Tap, tap, tap. Your fingers are rapping on the top of the desk. Your mind wanders. You have a cumulative 47 pages of essays due in the next two weeks. You are past the point of stress. You are hopelessly overwhelmed, near the point of tears or a fit of explosive rage.
How did you manage to land in such an unfortunate situation? The answer is one word, the one word most dreaded (and understood) among college students: procrastination. Simply put, procrastination is the avoidance of a task that needs to be done. In other words, it is destined to be the bane of your existence throughout your university experience.
One study at the University of Toronto concluded that 90 per cent of college students are procrastinators, and over 30 per cent are chronic procrastinators. But its prevalence does not even begin to scratch the surface of the destructive impact it can have on a student’s academic success.
Some of the most common explanations for why students procrastinate include poor time management, perfectionism, fear of failure, boredom and distraction. Many of these are sensible causes, but the underlying reason is more straightforward: we are lazy.
Think back a month ago when you had the chance to begin that awful 14-page research paper. You went out for coffee, you cleaned your room, you started attending every campus event—all in order to escape your inclination to do that obvious, responsible, tedious activity: choosing a topic and compiling sources.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “You may delay, but time will not.” We cannot stop the present from continuously spilling into the future; we can only better prepare ourselves for the future when it comes. Much as I do love Denny’s at 4:00 a.m., developing discipline is part of what university is all about.
So here are a few suggestions to consider when you find yourself bombarded at semester’s end. First, set priorities. We all know some of our professors are more lenient with lateness than others. We must exploit that leverage to its full potential. Secondly, craft an environment away from evident disruption. The busiest Fraser apartment or your dorm lounge is probably not the best place to hope for productive achievement.
If all else fails: down a couple of Red Bulls, ride the buzz until you crash, and then repeat. And I look forward to seeing you at Denny’s.
