According to the online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the verb procrastinate refers to the act of putting something off “intentionally and habitually.”
I must admit to once or twice – OK always – procrastinating my butt off. I don’t know what it is about the act of putting something off for later that seems so comforting.
When a student procrastinates, he or she is creating an illusion of time that doesn’t exist. Sure, we all work, party and do other non-academic activities that tend to navigate our minds away from the things we ought to do. It is now finals time, and all that study time that we’ve put off until the tomorrow that never comes is going to come and haunt us.
I can practically write a book about the times I’ve procrastinated in my life. But going back to procrastination habits, when it comes to studying, students tend to do so because there just seems to be no point in doing something now when you can do it later. Don’t deny it.
A January article from The New York Times explains that students procrastinate because it’s just simply hard to get started. Just writing this article, for example, my editor told me to have it done by a certain date. And guess what? I’m using that certain date to finish the damn thing up.
I’ve got a friend who works two jobs, carries 12 units and still manages to go out.
Last Sunday, when I talked to her, she sounded exhausted and worried. She had one day to write seven essays for one of her classes.
She explained that she had the whole semester to work on them, but because the professor was nice enough to give students extra time to turn in all of the essays at the same time, she ended up doing everything last-minute. We’re doomed when we’re given a chance to extend a deadline or a test that has been postponed an extra week. We fool ourselves into thinking that if we wait until the deadline, there will magically be another extension and we’ll be home free. Yeah right. The New York Times article explains that there’s a difference between a chronic procrastinator and an academic procrastinator, meaning that the former is a problem that gets out of hand and just goes through life making excuses for showing up late to work or missing other important shores. Another explanation for our constant dilly-dallying habits can be due to the fear of failure.
I guess it’s hard to try and stay away from procrastination. But if we really want to finally pass that detested math class, we’ve got to get more focused on what we want from our college education. We’ve got to remember that we’ve reached adulthood and that phase in our lives where we’re supposed to be in charge of our own lives. Our parents and teachers that used to make us do homework or study will not be there any more to make us get off that couch and get to readin’.
Julio Salgado is a junior journalism major and the staff cartoonist for the Daily Forty-Niner.
