Procrastination - A way of life for many students
Today I found ADHD and Academic Life Coach Dr. Maggie Wray's post about 12 reasons why students procrastinate. In viewing Dr. Wray's list, I thought how wonderful that our process speaks to each reason. Do you see your student in any of these categories? Check out how our processes can help.
Forgetting about it
Our program has several built-in reminders from reminder emails for chats and assignments. Ical feeds and subscriptions to external calendars and weekly personal texts with reminders
Lack of clarity about the desired outcome
Assignment clarity is important; each student has a customized list of what to complete between each chat. Breaking assignments into small segments is also helpful.
Optimistic Time Estimates
It is easier for students to estimate smaller vs. larger projects. For example, if a student was tasked to write their personal essay, that is a problem waiting to happen. On the other hand, if a student is tasked to complete sections 1 and 2 of a five-part content-building exercise, that work gets done.
Overly-lenient deadlines
Enforcing deadlines is important, and creating a mindset of meeting deadlines is job 1. Therefore, before application deadlines loom, we help students develop the habit of meeting small deadlines before each chat. If a task is not complete, the chat is rescheduled.
Not knowing where to start
Our process is to break all projects into a series of small steps, whether that is beginning SAT practice, researching colleges or creating a resume.
Poor Study Routines
We understand that high school work has the highest level of importance and are able to help students by meeting when they have time - study halls, in between practices, in the evening or Saturday afternoons.
Distractions
It is all but impossible for students to be distracted in our interactive 1:1 zoom chats. Students share their screens and log in to their MyCPC account. We call the audibles and they are actively working during the robust 30 minute chat.
Overwhelm
College planning is complex and can be scary. We are experts at breaking the process into small, simple assignments to build confidence and avoid procrastination.
Perfectionism/Fear of Failure
The college essay is a frequent bottleneck point for many students and a prime example of not doing anything for fear of being unable to complete a perfect project. Our 5 step process helps break down that fear and our writing coaches clear, specific and friendly feedback keeps the ball moving down the field.
Difficulty regulating emotions
Have you ever heard a student downplay something as not a big deal to manage a project? Parents receive a detailed summary of each student chat so that they understand how their student responds to the process and can access parent chats to collaborate on how to help the student move forward.
Too many commitments
Overscheduling can be a challenge for many students. Our response to helping an overscheduled student is to use their feedback during each chat to realistically estimate how much time they need to complete tasks and use our flexible scheduling system to meet with their buy-in.
Resistance
We understand the adage - you can lead a horse to water but can't make them drink! A recommendation for all parents is to have students meet with us 1:1 to discuss the program first. Let's make sure they buy in to the system to improve the probabililty of success.