Procrastination

Being a college student is hard. Along with the pressure to attend class, socialize and entertain yourself, do homework, study, get some sleep and get your extracurriculars in check, there is an aspect to all of this which creates this hardship – deadlines! Making deadlines has got to be the most stressful thing ever, especially when the subject or the goal of the deadline is a difficult or tedious process. That is where the action of procrastination takes place; an action I am an expert in. To procrastinate is to postpone doing something that needs to be done. Basically, it really just means to put something off. This is something I know of all too well. In my case, I began being a procrastinator near the end of my senior year in high school, and ever since then I’ve just kept the title. Let me tell you, being a procrastinator is hard work… and that’s because I make it hard work. I know there are deadlines I must make. I know I should get on them. I know I have a lot of work to do. But am I going to do it? Of course, but at 1:36 a.m. when whatever that needs to be done is due by 9 in the morning. I particularly don’t know why I put off doing so many things at one time, considering my busy schedule and many assignments. But there is some kind of thrill and justification in doing an assignment or studying for a test last minute and getting a good grade for it. It’s almost like cooking a low effort meal that lacks a certain amount of taste to it, and just drenching it in sauce to compliment the plain flavor to make it taste scrumptious! In no way I am condoning my habits of being a procrastinator. It’s actually a negative thing. There are more negatives to being a procrastinator than it is to be a person that actually gets their stuff done appropriately. For instance, when you procrastinate you end up losing more time to relax and do fun stuff than you would when you leave it for last minute. I like taking a good 10-minute study break, but squeezing an episode or two of Orange is the New Black in between is probably one of my biggest flaws. Not only do you lose time, but you tend to lose the effort in your work, which could result in lower grades. When I do my essays last minute, as in the day before they’re due (the whole eight pages of research and all), I usually do end up getting B’s or B+’s. But had I taken the time to work it over some time in advance, I would’ve gotten way more papers handed back to me with A’s written all over them! Lastly, the stress of procrastinating is INSANE! As I’ve mentioned before, do you know what it feels like doing a whole eight-page research paper at one in the morning when you could be doing something more beneficial to your well being like – I don’t know – sleeping?! Procrastinating just utilizes stress as a form of productivity to complete obligations. Being stressed is not particularly a good feeling, but to be using that as fuel for your productivity last minute is not good for your well-being. Long story short, being a procrastinator is the worst thing to do! It helps maybe once or twice, and you may feel relaxed for a little bit, but nothing can top the stress that follows from it. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to kick this habit. Until then, I need another cup of coffee because it’s 12:26 a.m. and I got an essay due in the morning.