I glance to my right and see my roommate sleeping peacefully in her bed. She sleeps with her mind at ease, knowing she’s finished all of her homework. I bring my attention back down to my desk and my gaze falls to my laptop. I rub my eyes. With my slightly blurry vision, I realize I am nowhere near done with my ten-page paper and I can’t seem to remember why I decided to do it the night before it's due. I look over to my planner and see the laundry list of assignments I have due along with the ten pages. The clock on my desk reads 2:30 a.m., and I have six hours until my class starts. In these six hours, I go through five stages of procrastination.
1. Denial
There is no way this assignment is due today. I must have read the syllabus wrong or misheard the professor. The professor wouldn’t do this to us in the second week of classes.
Then there is that moment when I rush to grab my syllabus from my backpack, and I feel my heart drop into my stomach as I see that my paper is indeed due today. No. No. No. That can’t be right. According to the syllabus, this assignment was assigned on the first day. Hmm. What have I been doing with these whole two weeks? I find myself replaying the last few days in my head. Through the sequence of my flashbacks, I see all of the free time I’ve had. Did I even start? Did I even make an outline?
2. Anger
I realize that I didn’t make an outline. Not only did I not make an outline, but I also don’t even understand the writing prompt. So now I am sitting at my desk, staring at the wall, and wondering if I made the right decision by doing this “college” thing. Why do I always do this to myself? Why didn’t I start this earlier? This is the stage where I wish I could build a time machine and go back in time to slap and warn myself before my procrastination gets this bad. But we all know that’s not possible, so all I can do is hope that I never put myself in this situation again.
3. Bargaining
By this stage, sleep is weighing heavy on my eyelids. I would do anything for a nap. I am about five pages in and the clock reads 4 a.m.
I decide to make a deal with myself. For every page I complete, I will grant myself a 17 minute nap, then get back up and go for another page. Only in college do you find yourself taking exactly 17 minute naps. So I begin feverishly typing away on my laptop. After typing for a good 20 minutes, I stop to check my progress, only to see that I don’t even have a paragraph. So I adjust the deal a bit. Once I crank out a full paragraph, I save my progress and jump into bed to enjoy my 17 minutes of uninterrupted sleep.
Then I wake up, glance at the clock, and almost pass out when it reads 6 a.m.
4. Despair
I didn’t set my alarm. I completely forgot to set the timer for a 17 minute nap. How could this happen? I now have messed up royally, and I don’t know what to do. At this stage, I am feeling pretty hopeless and depressed. This is the stage where I realize that it’s time to get serious. I recognize all of the mistakes I have made with this assignment leading up to this point, and then I get to work. I end up writing my paper until roughly 8 a.m. At this point, I am praying for at least a B minus.
5. Acceptance
Or even a C+. I could live with that. This paper isn’t that good anyway. My grammar is probably off, and I didn't have the chance to go to the writing center in the library to get it all situated. But I'll just accept my doom. I accept that I may not get the grade I want, I accept that this is all my fault, and I promise myself that I will not procrastinate as badly next time.
Once you go through all the stages, you realize that even though you say you’re not going to procrastinate, you will. Procrastination is a disease that has become an epidemic on most college campuses. Either you'll be prepared to battle procrastination, or you will let it take control of you. It’s your choice.
