Latest
DU Beat – Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper
Tag

Procrastination

Browsing
DUB Speak

A College Procrastinator

By

A fable elucidating the ordeals of an incorrigible procrastinator who seldom adheres to his quotidian activities with the alacrity expected of him.

The alarm buzzes menacingly in the distance as the hunky-dory dream comes to an impetuous conclusion. You scramble within the confines of your sheets to awkwardly grab your cellphone as the cadence of the alarm tone pendulously and with celerity drops between alternate highs and lows. No sooner than the alarm is switched off than it dawns upon you that you’ve overslept: an asperity-marked indictment of your nocturnal cellphone-skittering tendencies. You scramble out of the sheets, muttering incomprehensible bilge bemoaning your incorrigible traits, and rush to complete the quotidian ablution in a slapdash manner, another perennial bone of contention between you and your parents.

You quail with mild pain and shudder as the first drops of the frosty shower water make unremitting fusillades on your naked body. The shampoo is grabbed awkwardly, as are the shower gel and the loofah, as the sloughing process is initiated in a manner that shall put the envious blitzing pace of the erstwhile World War Two era German Army to shame. As you grab hold of your senses and exit the washroom, change your clothes, and hastily make your way to the dining table, you realize that you’re facing an immense paucity of time, and that shall likely result in you skipping your meal, despite the vociferous protestations from your famished stomach. The stomach growls in a minatory manner, while you’re stuck between Scylla and Charybdis: either have a hearty breakfast and risk irking the professor by arriving at his lecture late, or skip the breakfast only to rue the decision later when you writhe on the floor with intense agony and regret. You opt for the former, immensely aware of the fact that your mendacious nature has never let you shy away from furnishing a flimsy and lousy excuse to the professor justifying your characteristic tardiness.
The breakfast is gulped with remarkable ferventness, a manifestation of your peckish temperament, as you baulk over your unflappable callousness towards academic ventures and adherence to a rigid deadline, which results in you seldom incurring the praise and encomium of your surly professors, who have anointed you as an object of ridicule and derision.
No sooner are you done devouring your breakfast like a madman than you’re impetuously jolted out of your somnolence. The backpack is grabbed, and the customary farewells are uttered as you sprint boisterously to the metro station, only to encounter a serpentine queue of commuters at the frisking station bemoaning their doomed fates. You mutter invectives reproaching your obstreperous nature as the queue dawdles ahead. You rush to the platform, hoping to find a train rolling into the station as soon as you enter only to find the station eerily empty. The display board is citing a long wait time. Your blinkered outlook is finally reaping dividends as you repeatedly curse your damned unpropitious nature by hurling a spree of coarse vituperatives directed at yourself.
A deafening honk arouses you out of your self-deprecating tirade yet again as the train rolls into the platform. You scramble to your feet as you take a perfunctory glance at your watch: the lecture must’ve commenced. That shall remain incontrovertible. The professor scrupulously adheres to the stipulated schedule. The doors of the metro open as a torrent of commuters briskly make their way inside, only for you to stumble upon a multitude of commuters already packed into the cloistered confines of the metro. You flail your arms, jostle within the sequestered space, and wedge yourself between a snarky quadragenarian undergoing a mid-life crisis and a sprightly teenager engaged in a telephonic conversation.
As the metro hurtles through, you reminisce over your fait accompli, your diminishing grades, and a chimerical social life, which is in disarray. Before you end up scripting your eventual demise, the metro comes to a screeching halt at your station, and you hastily gather your belongings and disembark.
You hail an erickshaw, and slouch on the seat as it zooms past the oncoming traffic, evoking a shudder or two as it brushes close to some precarious collisions. Even before the erickshaw comes to a complete stop at the college, you jump off and sprint to the college entrance, flash your ID to the pesky guards whose Brobdingnagian hubris might even flummox Narcissus, and dash towards the lecture hall. A few close shaves with stationary souls induce panic as you eventually run out of breath before slumping outside the lecture complex. A languid peek at the watch is taken yet again: you’re thirty minutes late. You mumble the concocted excuse again while opening the gate to only be perplexed by the sight awaiting you: the lecture hall is eerily dark and devoid of any souls, desolate and cold.
You fumble in your pockets and fish out your cellphone to scour for messages on the class group. “Classes have been scrapped,” so goes the message, as your countenance contorts into an amalgam of despair and choleric revulsion.
You concede defeat, trot across to the cafeteria with a despondent disposition, and slump on the nearest chair while cursing your imperiled life.

 

Image Credits: Being Indian

Adeel Shams

[email protected]

Keep Reading
By
DUB Speak

Dealing with Depression-Induced Procrastination

By

Struggling with depression and procrastination can be a huge battle. It feels like you can’t get over this, and you are overwhelmed with work to the point where you just give up. This battle can only be won if we try a little every day along with seeking additional help as and when we need it. 

The other day, I woke up in the morning and set a deadline to complete this article by 11 A.M.  As predicted, by 10 A.M. I had done everything including cleaning my room, taking a bath, eating breakfast, surfing the internet, even daydreaming but I hadn’t started working on this article. A lot of people might find this relatable, many of whom take this issue lightly, laugh it off and write ‘professional procrastinator’ in their tinder bio. After all, by the end of the day, they manage to. However, for some people, it’s a different story altogether.

You have assignments to complete, presentations to make, and articles to write but are unable to type a single letter on your laptop. Time ticks by and the motivation to work is still lost. You feel sad because you think you’re being unproductive.  You feel stuck and somehow, you accept this routine. You wake up every day with a hope that today would be different. People dealing with depression would understand this struggle. You somehow learn to live with it and just do enough to get through but it is so unhealthy. Depression acts as a roadblock to one’s dreams and ambitions. How to deal with depression- induced procrastination?  Well, this is what I have learnt.

Go slow. Take things at your own pace and stop looking at what you have to do as a long series of tasks, instead take it one basic task at a time. The key is to try and take the first step without thinking about everything else you have to do and once that is done, it becomes easier. Do not multitask. Focus on one thing at a time. Make a checklist which should not only include important tasks but also easier, smaller tasks like taking a shower or replying to pending emails. Start with the easiest tasks (or ones you like the most/hate the least). As you check things off the list, it will make you feel better. If you find out that you can’t even do that, let it be for a while; take a nap and try again later. It’s okay. Also, be realistic with your checklist.  Do not pack it without taking into account the amount of time you need to eat meals and to relax.  Reward yourself after you complete a task which you had been postponing for a long time and couldn’t get around doing. Another thing that needs to be kept in mind is to allow you to not get bogged down by perfection. Do it badly. You are allowed to fail or deliver less than perfect results of work. Take your time and never forget to be gentle with yourself.

However, this advice might not help some people. If your mental health condition has deteriorated to a point where you cannot function, seek a counsellor or a therapist. Seek help if you feel that it’s interfering with your life to the point where you can’t go about your day or feel burdened most of the time. Don’t lose hope, things do get better. All it requires is that you recognise your problem and seek valid solutions to it rather than indulging in self-loathing. Recognising that you have a problem and giving yourself the gift of additional help is what you need to get of this seemingly impossible rut.

Feature Image credits – Viral Novelty

Disha Saxena

[email protected]

Keep Reading
By
DUB Speak

Winding Up the Odd Semester

By

With Diwali just having gone by, reality hits us and we realise that the official current semester will be ending soon and our very ‘dear’ semester examinations are coming close as the internals’ fever has died down. We are all huffed and puffed about our attendance issues, looking for ways to increase it or at least manage it to come at par with the ‘so-called’ 67% standard set by the University of Delhi, either through medical or internship certificates, or through extracurricular activity (ECA) slips. We all have one Rambo mission to attend all classes henceforth, especially the horrifying morning 8:30 a.m. lecture, trying our level best not to zone out in the middle of the lecture. We fight the urge to collect every possible reading material and book there is to extract as many sources available and save ourselves from drowning in the upcoming exams. Of course, all of us are engaged in discussions with our peers like, “Boy, that escalated quickly”, “How time passes by”, “Dude, I am having a mental breakdown as to how many more assignments I am still left to submit”, and so on.
Pause for a minute to think and retrospect. How did you spend one-half of the year? Was it according to your customary need to go clubbing at Hauz Khas, hang out at the Hudson Lane food joints, shop at Kamla Nagar or Sarojini Nagar markets, beg your parents to allow you to attend a sleepover at one of your friend’s house or PG, spend another evening at India Gate making Boomerang videos for Instagram, or create that one awesome memory with friends that you failed to capture on Snapchat but laughed out all night about it with your hostel mates? Or were you busy studying the entire semester, preparing for entrances like CAT or JNU, keeping up with the notes, doing various internships, or learning a language? I am sure we all had a coalescence of all the aforementioned activities. How many of these do you consider worthwhile? How many of these do you regret and how many are you still aspiring to do? Students in their freshman year must still be in doldrums regarding adjusting to the new city and will surely plan to carry out all remaining Delhi ventures in the next season. Sophomores must be in a state of shock that they have already reached the intermission in their college lives and should now get serious about what to do next. And my dear seniors, you are very well treading upon the teary path of farewells next semester, so get your grip for the dreary path of a hardcore competitive world outside the walls of your college-cum -cocoon.
As for exam -related tips, I am sure you all are smart enough to figure out how to sail through exams. Just in case you are not accustomed to the exam fever, prepare a fixed target-oriented schedule and try to stick to it in order to micromanage your core and elective papers. Try to avoid all sorts of group-studies as now is the time for individual, prioritised studying. Emphasise on what to read and even more on what not to read. You are the best judge of yourself.
Believe me for one thing – that however you have spent your time since July, be pleased with yourself, because life, and for that matter, college-life is too short for regrets. Have faith in your capabilities and get your guns ready for the next half of the year. Do not let the approaching winter deter your happy, sunny, and young minds.
Image Credits: Icebreakerideas.com

Oorja Tapan
[email protected]

Keep Reading
By
Uncategorized

Stages of Procrastination

By
procrastination

Do you find yourself in impregnable walls of alarmingly close deadlines, overwhelming work, and nowhere to go? Read how procrastination victimises the minds, motivation, and lives!

One of the greatest arts a college student garners over the three-year period is of specialised time management. The term, for a collegiate, involves the regular juggling of assignments, internals, mid-semester exams, societies, internships, and probably a social life. As the pile of nothingness transforms into a maelstrom of chaotic work, one is bound to wonder what goes wrong every semester. What happens to our assiduously planned out schedules and hopes? What hinders our ‘sky is the limit’ ideology?  Ironically, we do. Or more precisely, procrastination does. The process commences with the building of a strong foundation of deception, goes on to inducing lethargy in our lives, and shines in the glory of stress and frustration. Accustom yourselves to the three-fold structure of the perturbing habit!

1. False Hopes and Security

As soon as work intrudes into our let’s-do-nothing-time, the will power squashed within us screams of every probable excuse for us to grant leave out of the mess which lies ahead of us. The humanistic instincts of self-consolation and self-deception comes into play and, thus begins a cycle of work minimisation and inaccurate hope feeding. From “I can finish the assignment in maximum two days, so let’s leave it till then” to “Internals ke pehele ek din padho, ho jayega,” it’s curious how the mind is in cahoots with our pit-low desire to succeed in life!

2. Laziness and Denial

To be fair to the likes of this world, laziness is an inherent trait of this generation. A confluence of incessant scrolling our Facebook feed, clicking puppy-snaps on Snapchat, and stalking year-old pictures on Instagram, our schedules always manage to be occupied. Our lackadaisical attitudes are the USP of our personalities, and this characteristic connects the next dots which form the base of procrastination. In our endeavour to be lazy, denial of truth is like the icing on the cake. Imagine a red devil on your shoulder, telling you to hide the bitter truths of assignments and tests in the deepest pits of your memory. The nerves in your brain churn out a vicious process of indolence, deniability, and severe delusion.

3. Crisis and Midnight Work-Management

The concept of deadlines is like the blaring sound of an alarm clock in the morning. It’s unappealing, stressful, and a symbol of incoming tragedy. By the rules of mathematics, the addition of laziness and self-deception gives a distraught sum of impending crisis. Assignments are often initiated post-midnight, get completed mere hours before the class, and are exceedingly proofread in sighs and close-calls. As the crisis becomes a re-occurring element in our lives, our midnight work duty calls begin to improve over time, till the extent one can write articles and ideas as the envoy of the entity called Procrastination.

Image Credits: Healthline

 Saumya Kalia

[email protected]

Keep Reading
By
DUB Speak

Abandoning these 5 habits may help you save the semester

By

We’re all soon about to take our college exams and this time should be ideally dedicated to studies. Yes, I said ideally and yes, I know this isn’t the reality. But to nail these exams (or even pass them, quite frankly) there are some habits which are getting the better of us and need to abandoned before our exams start.

1. Binge- watching

It’s the most common and the most time consuming addiction of our generation. We have numerous seasons of one sitcom and want to complete all of them in one go. So, I think the first and the foremost habit that we need to let go of, is this. Let’s pledge to not start any new series or watch any new movie even if they may sound as interesting as How to Get Away with Murder’s season 2. (I think I’m getting off the point here)

2. WhatsApp

We tell ourselves that we’re only going online to ask one question from a friend and soon one hour has passed, that question is unanswered because your friend also had no clue about it and you’re sharing the links of funny videos or sending each other 9GAG memes. Try and control this habit. You have a pile of books still untouched and wasted time will only make you regret later.

3. Switching between Instagram/ Snapchat or any other Social networking platform

The constant habit of checking your phone every five minutes to see the latest pictures posted on Instagram by celebrities or checking Twitter for their tweets is futile. Also, snapchatting your friend about how much you need to study won’t really help either. Your attention gets divided and you’re more concerned about getting a reply than to complete the chapter.

4. Fantasising about the places to visit after exams

It’s the most common habit of us all. We go on Zomato, make a group on WhatsApp and start sharing the possible options of all the cafes that we can try after exams end. The only problem here is that, syllabus isn’t complete, exams are near and this planning may as well cost you both, time and marks.

5. Procrastination

Everyone is familiar with this habit. This habit is the reason behind the shift of your plan from completing five chapters in five days to completing all of them in 5 hours. Try this semester to not procrastinate. It sends all of us in a panic at the last minute making us unsure even about the syllabus we had completed earlier.

 

Nishita Agarwal

[email protected]

Image credits: https://mvancise1.files.wordpress.com

Keep Reading
By