By Muammar Hadi and Jasmin Raihanah
GOMBAK, 13 November 2022: The importance of using time wisely and motivating oneself that no one is perfect was highlighted by Dr. Pamilia Lourdunathan on 11 November 2022 (Friday).
“If you hate what you do, you’re going to procrastinate. Find a deeper motivation and something in it for you to love,” Dr. Pamilia Lourdunathan said in a talk titled building motivation and overcoming perfectionism-procrastination, which was organised by the secretariat of the psychology department (PSYCSTA).
“Most importantly, students should change their routine, be more productive and do what is best for you,” the clinical psychologist and lecturer added.
She suggested students should follow seven rules to add in their routine to fight procrastination:
1. Identify your blocker and what’s causing you to procrastinate
2. Direct your focus to one thing at a time
3. Stay in the zone by finding conducive environments
4. Use the Pomodoro technique by resting and working between intervals
5. Find your intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
6. Reclaim your power over your time
7. Stop your old unproductive routine
Meanwhile, another clinical psychologist and lecturer, Madam Nur Aini Alegrea Suner explained the three main points of the talk which were about perfectionism, procrastination, and paralysis.
“Perfectionism and procrastination can paralyze you because even if you really want to succeed, you’ll also be scared of failure, making you stuck in the middle,” she said.
This perfectionism-procrastination cycle can create thinking errors such as black and white thinking, negative automatic thoughts, tyranny of the shoulds, Catastrophizing, unfair comparison, and prediction.
“You will blow things out of proportion and tell yourself that once you fail, that will be the end of it,” she explained.
The fourth slot of the psychology meet and greet program was attended by roughly 200 psychology students of all years and some department lecturers.
The other speakers of the meet and greet program were the Head of Psychology Department, Dr. Jusmawati Fauzaman, course instructors Dr. Maisarah Mohd Taib and Br. Muhamad Karimi Sulaiman and academic advisor, Dr. Nurul Miza Mohd Rashid. ***