Pros and Cons of Procrastination

BY LAUREN HAUPT

Being a high school student means having a lot of responsibility. We have hours of homework every night, tons of projects due at the end of the week, and are expected to bring in certain supplies every day. What if we don’t feel like doing all these things every day, and instead want to hang out with friends or be able to nap in the middle of the day? The typical response is to either postpone our responsibilities or just neglect them entirely. This is called procrastination, and is defined by Webster’s dictionary as, “putting something off intentionally or habitually”. Procrastination usually holds a negative connotation; however there can be some positive outcomes as a result of procrastination.

Many people see procrastination in a negative light, but there are some positives that accompany the negatives. A positive example of procrastination is in the instances that it prevents disaster. In many instances people put off work because they don’t understand it. In this case, waiting to begin an assignment the lets you obtain more knowledge by giving the opportunity to ask for help from teachers. In some situations doing the wrong thing on an assignment can get you in a lot of trouble, like doing your part all wrong on a group project. You are messing up not only your grade but your peers’ as well. If you spend more time asking questions and trying to find out the proper way to do the assignment, you can prevent getting yourself and others in trouble.

Despite the good, there is also bad when it comes to procrastination. Most people tend to spend their time lying around or sleeping instead of having a legitimate excuse for missing an assignment. If you procrastinate, work begins to pile up. All these deadlines you thought you could meet have now arrived and you are left struggling to do a month’s worth of work in one night. Tied in with work piling up is the unavailability for extra time if needed. Let’s say a big project is due tomorrow and you have so many questions, but because you procrastinated, you have no time to ask them. You’re left struggling to do something you have no idea how to do. Finally, procrastinating makes students look unprofessional. If you enter the workforce and every one of your job assignments is late, you will either be fired or labeled as a bad employee. It’s always best to get things on time and try your best to ask all questions before it’s too late.

To help deal with procrastination, there are a number of steps you can take. You can break down big tasks into smaller tasks so the work doesn’t feel so tedious. Another solution is to make lists of what you have to do, putting what you don’t want to do first so you can get it out of the way. You can also keep an agenda or schedule. Keeping an agenda can help prevent you from forgetting an assignment, while a schedule can help plan out your time wisely so that way you can complete you work and still have time for friends. You should also limit distractions. This is the hardest thing for people our age to do. We need to turn off our phones and TV, and spend our time working and getting essential tasks done. Procrastination is a hard thing to conquer, but with the right help you can achieve your goals.