If you're a college student, chances are you are no stranger to procrastination. Despite being told time and time again not to do it and experiencing firsthand how unnecessarily stressful it can make things, we just refuse to change our ways. With so much other things going on, actually getting yourself to do the assignment can often be the hardest part. It's easy to procrastinate because it doesn't really feel like you're doing much of anything (because you're not), but before you know it, putting off one or two assignments can get real ugly -- real fast.
You get the assignment and it isn’t due until the end of the semester.
Optimistically, you think this won’t be like last time (or the time before that, or the time before that). You’re ready and you’ve devised a game plan. Your paper will be done a week in advanced, your stress level will remain low, and you can save your energy for things that really matter like watching Netflix.
You get a few free weekends, here and there.
You could have started the paper during any one of these. I mean it did cross your mind. That’s got to count for something, right? This really isn’t your fault. There’s just so much you could be doing at any given time. You can't really be expected to write a paper of all of things. It’s fine, there’s still plenty of time left.
The assignment is due in a week and you still haven’t started.
So, the original plan is out of the picture but as long as its in on time, who cares right? A week is literally so much time. What are you even going to do with all that time?
The assignment is due tomorrow and still has not been started.
It’s fine. Really. You have all day, you tell yourself as you open up a blank word document on your laptop and proceed to switch between staring at it, refreshing Snapchat, and scrolling through Tumblr.
Your friends invite you to hang out.
Of all days. Don’t they know you have a paper to write? The nerve of some people. You can’t help but become bitter as you click through snapchats of everyone having a great time together while you’re stuck in your room working on the paper from hell.
You decide to take a well-deserved study break.
You go on YouTube and spot, “The 100 Best Moments from The Office,” under the recommended for you section. You end up watching everything, from an incredibly tone deaf ukulele tutorial for Drake’s “Hotline Bling” to a montage of Guy Fieri eating various foods in slow motion with Linkin Park playing in the background.
It quickly becomes 4 a.m.
Your paper is not even half way done and your class is at 9 a.m. There really is no point in sleeping now. You pour yourself some coffee and wipe away your tears as you prepare yourself for the long night ahead.
The sun is shining and the birds are singing.
You’ve spent the last four hours (mostly) working on this assignment and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. You finish your paper just in time to print it off, stuff a breakfast sandwich down your throat, and arrive to class right on time, like a boss.
