Procrastination controls lives, making any simple daily task 10 times more difficult. The Oxford English Dictionary defines procrastination as “the action of delaying or postponing something.” However, I would define procrastination as the root of many high school students problems and stress.
ThriveMyWay reports that “53% of high school students, 53% of undergraduate students, and 61% of graduate students are frequent procrastinators.” Not only does this cause school work to be delayed, but it can delay household chores too. Chores such as doing the dishes or laundry can become overwhelming if put off for long periods of time since they become backed up. Often I will find myself watching a TV show, scrolling on social media, or doing an unimportant task to avoid doing a school-related assignment that has a deadline. Not only does this cause a lot of unnecessary stress but it also results in many missing assignments and no sense of urgency to complete them.
Many mental illnesses and disorders have been found to be associated with procrastinating, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and ADHD. Thankfully, procrastination is not a mental illness, therefore it is just an issue to resolve.
An extreme step to take against procrastination is to eliminate all distractions. If social media is a distraction, delete it or silence it. If TV is a distraction, let someone hide the remote. Another option is to make a to-do list; write down everything that needs to get done and check them off as they get accomplished. With these list formats, there can be a reward system too. For every five things done, there can be a reward such as candy or five minutes of Instagram. I find that gummy bears work best for me. For each section read, I eat a gummy bear.
Kendra Cherry says, “Take baby steps: Break down the items on your list into small, manageable steps so that your tasks don’t seem so overwhelming.” Instead of having to read 30 pages, take it three pages at a time. Then instead of one gigantic task, there are just ten smaller ones. All in all, procrastination may seem like an all-controlling force but with the right steps taken to avoid procrastinating, it truly is not nearly as daunting.