It’s the week before finals and everyone is scrambling to finish papers and presentations. For those of us who haven’t gotten our lives together yet, procrastination is the true enemy of the semester. It’s a journey for any who have stayed up late, frantically editing their work, will understand. And it all starts when:
1. You receive the rubric and learn you have all the time in the world.
A whole month to write a seven-page paper you say? No problemo, I’ll just shove this to the bottom of my backpack and forget about it the moment I walk out of this classroom.
2. You ask yourself if you should start working early so you don’t suffer in the long run.
You’ve been there, you know what’s coming to you. Reason dictates that procrastination will end up killing you. You might as well do everything you can in this moment to avoid it at all costs
3. You ignore every logical thought and continue watching Netflix.
4. You realize that project you should've started is due tomorrow.
Of course, the realization comes while you’re in the middle of doing something else — such as attending a lecture or falling asleep — and can’t start the project. You worry about starting it anyway.
5. You promise yourself that you’ll start as soon as you get time.
Once that alarm rings or you get back to your dorm room the grind will begin.
6. You forget all about it the minute you see your bed.
The draw of a warm, cozy nap is a powerful one, especially for a college student. Coffee can’t keep us awake forever
7. You FINALLY start working with less than twelve hours left on the clock.
Now that the threat of an incomplete is a likely reality, you finally manage to get your ass in gear and actually research, dammit.
8. The harrowing last hour before submission.
You’re frantically embellishing your ideas with every kind of scholarly language you can think of in order to reach the word count. You think you can taste color, and there’s a mysterious ringing in your ears. This is your new normal.
9. You don't have any time to edit with anything other than autocorrect.
I know we’re not supposed to rely on autocorrect. However, consider this phrase: “submission closes at 11:59 pm”
10. You feel the sweet, sweet relief of turning it in.
You beat down your emotions with a stick so you could focus on finishing your project instead of freaking out. Now that you’re done, all those feelings come rushing in, and somehow you’re both laughing and crying at the same time. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, as they say.
11. Rinse and repeat (!), and wonder why you let yourself do this every time.
You fool. You buffoon. You absolute walnut. Have you learned nothing? This experience has been for naught because it’s more than likely that you will find yourself in this exact position the next time a big project rolls around.
