Though we are all students who strive to do our best and excel in all of our classes, it is completely impossible to avoid that evil entity known as procrastination. It sneaks up on you at the most inopportune moments and stays with you until it is too late to do anything about it. Then comes the begging, pleading, and bargaining before you give up and completely binge watch an entire series in one night. So here are five ways procrastination affects me while I study.

1. Getting Distracted Easily

It is truly sad to say that a leaf blowing in the wind twenty feet away, seen through a five-inch window as people walk by could distract me, but it totally does. It is as if our brains picks up on any little detail, no matter how small or trivial it may be, and completely targets it as a way to throw off any type of studying or ability to do work. How is it my fault that my brain is evil?

2. Hunger

Whenever I study, whether it be for an hour or a couple of hours, five minutes into the session I complain about being hungry. So, of course, I have to go out and get food because no problem or solution has ever solved on an empty stomach, which then causes me to feel tired and basically sleep the whole day away. Is it my fault that food seems so tempting while I study? I think not…

3. Checking the Time on my Phone

Honestly, I should’ve seen this one coming but it still got me. The “I’m just going to check my phone for the time like there’s not a clock on the wall right beside me” way of procrastinating. As soon as you look at your phone you’re done for. The possibilities of what you could do after you press that home button are endless. First, you see a notification or two that would be completely “rude” to ignore. Then, you might as well check your social media now rather than do it later, just to get it over with of course. Sixteen hours later you’re trying to cram fifteen weeks of information into your brain five minutes before your exam because you never went back to studying. It really is a vicious cycle.

4. Random Life Thoughts

Have you ever notice that you become the most introspective about life and its difficulties when you’re doing something important. Whenever I study or am trying to get work done I become a true philosopher of life. What is the meaning of life? How much money does Oprah really have? What if this is all a figment of my imagination and I am really in a coma right now? The possibilities are endless and so is the amount of “L’s” I take because of it.

5. I'll Do It In an Hour...

This is probably something I say every time I study and I still, to this day, cannot stop myself from doing. The inevitable “I’ll do it in an hour.” This is probably the worst of them all because you are making yourself a promise and commitment that you know deep down you won’t keep. The most astonishing part of it is the reasons we come up with for putting studying off for that hour. The clock says 6:05 PM and you should start at a well-rounded number like 7:00 PM. A number of times I have used that excuse is inexcusable. I have no idea why it makes so much sense at the time, but every time I study I find that a more than suitable reason to delay doing work.