“I do my work at the same time each day:  the last minute.” The mind-frame of this unknown author is identical to that of many students, except there are numerous reasons for procrastinating.

One. The adrenaline rush. Your palms are sweating. Your heart is pounding. You feel as if you’re racing against a ticking time bomb. You manage to finish all the mathematic equations just before the bell echoes to launch your mind into a frenzy of emotions.

Two. The complete and utter terror. “It won’t be good enough. I’m not smart. This paper is impossible, it’s gonna kill my grade.”

Three. The stupidity of this assignment. “Who cares?! This is never gonna help me. I’m never gonna need to know this.”

Sophomore AJ Stewart has his own excuse, “I not only do this because I am being lazy, but it is easier to get it all done in one session of complete thought than to string it out over countless days. Crunch time seems to be a good time to get things done.”

We all procrastinate, especially students. We have numerous excuses and numerous distractions. For example, one key distraction is our infamous JC laptops. However, psychology teacher Dr. Paul Lazor, doesn’t think procrastination has gotten any worse because of new technology. You could look at a wall for hours to procrastinate. Only what people do to procrastinate is different.

Contrary to popular belief, procrastination is not a problem of time management or of planning. Procrastinators possess the same skills as others for estimating time, they are just slightly more optimistic.  Ph.D. Joseph Ferrari explains, “Telling someone who procrastinates to buy a weekly planner is like telling someone with chronic depression to just cheer up.”

Procrastinators lie to themselves. They think, “I’ll be more motivated to do this tomorrow.” or “I work best under pressure.” However, those are untrue, and slackers end up trying to justify the situation by convincing themselves that the assignment is not a big deal.

Senior Samantha Riley is a perfect example, “I try not to procrastinate all the time! I usually open Word and write my name and the title, then stop for the day. Then when it’s due I’ll do it the night before. However, I do work better under pressure.”

Procrastinators are also professionals at finding distractions, especially ones that don’t take a lot of commitment on their part. Checking Facebook is perfect. People distract themselves due to a lack of interest in an assignment.

Procrastinators, you are not a lost cause. You can be timely, but first you need to get some help and admit you have a problem. Changing your ways is going to take some work. You are most definitely not going to wake up one day and never procrastinate again, but you can fix your problem and be more productive.

Sarah Kearby can be reached for comment at [email protected].