SLIDE 1

Good – Ms Rachell, our dearest lecturer and my fellow bros. My name is Wardatul
Humaira binti Rosmin and today I’ll be presenting what I’ve been learning for the ‘Learn
Something New’ Project assignment.

SLIDE 2

For this project, I decided to alter my bad habit of procrastinating in studying and
completing assignments as a university student. Before I go further, let me clarify more
on procrastination. So, what is procrastination? Procrastination is an act of delaying
actions/decisions unnecessarily & might only occur in certain domains and not in others.
For example? Procrastinating when it comes to academia but not when it involves
health. In educational context, procrastination widely occur among university students in
terms of constructing and presenting assignments and getting ready for examinations
according to Hussain & Sultan. I’m sure we all know that very well.

SLIDE 3

My rationale on choosing this matter for this project are because university students
tend to be low achiever, not knowing how to manage their studies, fail in examinations
and develop anxiety and depression due to procrastination. It was indeed true because I
myself experience those things. Moreover, those who procrastinate are more likely to
experience long-term stress and worse result compared to those who keep up with the
work. As a result, the stress caused by procrastinating then build up my anxiety later on.
Procrastination also cause one to fail in managing their time. In my case, nothing
productive can be found in my day-to-day’s schedule due to delaying everything to the
point that some of them were never even done. In the academic context, most of my
works were made in a rush and in the final minute of the submission deadline. Hence,
it’s crystal clear how vital it is for me to adjust my habit of procrastinating.

SLIDE 4

I had Michal Korzonek’s Stop Procrastination Journaling Methodology as the system to

help change my habit in procrastinating from doing assignments. Both of the figure
you’re seeing right now are my own version of Stop Procrastination Journal. This journal
requires 1 main goal which will act as my compass and to keep me on track. I set my
ultimate goal here as Complete the Learn Something New Project Assignment in 10
Days. The big goal will then be broken down into 1 or 2 simple actions and they’re
called High Impact Actions (HIA). I set my HIA as study and write for 1 hour every day.
Next, prepare 10 to 30 squares to be used as a habit tracker because one square
corresponds to one day. Since I’m only doing a 10 days journal, I only had 10 squares
in my journal. If I missed a day, I must make a review on the reason why I didn’t carry
out the HIA on the Preview Page for Missed Days.

SLIDE 5

The other reason why I choose Korzonek’s Journaling Methodology is because this
journaling method reflect the 5 learning principles. The required consistency in
completing High Impact Actions (HIA) embody participation and repetition. The main
goal that work as its user’s compass incorporate relevance. The daily participation in
this journaling methodology allow transference to occur. Lastly, the tracking and preview
journaling system integrate the final learning principle which is feedback. Some other
learning theory will be implemented as well to enhance the outcome’s success rate.

My expectations from this project are less procrastination in completing

assignments, more motivated in completing assignments, figuring out ways to manage
procrastination and getting to know how to handle myself better.

SLIDE 6

My first day of journaling begin on Monday, 14 September 2020 at 9pm until 10pm. The
goals which are studying and writing for 1 hour are basically the High Impact Actions
(HIA). During the very first day, I simply was struggling to complete my HIA because I
played games right before I need to start performing my HIA which then results me to
feel lazy and develop the thought of postponing my HIA. Not only that, the positive
reinforcement which I get to eat cream puff after completing the HIA seems to be only
thing that keeps me going. Even so, seeing my assignment finally having a progress
relief me so much. It somewhat stimulates me into looking forward doing the HIA
tomorrow because it made me feel less overwhelmed than actually procrastinating and
doing something else. Thus, the word of the day is Struggling.

SLIDE 7

The next day, I once again repeat the mistake that I made yesterday which is playing
games before I need to start doing my High Impact Actions (HIA). Thankfully, I was a lot
more motivated than yesterday that the journal method begins to feel habitual instead of
a drag since the one-hour period of HIA flows like a river. This is why the Word of the
Day is Relaxed. The Positive Reinforcement kept me delighted all the while working on
my HIA as well because I get to play games right after that. Loving how good it feels like
knowing my assignment is progressing through this journaling method, I decided to
utilize Classical Conditioning on myself. The Classical Conditioning simply works to
achieve the conditioned response which is I will feel satisfied from having a progress in
my work by participating in the journaling method.

SLIDE 8

The Word of the Day in the 3 rd day of journaling is Messy because I made a misstep for
giving myself the Positive Reinforcement reward early (Coconut Milk). Other than being
distracted after I accidentally spilled the Coconut Milk, knowing there will be no reward
after finishing the HIA somehow made me feel dull. The good news is I realize how I’ve
been repeating the same mistake that may cause me to procrastinate twice which is
playing games before beginning my High Impact Actions (HIA). Thus, I kept myself from
playing games before my HIA period to avoid feeling sluggish during HIA and make use
of the tips I read online where I can improve my cognitive functioning through having 20
minutes power nap. The power nap turns out to be in favor during the HIA because I
worked productively for my assignment’s content. Above all, the journaling method was
proven to be very convenient since my work has been approved and will continue
making its progress. I was also shifting to the second phase of Classical Conditioning
on this day.

SLIDE 9
For some reason, I played game to the point that I lost track of time which explains why
I started off doing my High Impact Actions (HIA) late on the 4 th day of journaling. Hours
spent on playing games and looking nonstop at the phone screen drained me. At this
point, I had the thought of cancelling today’s High Impact Actions (HIA) so I could go to
sleep. Following the Fogg Behavior Model, I need to fix my mental and physical effort in
the Ability Chain to occur this behavior of carrying out HIA. Hence, I gave myself a short
pep talk on the importance of this journaling method for my future self to make me feel
motivated. I also made myself do the HIA despite feeling lazy and tired as a punishment
for being neglectful and had the power nap like yesterday to restore some of my energy.
However, I learned that perhaps the reason behind my procrastination all this time was
because of my emotions other than time management. Maybe if I wasn’t stressed from
playing games, I would’ve felt relaxed to do the HIA? After all, it was proven in the
previous days journal how playing games before HIA can only cause me to feel lazy and
less motivated.

SLIDE 10

For the 5th day of journaling, I didn’t play games before today’s High Impact Actions
(HIA) after learning from what I gained in yesterday’s journal. Knowing how the games
can mess with my mood and emotion, I avoid myself from playing it to see whether my
assumption is true or not. Turns out it was true as my mind was at ease during HIA
since it didn’t get ruined by games. I learned from my research that procrastination is a
way of coping with challenging emotions and negative moods induced by certain tasks. I
procrastinate to ‘manage my negative mood since assignments are already stressful
alone and playing games will only stack up the stress. Finally, I’m looking forward to
continue journaling because it helped me in observing my day-to-day’s life.

SLIDE 11

The 6th day was Miserable but I’m proud of my determination to complete the High
Impact Actions (HIA) even when my health completely messed up. Changing my routine
such as refraining myself from doing/attracting any negativity right before doing the HIA
by not playing games and avoiding arguments with my siblings before HIA was the
greatest call I ever made because it has increased my productivity significantly.
Besides, the Classical Conditioning finally shift to the third phase which is the
Acquisition Phase. The results are, I’m feeling devoted into completing the HIA daily. In
addition, I only noticed recently that using my phone to record myself performing HIA
actually meant removing my biggest distraction which intrinsically contributes a lot in
maintaining my focus all this time.

SLIDE 12

The 7th day of journaling feels more regular now in my daily schedule and I feel
seriously relaxed. It somehow feels like a routine too and I’m afraid that it’ll begin to
become burdensome although the outcome of this journaling method is advantageous
for me. Regardless, I noticed that I can’t tolerate with noises during HIA. Whether it
came out of the television or human, I find it disturbing.

SLIDE 13

Entering the 8th day of journaling made me grasp the mindset of ‘small progress is still
progress’. Before this I procrastinate to even progress a little until it’s too late.
Nevertheless, after participating for a few days in Korzonek’s journaling method I realize
that small progress paves the way to achieving the desired goal. Not everything can be
achieved in one go and sometimes progressing step by step is the best way. Day by
day I learn more about myself in terms of my study patterns, conditions and needs
during partaking the journaling method. I gained more than just progressing towards my
goal to complete the Learn Something New project. The only unpleasant situation that
occur today was my back pain which seems to be caused by my sitting posture.

SLIDE 14

The Word of the Day is Tranquil on the 9th day of journaling. I wholeheartedly enjoy
completing the High Impact Actions (HIA) today because not even a slight of
inconvenience occurred. I was physically and mentally capable to complete the HIA
productively because I did something to avoid from experiencing the back pain like
yesterday. Now I understand how important it is to address anything that bothers me
and find ways to solve the problem instead of ignoring it. Perhaps my journaling
experience today would’ve been different if I ignored my back pain.
SLIDE 15

Entering the final day of journaling had me feeling excited to complete the last High
Impact Actions (HIA) because once I finished it, I get to achieve my goal which is
completing the Learn Something New Project assignment in 10 days. At this point, I
don’t have to apply any reinforcement to increase my participation because my
motivation and will alone are strong enough to make me participate. I utilized all the
things that I learned since day one of journaling to keep my studying environment
conducive while working on the HIA. In consequence, it’s only to be expected that I
managed to pull off today’s HIA smoothly. Well, it’s clear on how Korzonek’s journaling
methodology can help me in achieving one goal that represent as the most important
task I have to do and decrease procrastination by breaking down tasks into small daily
call to action.

SLIDE 16

The result is I succeed to complete the Learn Something New Project assignment in just
10 days from using Korzonek’s journaling method. Just look at how beautiful the journal
looks like from all the green ticks. Reflecting the outcome with my expectations, I did
meet my first expectation which is less procrastination in completing assignments.
Although there were days that I thought of procrastinating from doing the High Impact
Actions (HIA), I managed to overcome it by using Fogg Behavior Model for instance.
The second expectation is feeling more motivated in completing assignment. Knowing
the journaling method alone won’t be enough to keep me motivated, I utilized some
other learning theory that can enhance my motivation such as Skinner’s Operant
Conditioning Positive Reinforcement and Punishment, and Pavlov’s Classical
Conditioning. The implementation of these learning theory has significantly boosted my
motivation throughout the journaling days. Not only that, other learning theories just like
Kolb’s Experiential Learner Cycle, Boud, Keogh & Walker’s Reflective Learning and
Bandura’s Verbal Instructional and Live Model Learning has helped me identify,
analyze, find ways to manage myself and my learning process as well as giving myself
constructive feedback. Intrinsically, I fulfilled my third and fourth expectation while
manipulating all the learning theories during the journaling days. At the end, I can
conclude that I met all of the expectation made from the beginning of the project with a
lot of contributing factor.

To conclude, I would definitely consider using this journaling method again in the
future as a tool to manage my work progress.