With blunt honesty, this topic of raising productivity is of as much significance as Chicken Little’s call for a falling sky. I may be casually labeled as apathetic but the fact that I followed through the entire debate religiously may just suggest otherwise. Using the mass media, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam suggested that to raise productivity, Singaporeans ought to innovate and grow skills. Indeed, I couldn’t agree more with him. However, what I am skeptical about is the effectiveness of the role in which mass media has to play in delivering this message to the public.
Having moved into a knowledge-based society, are our citizens still being treated as passive agents incorporating everything that the mass media offers? I reckon not. Rather, our citizens have become such an active agents in the selection of messages by the mass media that even the young are taught not to be naiveté in their choice. As such, I feel that the mass media might have limited effect in their message, given that the message has almost no relevancy to the lower and middle class families whose challenge lie with meeting their daily needs− not raising productivity. Moreover, the mass media has invisible receivers who might not have the initial skill to decode the message. The messages from mass media are also transient and can be terminated at will, signifying that our citizens may not even bother about the rally to raise productivity.
Since Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam did not specify the reasons for our low productivity, please allow me to point out the three main culprits that have lowered our productivity:
1) Facebook
2) YouTube
3) Procrastination
I will like to discuss more about the issue of procrastination.
Procrastination from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.
Procrastination is about time being stretchable. It is about providing excuses not to get something done. It is about reading this entry and not doing yours. It is about being online instead of studying.
Recently, I was taught that different culture structures the concept of time differently, either monochronic or polychronic. For monochronic view, time is not stretchable and everything in this world has it time and place. As such, one who adopts a monochronic view will be good with delaying gratification. As for polychronic view, time is stretchable and unlimited; thus, one can waste the time of others. As such, procrastination and being late for meetings are the best examples for people who subscribe to this view.
As such to have everything linked up, I suggest that to rise productivity of Singaporeans, we should look into how procrastination has been aided by the major distraction of following threads on Facebook and watching videos on YouTube while at work. Moreover, we should also educate people on their behavioral pattern so that precious time can be use to increase productivity than to wait for late comers.
What are your views on procrastination? Are you a member of this prestigious club? What are some of the things that made you procrastinate? Share with me how late can your friends be when meeting you?
17 comments:
I often find myself procrastinated when I couldn't set my mind straight in the 'state' of getting that thing done. I normally tell myself I need some more time to think about it and will only do it when the right time comes. However, as expected, while pending for the right time to come, there are so much distractions which overwhelm me that I nearly/totally forget about the first matter.
Facebook and Youtube are not necessarily a factor which lowers productivity, especially in social media companies or internet marketing companies. In order to ensure the working pace and fairness, i think employers should set a specific KPI and direction for employees who involve in those sites so that they won't get lost and confused in their work.
What are your views on procrastination? Are you a member of this prestigious club? What are some of the things that made you procrastinate? Share with me how late can your friends be when meeting you?
The way in which i perceive procrastination is the seeking of instant gratification over necessity. i.e. short term over long term.
i wouldnt think of myself as a permanent member of this "prestigious" club, and mainly it is because of the guilt associated with such an act. Furthermore, it irrational to prolong your misery with the constant reminder at the back of your head that there is something still left undone.
I think i am a procrastinator when it comes to studying, i need the sense of urgency that exams are nearing, and project deadlines are really like here, before i can get myself started! So i think, i work more efficiently under deadlines and stress because i wont have a chance to procrastinate.
Regarding friends being late, i do have friends that always like being late and you always have to wait a long time for them, they simply do not have the sense of urgency, and it gets my really frustrated sometimes!
For me, when i know im meeting someone at a certain time, i would definitely be on time or even earlier because i would not want to waste the person's time waiting for me, and i wish people always making others wait would consider abit for the people they are meeting too!!
Procastination is putting things you need to do "on hold". I do not consider myself a permanent member. I often say I'll do it tomorrow when I said the same thing yesterday.
The issue of procrastination affecting productivity only matters insofar as it affects the productivity of the white-collar sector, where workers have access to desks, and a computer with the internet and so on. I don't think it is a cause for worry because most white-collar workers work within deadlines, so it doesn't matter how much time they waste, as long as they get the job done within the specified time.
I think people sometimes do procrastinate because they feel that they cannot concentrate on work during then. If that is the case, I feel there is nothing wrong with putting things on hold, so that they can be more productive later. Procrastination does not necessarily conflict with productivity!
Procrastination comes to me as a deadly excuse to oneself, especially in meeting deadlines, which I never can. I can only have myself to blame for failing myself most of the time. This then brings me to my personal belief that procrastination is a conscious behaviour to act in a rationally contradictive manner, fueled by the deep sense of laziness in a person. Despite the ironical stance, I'll always stand rooted to the notion of getting things done chop chop curry pok, to the best of my ability.
We-ell, in my opinion, it's all about the self-discipline, and motivation! Essentially, in the corporate world, alignment of the employee's goals and objectives to that of the company's is essential for success, and it will encourage employees to work towards the goals, and thus reduce procrastination (monetary incentives work just as well!).
As an individual, the core motivation should be that from oneself, and that should make you want to work towards your goals. Of course, it helps if there's someone who's working towards the same (or a similar) goal so that you won't lose faith, and you can encourage each other! It's always much easier to make up excuses or discount your goals, so be firm, and go go go! :)
Nope I am usually on time, and I put work before fun so I don't procrastinate. There are many reasons why people procrastinate. For example, people like to rush things last minute (when deadline is the following day) because they do not have the sense of urgency and lack the motivation to get their work done. I have a friend who can be late for 2 hours or more when meeting me. So I became smarter and always tell her the wrong meeting time, say I'd tell her we're meeting at 11am but I arrive at 12 noon and I thought I wouldn't have to wait that long but I was wrong, arriving late is her forte. And she always say "I'm reaching soon", "In a while" which always meant half an hour to 45 minutes.
I think procrastination kills time rather than stretch time as the time wasted is a thing of the past. Procrastination is our biggest enemy from being great, it's all about excuse giving, poor time management and planning. This will in turn result in the decrease of productivity of one's environment or even the society. Anti-procrastination measures have been taken like the banning of youtube and facebook at workplaces. However, this will not eradicate the problem, what needs to be done is to stop employees from generating excuses to put their work down.
Procrastination, inevitably, is becoming one of the more popular choices that young people may make today when they are faced with situations that require them to react to. I often procrastinate as well, and will comfort myself with the reasons such as, "i can do it another day or time" or "its okay, there will be another chance". It is often hard for one to be truly honest to oneself in those situations. Sad to say, i believe i am a member of the procrastinating club.
However, to claim that Facebook and Youtube are the culprits that led to dreaded behaviours of youths today would be a harsh statement. Indeed, the media has its chance to desensitize and de-value the general public. I believe that what ultimately led to youths choosing the easier way out many a times would be due to societal values and the influence they have on the youths. Faced with so much external pressure today, both from the government and parents, Singaporean youths today are often forced to choose the easier way out in order to "take a breather". Success seems to be the only way for one to be recognized while failure can never seem to be accepted.
As the magic bullet theory is obselute. There is no doubt singaporeans have learnt to choose the media and medium that athey are exposed to... to a certain degree. So then I guess it is up to the Media and the brains behind it to encode a message to their audience so that they can understand it and that it is sent to the correct traget audience.
By the way, I have wanted to join club procastinate since 12 years ago! wheres the application form? OH heck, think i 'll do it tomorrow.
Just my two kents worth.
I guess everyone do procrastinate to some extent but maybe just in different areas(work, personal matters, or even simple day-to-day task.). I do agree with you that Facebook and Youtube are some of the main factors that lower the productivity at work. Personally, I have experience it when I was in NS as people actually get hooked onto them for hours in office. With the current technology, they can also access both sites through their mobile phone even if their company restrict the access.
I'm definitely a member of the "prestigious club" myself but when deadline is around the corner it certainly is a pushing factor for me to get my work done. So I do agree that procrastination will affect work productivity as last-minute work will never be the best.
I guess at the rate people actually "adopt" procrastination it will join the rank of the 7 deadly sins soon.
Derrick
While I do agree that Singaporeans are now more active agents in the selection of messages by the mass media, I don't agree that the message that we ought to raise productivity is not at all relevant to lower and middle class families. The government's message to grow new skills is, I feel, especially relevant to them. The development of new skills not only allows them to be better equipped for the job market, it widens their variety of job choices.
Just my own opinion. But I think you're a really good writer:)
I feel that everybody do procrastinate, and even I can't avoid it. But each and every one of us should have a limit. Sometimes when we need to set aside time to do our work, we really need to sit down and do. To me, time is not stretchable. It is about making time more flexible.
However one my most basic values, do what you should do before do what you could do.
Just my opinion :)
Jiaman
Procastination is inevitable. It may be even in our blood. Since many thousand years ago, people had already started procrastinating. Thus, our used of technology did not caused procrastination.
But I must admit that it does increase our chances of procrastinating. There are so many information and activities which we could look up for, to pass time. Thus, we could say that media did somehow make procrastination a excusable reason.
I'm definitely a procrastinator! Haha. I think the thing about procrastinating is that the work that people have to do is something that they do not have as much interest in, so this makes them want to postpone the work as much as they can. The thing is that even though they know that sooner or later they still have to do the work, they would still only do it in the last minute because O think its probably human nature
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