Entry #5 - B-mod progress

I've kept track of my progress again and here are this week's tally...

Friday (10/17): -1 Blog entry done day before due date (-1)
Saturday (10/18): +1 Studied for Biology test (+1)
Sunday (10/19): +1 Studied for Chemistry test, +2 Finished Chemistry HW (+3)
Monday (10/20): -1 Finished covering material for Chemistry test (-1)
Tuesday (10/21): -2 Studied for Psychology quiz (-2)
Wednesday (10/22): -2 Finished Biology pre-lab assignment, -1 Started Chemistry lab report, +1 Studied for Biology test, +1 Reviewed new Chemistry topics, +2 Completed Microarray assignment (+1)
Thursday (10/23): -2 Chemistry lab report, +1 Studied for biology (-1)
Totaled: -1+1+3-1-2+1-1: +0, Neutral!

Since my last blog entry, I had given myself positive reinforcement by buying my favorite soda candy. Also, I had set my punishments in stone. This week, I had demonstrated avoidance learning because I didn't want to punish myself with chores. Even though I won't get rewarded this week, at least I won't be punished. The existence of a punishment is able to deter my behavior so that I procrastinate my work less, if not fully prevent it.

Despite the fact that I still continued to show weak time management, I feel that I am slowly changing. I try to find time, even if it's just a mere 15 mins, to review a subject.This allows me to retain most of the information in a subject, so that if I waited till the last minute to finish all my reviewing, at least I won't need to worry too much because information can be easily refreshed by the savings method. I see this as an improvement because I feel less stress as I'm studying, even if it is last minute. I feel that the program might not be working because the rewards are not as appealing as the punishments are deterrent.

I'm slowly trudging forward, but old habits die hard. Does anyone else have any other studying/anti-procrastination tips that you use? If so please share!

Entry #4 - Program Design

The picture will make sense later haha. Anyway! other than the immediate rewards of studying and working on assignments ahead of time mentioned by many of you guys (Bernard, Danny, and Elizabeth) , like getting more sleep, feeling less stress, and benefiting from spaced practice, I made a plan than will reinforce me on the weekends (when I have time to slow down and think about things). I have based on the principles of Operant Conditioning, I have devised a plan based on the "Token Economy Program" mentioned in Chapter 5, page 204, of our Nevid Psychology: Concepts and Applications textbook.

There are 4 different behaviors that I use to approach working on school assignments and studying, so I have implemented 4 different types of points.
+1 - I gain 1 point if I begin or work on an assignment prior to the day before it is due
+2 - I gain 2 points if the assignment is finished prior to the day before it is due
-1 - I lose 1 point if the assignment is finished the day before it is due
-2 - I lose 2 points if the assignment is finished the day it is due (which I tend to do more often than I realized)

I have made up examples of my points system to help you guys better understand what I'm talking about, feel free to ask questions if any part of my system seems confusing, flawed, etc.
Example: +1 point gain
Lab report due is on Wednesday, I started on Monday
Example: +2 point gain
Blog post due Saturday night, but I posted on Thursday
Example: -1 point deduction
Blog post due Saturday night, but I am posting it on Friday
Example: -2 point deduction
Psychology test is Thursday, I am finishing up my studying Thursday morning

My program is based on a Fixed Interval schedule of reinforcement so my points will be tallied up weekly using the time between blog posts. So this 1st post period was, Friday (10/10) to Thursday (10/16), and this blog post will count for next week's tally. Also, I will not be including comments in the points system because they are largely influenced by when other people make their blog posts.

So, for Post Period #1
Friday (10/10) - -1 Blog post on day before it is due (-1)
Saturday (10/11) - went out, no work done (+0)
Sunday (10/12) - +1 studied chemistry in the morning, took a break and did other stuff then +1 studied for chem again (+2)
Monday (10/13) - +1 studied for psychology, +1 studied for chemistry, +1 studied for psychology (+3)
Tuesday (10/14) - -1 studied for biology (quiz on the following day), +1 started chemistry lab report, +1 studied for psychology (+1)
Wednesday (10/15) - -2 finished studying for biology (quiz later that day), -1 finished chemistry lab report (due the following day) (-3)
Thursday (10/16) - -2 finished studying for psychology (tested that day), +1 reviewed for chemistry (-1)
>Notice how all the minuses are at the end haha, demonstrated what I've decided to call the "Pre-weekend Effect" haha
Totaled: -1 +0 +2 +3 +1 -3 -1 = +1

Any number of + points can be exchanged for a weekend reward, while - points will result in a weekend punishment. A +0 is neutral and will result in neither a reward nor a punishment. That being said, I barely made it for a level 1 reward!
Here is a list of things I have decided are fit to be rewards and punishments based on their levels:
Rewards (all forms of positive reinforcement):
+1 - I'm restricting my Candy jar for when I get a +1 (This could control my excessive consumption of sugary sweets for rewards only!)
+2 - Treat self out to ice cream, gelato, or some form of yummy dessert :9
+3 - Shop! Buy something reasonably priced as a reward!
>+4 - Choose something! Any reasonable reward can be inserted here!

Punishments (These can all be argued as negative punishments because they are all taking away the time I would usually use to do whatever I wanted on the weekend)
-1 - Clean my room (chores are a drag)
-2 - Spend one day without gaming (noooo!)
-3 - Wash and take the dog for an extra long walk (I don't like to move and my dog fights for her life when shes getting washed :( )
-4 - Wash Car (Full detail! wash, dry, wax, vacuum; I like a clean car.. but getting there takes a good morning of work)
>-5 - Lets hope it doesn't come to this because I have no idea what to do.. I'll probably combine all prior punishments into the entire weekend.

So I guess I'll go pick up some more candy for this week's +1! Thanks for all your comments and encouragement (Sissi and Belinda), I will use all your tips to help me even out and maximize my studying time!

edit: my schedule was wrong, corrected it from Variable interval to Fixed interval

Entry #3 - Baseline

I kept track of my "time management (procrastination)" behavior this week and here what I came up with!

Things due this past week:
Chemistry Lab Report - worked late night on Monday (9/29), finished and printed Tuesday morning (turned it in 2 hours later)
Biology Pre-lab - worked on Wednesday (10/1) morning, quizzed on later that day
Chemistry Lab Report - woke up at early morning to start it (10/2), turned it in at 8ish the same day (have a week to work on it ._.)
Psychology Blog post - did this in the morning on Friday (10/3), due Saturday (10/4) by 8 p.m. (yay! that was a kinda not procrastinated moment)
Psychology comments post - did this throughout the day on Friday and Saturday (no pressure! ^-^)
Chemistry Homework - didn't start on the 14 problems until Monday (10/6) night, due Tuesday (10/7) morning
Chemistry Quiz - Studied Tuesday (10/7) during lab, taken that Tuesday afternoon
Psychology quiz - Spent some of Wednesday (10/8) night reading Chapter 9, work up early to do "ACE the Test", read Chapter 10 during chemistry lab Thursday (10/9) morning, taken that Thursday afternoon


And I think that's the whole list of stuff over a two week period! As you can see, I waited until the last minute for about 6 of the 8 of the assignments that I had to complete, all of which I was aware of in advance and could have spaced out my time to comfortably finish.

I think that this is happening because my behavior (completing the assignment) does not get reinforced until the day that I turn it in. Also, completing the assignment early and completing it just in time is reinforced the same way. There would then be no incentive for me to evenly space out the time allotted per assignment if I get the same grade working furiously for 3 hours, versus working casually for 3 hours for 3 days. The only difference I can see, would be the amount of stress I face. Working casually would generate less stress, but as of now it is not bad enough to for me to want to avoid it.

You guys gave me some really good ideas for how to make the most of my studying time. Most of the things mentioned that I should stop doing, mentioned by Danni and Belinda, including food, music, internet... are all things I enjoy while "studying" (haha). I do know that, this distracts my ability to concentrate (even now I'm chatting with my friends, while playing my mmorpg and it's making it harder for me to finish this post haha). It doesn't SEEM like it'll kill me if I unplug everything and concentrate on something else for 1 hour a day! Thanks for the encouragement (Bernard and Varun)!

Entry #2 - Target Behavior

After some thinking, and bothering people for ideas, I've decided that I want to manage my time better! Like many of my classmates, I'm pretty awesome at procrastinating, cramming, and wasting time. Some examples you might recognize include:

Spending the night before tests and quizzes monstrously cramming.
Furiously working on assignments that I have 3 weeks to do, but on the night before its due.
Staring into space when I'm certain there's much work to be done.
Spending entire weekends gaming and grinding.

You know, stuff like that! (it does happen to other people... right?)
I know I can try to change just by well... actually planning it out and doing it, but I'm not sure how I can apply operant conditioning do this behavior change. Does anyone else have problems with time management? If you do... what tips can you offer?