We've all been there: putting off a project or studying for a test until the last minute. For some, this only happens once or twice a semester. For others, procrastinating is an integral part of life. We live and breathe putting off our work until the very last minute. When procrastinating is ingrained so deeply within us, there are some similarities we share.
1. You convince yourself you work better under stress.
Those papers that are the product of stress-filled nights accompanied by your favorite source of caffeine always seem to turn out better than a paper you worked on for a week. Having a looming deadline seems to make you less prone to distractions and more able to focus solely on the task at hand. Whether or not you actually produce good work, though, is up to your professor to decide.
2. Let's face it, no matter how much motivation you have, you WON'T work on that project that's due in a week.
You can say you're going to do it all you want, but in the back of your mind you know it's pointless. You might open the Word document and make a title, but eventually your night will turn into a Netflix binge or going out with your friends. It never fails; you're just incapable of getting work done ahead of schedule.
3. Those projects that are assigned on syllabus week that aren't due until much later in the semester are the WORST!
These types of projects leave so much time for you to procrastinate, it's unreal. Inevitably, you will forget about it until about a week before it's due, convince yourself to just get it done now, and then still not do it until the night before. You could've saved yourself all the stress and just completed it at the beginning of the semester, but no, you're a procrastinator, remember?
4. You pull an all-nighter at least once a week.
There's always that one night when you realize you've put off way too many assignments and they're all due the next day. You curse out your professors and swear they're all out to get you. You complain about your lack of sleep to anyone that will listen, but you know it's all your fault. So, you suck it up and get down to business. It may take until five minutes before your first class the next day, or it may only take until 6 am and you can take a quick nap. Either way, you best bet you'll be walking into class the next morning like a zombie holding the biggest cup of coffee you can find.
5. You get jealous of your peers who say they've been studying or working on a project for days, because let's face it, you just can't do that.
Your professors will announce test dates and project deadlines well in advance, but no matter what, you will never get an early start. You have a midterm coming up and that girl that sits in front of you is flipping through flashcards she made three days ago in preparation. You think to yourself it would be nice to feel so prepared, but where's the fun in that? Every exam you're back to your old ways of cramming the night before.
6. You find ways to justify whatever stupid thing you're doing instead of studying.
You will literally clean your entire room top to bottom before you would even think about studying for a test. You justify it by saying it needed to be done, but did it really need to be done the night before a huge test? Stupid, trivial tasks will suddenly become of the utmost importance when you really need to be doing work. But it's okay, at least you're doing something, right?
7. You are the worst person to work with for group projects.
You will always be the person everyone dreads working with. It's not because you don't do your work or because you produce poor quality work; it's simply because you wait until the last minute to do everything and it drives the other group members crazy. It always happens that you get put in a group with the one person in the class that loves to get things done the day they are assigned. This person will drive you crazy with emails and texts asking you what's wrong and asking if you remember that your part of the project needs to be completed ASAP. You wish your professors would stop putting you through this agony and let you procrastinate in peace.
8. Once you get down to it, you're incredibly efficient.
Once you get started on that mountain of work you have due tomorrow, you blow through it at breakneck speed. You are incredibly focused and determined to finish everything as quickly as possible, while still producing something of value. You take pride in this skill of yours.
9. Doing one hours worth of work in eight hours and doing eight hours worth of work in one hour is your passion.
You regularly put off doing any and all work, even though you know full well it will catch up with you eventually. There are times when you are incredibly unproductive and there are times when you question how you could've been so unproductive. The cycle is endless, but you live for it.
10. Stress and anxiety are feelings that never really go away.
Your daily procrastination leaves you with that nagging voice in that back of your head every day reminding you of all the assignments you have yet to complete. This voice causes you to never quite be able to relax. You're always stressed or anxious about something in the near future. Over time you get used to these feelings, and if they do completely go away for a while, like during summer vacation, you don't feel like yourself at all.
11. The most comforting thing a friend can say to you is they haven't started the assignment either.
It's always nice to feel like you're not alone in your procrastination. When someone else is in the same boat as you, the daunting task of completing the assignment seems a lot more manageable. Plus, you now have someone to vent to about how stressed out this assignment is making you.
12. No matter how much you try to change, being a procrastinator is just who you are.
No matter how hard you try to get a project done early, old habits die hard. You will slip back into what you know best: procrastination.
The bottom line is, as long as you're getting your work done and not causing yourself an unbearable amount of stress and emotional problems from procrastinating, it will be okay. It's a part of who you are, so accept it, embrace it, and learn to use it to your best ability!
