of time to be in another environment. And don’t forget to reward your concentrated effort by going home and PROCRASTINATING (only for a predetermined amount of time)!!