Procrastination

by Elizabeth Craven, senior

May 5, 2017

Most every student seems to fight their own battle every year against procrastination, especially as the school year comes to an end. Unfortunately, this can affect the student's work, participation in class, and even a student's health. Those who procrastinate seem to sleep less, eat poorly, and drink more alcoholic beverages. An approximate 85 percent of students have admitted they procrastinate when doing their work, according to Brandon Gaille, author of the article “17 Lazy Procrastination Statistics.”

Some students believe they do it because they like the way the rush feels when scrambling to reach the deadline, although stress is often related to procrastination. They feel a bigger reward when it is done last minute rather than right away because the high amount of stress is instantly removed when they finally finish the project or task. Others believe it's become second nature to put something off until the last minute because of how often they’ve seen it happen or have done it themselves in the past. More often than not, perfectionists tend to procrastinate as well, believing it is better to not do something, than do it badly. Many distractions, such as television and social media, can cause even the most motivated to put something off until the very last moment. Those who have chronic procrastination seem to do and turn in everything slightly behind schedule (Brandon Gaille, December 13, 2013).

Procrastination forms out of habit. Rather than being born with it, people develop symptoms through growing up and observing others. Some people have low self control, and more often than not, laze around until the last moment they have to work on a project. "Telling someone who procrastinates to buy a weekly planner is like telling someone with chronic depression to just cheer up," insists psychologist, Dr. Ferrari.

Overcoming a trait such as procrastination is important if one wants to lead a healthy and less stressful life. For some, they find it hard to gather motivation to do something, whether it is cleaning the house, or finishing homework. They tend to see these things as less important than what they are currently doing, even if it is just lounging around. An effective way to switch the value of what has to be done and what is currently being done is to be reminded why it is important, or realize that what is currently being done is less important.

Sometimes people put things off because of laziness; they don't want to put in effort on a harder task. People would rather work on something that is easier than work on something that has to get done. One method to fix this is to break the task down into smaller, and easier parts to lower the amount of effort needed and it allows someone take small intervals for needed breaks in between. This may take longer, but it helps remove the hard part which drives the decision to do it later.

Whatever the reason for such actions is, it is imperative to remove the distractions or laziness from daily routine, even if it maybe be the hardest change a chronic procrastinator will try to make. Despite the difficulty to change, removing the trait will help remove unnecessary stress and frustration. There are little ways everyday that can be a distraction, or be removed to do the most important task at hand. This all depends on the motivation and self discipline needed to remove procrastination from getting the job done.