There are times when silence speaks so much more loudly than words

of praise to only as good as belittle a person, whose words do not

express, but only put a veneer over true feelings, which are gratitude at
this point of time.

I would take this opportunity to express my gratitude towards my

parents for their invaluable guidance, inspiration and constant
motivation which has sustained my efforts at all stages of this ALS
English project work.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my English teacher, Ms

Mukta Sharma, for her guidance and encouragement in making and
effective presentation of this project.
This is to certify that Namya Kaushik, a student of class XII-C, of
Ahlcon International School, Mayur Vihar, has successfully completed
her English ALS Project on the topic PROCRASTINATION for the
academic year 2021-22 under the supervision of Ms Mukta
Sharma(English Teacher).

The references taken for making this project are cited at the end of the
project.
1. AIM OR OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

2. ACTION PLAN

3. WHAT IS PROCRASTINATION?

4. CAUSES OF PROCRASTINATION

5. NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF PROCRASTINATION

6. HOW TO STOP PROCRASTINATION

7. PROCRASTINATION: AN EMOTIONAL STRUGGLE

8. HOW PROCRSTINATION PROVES TO BE A THIEF OF TIME

9. LINK OR REFERENCE TO TEXT: THE LAST LESSON

10. SURVEY

11. OBSERVATIONS
The aim of the project is to analyse the futile nature of
procrastination. Procrastination is a tendency, more prominently, it is
an emotional struggle which most of the people face. As this project
continues, we also learn the reasons behind procrastination and effects
of it. Through the textual inputs of ‘The last Lesson’ from Flamingo, I
aim to analyse how unpredictable life is and how we regret about the
decision we could not make on time. This project it is an attempt to
analyse the importance of time management. Procrastination is the thief
of time thus we need to know how we can overcome this tendency of
procrastination.

The main objective is to learn the basic lessons of life and enhance our
understanding on this theme. We also come to know about how an
individual suffers due to the habit of procrastination and what leads to
this habit. I have also conducted a survey to analyse this in a set of
population and how the trend varies from one individual to another.
To implement the objectives in this project, I have read many articles,
blogs and reports related to procrastination which helped me in having
a deeper understanding of the psychology behind
procrastination. Through certain researches, the scientists have given
report on the analysis of this problem. Researches give us and insight
into to the reasons which lead to depression and anxiety thereby causing
certain mental problems for the procrastinators.

Through certain podcasts I learnt and added here about the time-
wasting nature of a procrastinator. People always tick mark LATER
option from their TO-DO LIST.

The idea of this project is to create awareness about the ways to

overcome procrastination by dividing the task into smaller fragments.
My survey questions people about their habits to do daily activities.
Through my survey I have analysed the pattern of actions that humans
follow.
 CAUSES OF
PROCRASTINATION

Ok let's find out what is going on in the human brain that causes us to
avoid the things we know we should be doing.

Behavioural psychology discovered ‘time inconsistency’ which

explains why Procrastination pulls us in despite our good
intentions. Time inconsistency refers to the tendency of human brain to
value immediate rewards more highly than future. For example, when
you focus on your future self you would want to lose weight but your
present self warns a Donut.

There are many other reasons for instance– lack of necessary skills, lack
of energy, lack of focus, perfectionism, the fear of failure etc. All these
are leading reasons to slow the process to start a task and does lead to
putting off things to a later time. When we do not know where to start
from, or how to start, without knowing the target, or when we lack the
perfect vision to an idea, and no energy and focus to start it, makes us
less attractive to start the task.
 NEGATIVE IMPACTS

It is only in cases where Procrastination becomes chronic and begins to

have a serious impact on a person's daily life that it becomes a more
serious issue. In such instances, it is not just a matter of having poor
time management skills, it is a major part of their lifestyle.

Unfortunately, this procrastination can have a serious impact on a

number of life areas including a person's mental health and social and
professional financial well-being. Higher levels of stress and illness,
increased burden placed on social relationships, resentment from
friends, family, co-workers, fellow students.

The way to overcome chronic procrastination is to use Visual cues or

reminders to trigger habits and measure your progress. When we
pretend to forget the task visual stimulus can be useful. It displays your
progress on a set behaviour. The most important impact of
procrastination is to make you feel better for temporary Joy but in long
run it adds to your anxiety and stress.
Although most of the people are victim of procrastination but there are
ways to overcome it. Firstly, make the rewards of taking action more
immediate. Temptation bundling is the key role. Make the
consequences of procrastination more immediate.

Designing the future actions can be another way that is also called
“commitment device”. Commitment device can help you stop it by
designing your future ahead of time. Make the task more
achievable, the friction that causes Procrastination is usually centred
around starting a behaviour. Once we begin it is often less painful to
keep working. This is one good reason to reduce the sin of your habits
because if your habits are small and easy to start, then you will be less
likely to procrastinate.

Another simpler way to achieve this

is to break down the tasks into
smaller parts so that they become
more achievable. Small measures of
progress keep you on Momentum
and faster the productive task more
quickly. It develops an attitude of
productivity and effectiveness.
Research suggests that procrastination is a problem of emotion
regulation, not time management. According to Julia Brawn “poor time
management is a symptom of the emotional problem; it is not the
problem itself”. She says that chronic procrastination is often the sign
of an underlying unresolved emotional problem. People's emotional
triggers influence how they feel, which in turn, influences how they
behave - she explains.

People procrastinate for several reasons including -anxiety and

depression because it is an avoidance strategy and these create
psychological pain and that further leads to depression. Procrastination
can also show up in conjunction with various mental health issues–
ADHD, eating disorders, perfectionism. If we do all the time
management skills in the world but do not address the underlying
traditional beliefs feeling the anxiety, which is why they are
procrastinating -they are not going to do when they are avoiding.
Time is an essential aspect of our lives. Procrastination leads to loss of
precious time. Time once lost is forever. It can never be
regained. With time gone will be the opportunities that come with
it. The more we hesitate to do the thing at the moment, the more we
tend to lose it. Procrastination definitely robs away the treasures that
time brings us. Starting on your task early allows you time to plan
better, gather information and make improvements to your work. If you
are punctual and complete things on time you boost your own self-
esteem and people will respect and trust you more. Procrastination is a
deliberate illness that can rob you of your success –both in studies and
in your career. It is always better to err on the side of caution than to
regret for the rest of your life. If we have to do something, it is better
that we start before the deadline, it will not only lessen the number of
tasks that you have to complete, it will also de-escalate your worries.
The story ‘The Last Lesson’ highlights the human tendency to
procrastinate and put away things for tomorrow, hence, the man keeps
postponing the lessons of life, oblivious to the fact that life is subject to
change.

The people of Alsace always thought they had plenty of time to learn
the lessons. Therefore, they did not give much importance to the school.
They preferred sending their children to work on the farms and mills
instead of having them learn the lessons. Even Franz, the narrator,
always looked for opportunities to skip the school and collect birds’
eggs. However, the unexpected happens and an order is received from
Berlin regarding the compulsory teaching of German in the schools of
Alsace and Lorraine. It is then that they realize that they would be
deprived of what they had been evading all this while.

The last French lesson taught by M Hamel symbolizes the loss of

language and the loss of freedom for France. It becomes an emotional
lesson rendered by M Hamel to the villagers, signifying the changing
order of life and its impact on the sensibilities and emotions of people.
The marching soldiers under the windows represent the dawn of Prussia
in France, the defeat of the French people and the resultant threat to their
language and culture.
The results of the survey match with the theory to maximum
extent. From Pie Charts we can conclude that people hesitate before
starting a new and difficult task and they generally tend to put off to a
later time. For adults, maximum percentage of people (52.6%) do not
plan their day in the morning and go by the flow of the day. This refers
to their lack of ability to prioritise their tasks. The major reason of
procrastination is perfectionism and ‘fear of beginning a less interesting
task’ (50 7.6 % and 63.2% respectively). For children, the major reason
tends to be they are not able to decide which task to begin with (47.4
%). As a consequence, the others tend to put off their daily activities
like repairs etc. and are never able to finish them. For the students, they
procrastinate and start their projects and assignments at the last moment
(26.3 percent to 40 1.6 %) and often fail to meet the deadline. People
do not promptly reply to phone calls (70%) which signifies their
concentration on one hand and lack of value of urgency on the other. So
though maximum people tend to do the things on time but half of the lot
are still procrastinators--survey result.
1. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-psychology-of-procrastination-
2795944#:~:text=Procrastination%20is%20the%20act%20of,potentially%20negative%20consequ
ences.%221%EF%BB%BF

2. https://procrastination.com/what-is-procrastination

3. mindhools.com

4. ct counselling-org

5. www. uidaho. Com

6. Podcasts on Procrastination-thief of time

7. https://www.vedantu.com/english/essay-on-procrastination

8. https://ncert.nic.in/ncerts/l/lefl101.pdf