It’s 2 a.m. You are starting your 12-page research paper due in six hours. You’re armed for battle with a 5-Hour energy, a Red Bull, a PowerBar and a SmartWater. This is worth 25 percent of your grade. This night comes down to you, your laptop, your energy armor and your textbooks.
It’s 2:30 a.m. Time to update the Facebook status, and let everyone know how hard you are working. You have known about this paper for the past 10 weeks, but tonight is the night you must put everything aside and suit up for battle. This is fight or flight mode: You must finish.
In 15 minutes, you will update your Twitter and complain about this brutal task. In 40 minutes, you will check out YouTube and watch a funny video. At 4 a.m., you will go on Facebook and stalk your own profile pictures again. Four more hours to go: The tension is getting out of control. You have a five-minute panic attack, and then proceed to tackle this paper.
Sound familiar? Do you have frequent epic battles with The Procrastination gods?
At some point in our scholastic careers, most of us have dealt with procrastination. Whether it was a simple homework assignment or a massive research paper, we have all been there. But why do we put ourselves through this torturous self-inflicted drama? And, to make matters more confusing, why do we feel the need to take 20 or more “study breaks” on Facebook/Twitter and tell the world how stressed we are?
After evaluating my procrastination habits and the habits of my peers, I have tried to make sense of why we all frequently duke it out with the Procrastination gods.
Reason No. 1: We crave the drama.
What could possibly be more academically dramatic than sitting in Payson at 2 a.m., energy drink in hand, with only a few hours to start a massive grade-altering assignment? To make matters worse, our Facebook friends and Twitter followers receive constant updates about our self-inflicted dramatic situation.
Do we create this kind of drama out of boredom? Do we put ourselves through this torture because we crave a little frenzy?
Maybe some of us subconsciously yearn for a little more excitement and severe procrastination is how we create it for ourselves. The next time you notice yourself spiraling down the procrastination path, pull yourself out and evaluate the situation. Ask yourself if this drama is necessary to get the assignment done. Most likely, it’s not.
Reason No. 2: We love the game.
For some, waiting until the very last minute to begin an assignment is like competing in an epic battle, full of strategy tactics and level advancements. When you finish just in the nick of time, you may feel like you just won this huge war and you deserve some sort of prize of victory party.
With this mentality, you have your game face on and every second left on the clock is all a part of the competition. Every page you finish advances you to another “level” in the game. Comparing last minute procrastination with a competition may be a bit of a stretch, but some actually get a kick out of “beating” their assignment.
If you have this competitive nature, but only think you can fulfill it through procrastination: Think again. Instead of waiting until the last minute, trick your mind into thinking the deadline is actually sooner. You can set your deadline earlier, wage war against the assignment earlier, and then have your victory party earlier. You still won “the game,” but with less stress and tension.
Reason No. 3: We’re too fearful to start now.
Sometimes the thought of completing a huge assignment is a lot scarier than actually doing it. Often we make the situation worse in our mind, creating fear and anxiety. Before you know it, the task is blown completely out of proportion and the thought of completing it is unbearable.
Reality is, no task is too big to complete if you give yourself adequate time and break it up into small parts. You’ll lose the fear and anxiety that is preventing you from starting the task on time. Don’t let fear drive you to procrastination; beat the panic before it can even set it.
Whatever the rationale may be, most of us deal with procrastination on some sort of level. By understanding the reasoning behind this problem, you can reevaluate the situation to help conquer the habit for the future.
