Workshops
"Overcoming Procrastination in Postgraduate Study"
This workshop has been developed by the MQ Counselling Service and MQ Centre for Emotional Health especially to assist Postgraduate students.
Dr. Julie Erskine – Principal Counsellor, Macquarie University Counselling Service (Email: julie.erskine@mq.edu.au )
Jonathan Gaston - Clinic Director, Macquarie University Centre for Emotional Health (Email: jonathan.gaston@mq.edu.au )
About Procrastination….
Research suggests that over 60% of University students would like to reduce their level of academic procrastination, and approximately 25% of students experience chronic problems in this area. Postgraduate study can be a potentially high-risk time for students in terms of procrastination problems. This may be partly due to the often large workloads and associated high stress, as well as the challenge of undertaking and completing a large body of work such as a thesis. There is also evidence suggesting that procrastination is a pattern that worsens over time, often peaking in student’s mid-20’s (McCown & Roberts, 1994). Academic procrastination has potentially significant costs to the postgraduate student. These costs can be both academic (poor performance, lower marks and course withdrawal) and health-related (stress problems, increased risk of anxiety or depression, poor physical health, poorer quality of life).
About the workshop….
The good news is that academic procrastination is a problem that can be addressed and significant improvement achieved in a relatively short period of time. This half-day workshop will not only present a model of procrastination that students can use to assess their own areas of difficulty, but specific topics and associated strategies will be discussed including:
- Identifying Factors Leading to Procrastination
- Effective Time Management
- Effective Task Management
- The Role of Self Esteem and Study Beliefs
- Perfectionism
- Managing Background Stress
- Identifying Potential Obstacles to Change