The power of writing about procrastination: journaling as a tool for change

ABSTRACT

Procrastination is a common source of academic struggles among college students. Prior research suggests that procrastination tendencies are amenable to change, but the mechanisms behind successful interventions are not fully understood. In a small-scale intervention study, college students who self-identified as procrastinators maintained biweekly journals and participated in a one-on-one, semi-structured interview about their experiences. The journaling tool built upon principles of self-monitoring and reflective writing to bring greater awareness to students’ behaviours. With the raw journal entries and verbatim interview transcripts as data sources, inductive thematic analysis was used to understand how the journaling experience influenced students’ procrastination tendencies. Findings indicated that journaling spurred four pivotal processes: understanding procrastination, making changes in the moment, motivating action, and finding direction for change. The findings shed light on student-directed change and can inform practices aimed at reducing college students’ procrastination.

KEYWORDS:

• Procrastination
• college students
• motivation
• self-regulated learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lauren C. Hensley

Lauren C. Hensley is Sr. Associate Director of the Dennis Learning Centre at The Ohio State University. Her scholarly interests include procrastination, learning strategies, retention, and student success in higher education. Her professional background includes work in programme administration, curriculum design, and student success initiatives.

Karleton J. Munn

Karleton J. Munn is a doctoral candidate in Higher Education and Student Affairs at The Ohio State University and a Student Programme Manager in the Honours College at The University of Utah. His scholarly interests include nontraditional undergraduates in higher education, college selectivity, transition to college, and college retention and completion. His professional background includes work in university academic support services, student services, and academic advising.