What is it?

Procrastination: Fifteen words, five syllables, six vowels, and nine consonants. Procrastination: [proh-kras-tuh-ney-shuh n, pruh‐] the action of delaying or postponing something. Procrastination can be an easy habit to get into, and a difficult one to get out of. Some people slide into it, others jump in, while others trip, fall, drown, and are never heard of from again. And with school around the corner, you will see many students self-diagnose procrastination based on these symptoms.

The Symptoms

“I have time.” Those words seal your fate. The moment they fall from your mouth, you know you will eventually have no time. But of course you have time, two weeks from Monday, right? Wrong. This hole of ‘I have time,’ is a dangerous one to fall into. It’s as if believing that repetition will make it true. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. So then what does that say of the procrastinators, who know the outcome to ‘I have time,’ but keep repeating it?

There are many reasons for not sitting down to do your 44 math problems. The biggest is the, ‘I have time,’ excuse which I already explained. This is used whenever yourself or someone else reminds you of the approaching deadline. Also, the, “There are other classes with more pressing deadlines, so you should get the homework for those done first,” excuse. But the truth is, you’ll put off finishing that homework too. Another repeated excuse is that you’re too busy. Aside from other classes, you have other responsibilities in the outside world. You can’t be expected to work to pay for your classes and pass them. Right?

Believing you have time and that you’re prioritising by not doing your work, you leave yourself susceptible to another symptom: Distractions. Distractions come in many shapes, forms, colors, models, providers, coverage, and brand. After a long day you just want to relax, so you pull up your Netflix queue and say you’ll just watch one show. But it is never just one show. Another common distraction is friends. When they invite you to hang out for a couple of hours doing nothing, you are forced to say yes. It’s for the balance, you tell yourself, whilst turning off your computer where you’ve only completed the MLA format of your paper. It’s most likely that your friends know exactly what you’re doing (or more specifically, what you’re not doing). But that’s okay because they’re using you as a distraction as well.

Of course, the biggest distraction of all comes in a little rectangle shape that conveniently fits in our pockets: our cell phones. With these wireless devices, procrastination has become an art. All you need is a Wi-Fi connection and some sort of social media to start your own career. Take Tumblr for example. A place where you can keep scrolling until the end of times. (Or at least until it’s late enough that writing an A+ paper just doesn’t seem like a possible idea). It’s easy to get hooked by the little screen at your disposal, especially if you see a few cat pictures and fandom posts in a row. But no, you tell yourself, you’re only going to scroll once more. One scroll easily becomes hours of scrolling and your essay attempt is no more. And as a way to relieve yourself of the guilt that comes with procrastination, you decided to scroll once more…

What Do You Do Now?

If you experience any of these symptoms, rest assured, this disease is not fatal, and while it may cause your grades to drop, along with your sleeping schedule, you will not die from procrastination. These symptoms vary in duration, strength, effect, and mix. From my personal experience, there has only been one sure way to cure procrastination. And that cure is…

…in the article I haven’t written out yet.