If you really know me, you know that I never get to anything on time. I'm late to almost every rehearsal, appointment, or day at work, but I think people have just gotten used to it at this point.

This isn't something I'm proud of, but it's not a habit I can fix easily either. My whole family is the same way, meaning you can expect us to arrive at any sort of family gathering 30 minutes to an hour late.

But never being on time to anything lends itself to another destructive habit: procrastination. Procrastination is putting off a task that needs to be done within a certain time frame.

Because I'm used to never being on time, I rarely turn things in on time either. Or, I'll start a large assignment at the last minute and stay up into the wee hours of the night frantically completing it. I know it's wrong, but I'd much rather catch up on a Netflix show or take a nap than actually get my work done.

But before I expose myself any more, it's important to explore the root of the problem.

So, why do we procrastinate anyway?

Procrastination isn't supposed to make sense because we know that what we're doing is wrong, but we do it anyway. But according to Dr. Fuschia Sirois, professor of psychology at the University of Sheffield, we continuously procrastinate "because of an inability to manage negative moods surrounding a task." Essentially, procrastination is a problem regarding managing our emotions, not our time.

This information surprises me a lot in the context of myself, because I always assumed that I regulated my emotions pretty well, and that I just needed to improve on time management. I don't usually get stressed—now I realize that's because I'm very good at stopping myself from feeling negative emotions associated with tasks I have to complete.

I've also discovered that the degree to which I put off a task depends on the nature of it. For boring tasks like doing my laundry, I might put that off because I just don't want to do it. However, for more arduous tasks like writing a 10-page paper, I might put it off because I think it's too difficult for me or that I'm not knowledgeable enough to write it. For these tasks that I have deeper negative emotions toward, I'll put it off for longer to put myself at ease, and then only complete them when I absolutely have to.

After learning about the causes of my procrastination, I envy people who can complete tasks efficiently and in a timely manner more than ever. Why does my mind have to be like this? Will I ever get better?

But now that I've truly come to terms with my procrastination through writing this article, I feel more equipped to tackle my dangerous habit than ever before. After doing some thinking and research, here are some helpful ways I think will help me reduce my urge to procrastinate.

Make distractions more difficult to access.

When I don't feel like completing an assignment, I result to scrolling through the same three social media apps and end up distracting myself for as long as half an hour. To solve this problem, I could leave my phone in my dorm room and only bring my student ID to get me into the library. Because I don't get many alerts on my laptop, I wouldn't be bombarded with notifications from text messages and social media apps while I'm trying to complete a large assignment.

Make a task as easy as possible for myself.

Part of this problem would be solved by distancing myself from my phone, but that doesn't solve my not wanting to complete something because of its difficulty. If I have a big paper to complete, I could start by writing a thesis statement a few weeks out, and then writing an outline a week before it's due, before finally giving myself a week to write the actual paper. I know this sounds obvious to some people, but I've always just sat down and written papers in one sitting and without any sort of planning. And trust me, it's pretty painful. Something else I often put off is working out, so I could even make that easier for myself if I just wear my exercise clothes to class and then go directly to the gym after class.

Ask people for help.

Most of the time, even when I have a difficult assignment to complete and don't know where to start, I tend to suffer in silence. I think that if I ask a teacher for help, it might make me look weaker and less intelligent. In reality, going to a teacher for help means that I am advocating for my own success and I could actually form a closer bond with that teacher. It's a win-win situation: I'm making a task easier for myself, and the teacher is learning more about myself and also literally doing his or her job by educating a student.

I don't know if anyone can actually relate to my level of procrastination, but I'd feel better knowing if one person finished reading this article with a different perspective of procrastination or how to tackle it. Now, I actually feel like there is hope for me to become a more productive college student and to overcome my procrastination one step at a time.

Now stop reading this article and get done whatever you need to get done!