Procrastination & Teens

One thing that happens in high school is change. One thing to keep an eye on is anxiety in your child. As the hormones and the workload increase at the same time, it can be difficult to see what is going on. Macquarie University holds fabulous free talks and I attended a brilliant one on procrastination recently. I lamented I didn't bring my child, who is currently needing endless reminders to do their work.

I'm not sure if this entirely fits the reasons why my child is preferring to game over doing school work, but I don't think it hurts to hear what might be an underlying issue, just in case.

The talk, Overcoming Procrastination in Adolescents by Dr Carolyn Anne Schniering in full is linked here. It is well worth a listen. The visual are the powerpoints, so listen to it while cooking or cleaning the bathroom (or driving in the car), you can always pause to look at the bullet points if you want to.

One of the most interesting things she says is that some people will never feel motivated. It's the action that creates the motivation, and leads to more action. I know for me, the blog post due Tuesday, only happens when I start writing because I know I have to post something. I'm not always inspired to write, but usually, once I start, some idea comes. Even if it means I delete what I've just written and start again.

She also states that we need to remember 'States of mind' are temporary. We can work with it - ride the wave of emotion until it subsides. Helen Mirren's 5 rules for a happy life speech says that 'Like a hangover, neither triumph or disaster last forever' same too with these emotions of panic or disengagement.

Basically, the short of it is, start to work often. You can study for a short period, it's the starting to study that rewires the neurons. Make it the habit. The more you start to study, the easier it is to study. The more we face our anxiety and fears, the less power it has. It will subside.

I really loved this talk, and I think she probably hits the underlying issue of what seems to be a pandemic of school refusal and anxiety regarding school work.

Linking this old post because it came up a few times this week so I think the video lecture might be useful for some people. Linking with