Procrastination

 What role does procrastination play in your life?

I don’t procrastinate much. When I get home after sports or other extracurriculars, I eat dinner and then get straight to work, getting through my homework quickly, taking only short drink breaks in between, or helping my parents with something. Occasionally, I’ll get up and play some ping-pong with my younger brother, or take a ten to twenty minute nap. I usually wrap up all my homework and other activities before ten or eleven, and then get straight to bed for a good night’s rest. 

At least that’s what I tell myself. In reality, I procrastinate just as much as any other student. I watch Youtube videos between assignments or “checkpoints” that I assign myself, such as writing one or two paragraphs for an essay. Often, as you might expect, I get drawn down a rabbit hole, clicking on videos, gradually draining my focus until I sit up and realize I’ve been watching highlight reels for half an hour. Then, I’ll reluctantly get myself some water and begin to get back to work. 

For me, the greatest hurdle to clear after procrastinating is regaining momentum. After browsing Reddit or playing a game of Clash Royale, quickly regaining my focus to progress on my coursework becomes more difficult with each “round” of work and procrastination. I remember one Saturday in Freshman year pre-pandemic when I had to take some notes on history. Before I knew it, my entire morning and afternoon had passed and I only had “history notes” for a title in my notebook. More recently, I found myself putting off studying for a US History test until two days before. 

Normally, my procrastination doesn’t affect me too much. I usually sleep around eleven at night, and find myself completing tasks in a similar time frame to the plan that I craft mentally. When I don’t trust my self-control, I’ll write down all my planned tasks to remind myself of the work that I need to complete in one night, budgeting time based on each assignment’s perceived difficulty then setting timers to keep me focused. However, when this method passes under the radar on a busy day, I sometimes find myself scrambling to finish all the important work with just an hour left on some of the due date timers. 

Procrastination can be a lifesaver. Just yesterday, In between repetitions of a section I was practicing for piano, my phone became a magnet for my eyes, gradually sucking my energy until I got up and decided to go take a nap. After twenty minutes, I felt much more refreshed and was able to focus on improving that section’s articulation. In other contexts, procrastination can also help me be more creative in script writing for German presentations or videos. Other than putting me in a better mood, procrastination can also lead me to be more productive through the pressure it puts on me to meet a deadline. I’ve found I can accomplish quite a bit when my fatigue and boredom are masked by the panic as I realize I only have an hour to finish my math webassign. Although this methodology is definitely unsustainable, the rush is sometimes worth experiencing. 

I’d say procrastination doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. In order to get into the right mindset for work, I sometimes have to indulge myself a little to refresh my mind after a day at school. Today after school, I grabbed a yogurt and read a few sports articles before beginning my homework. Aside from just the mood benefits of  procrastinating, I think the lessons learned from procrastinating for too long will eventually help me out in the long run. Anyway... I think I’m going to text my friends now.