It’s that time of year: Christmas lights are going up, hot chocolate is being made, and college students everywhere are questioning their academic choices. This could only be finals week. One of the driving forces behind this time of stress would undoubtedly be every student's clinging demon: procrastination. Projects and papers that were put aside from the beginning of the semester make a sudden reappearance, this time as grade-altering deadlines that refuse to be ignored any longer. It’s a problem we’ve all faced at one time or another.

While procrastination may have become epidemic with the rise of technology in the past few decades, procrastinators existed for centuries before that. One of the earliest examples of a habitual slacker could be found circa 700BC in Greece. His name was Perses, and he was the brother of a popular Greek poet named Hesiod. In his famous work “Works and Days”, Hesiod references Perses when he writes,

“Do not put your work off till to-morrow and the day after; for a sluggish worker does not fill his barn, nor one who puts off his work: industry makes work go well, but a man who puts off work is always at hand-grips with ruin.”

Hesiod was somewhat of a time-management guru-he was known for his studies in economy and ancient timekeeping devices. I’m sure this may have been difficult for Perses to deal with sometimes. It’s much harder to procrastinate and watch Netflix when your brother writes epic poems about the importance of not being “sluggish”. I’m sure we all have a little bit of Perses’ attitude today. It hits hard, especially around finals. In some ways, procrastination is a defense mechanism. If you never start something you can never fail. Fear can make an avoider out of us all. I’m sure if Perses were here, he’d agree. So how do you fight this fear and succeed?

There’s no easy answer to this question. Simple steps include minimizing distractions: putting down the phone, turning off the tv, etc. in order to get things done. But human beings have been procrastinating long before technology existed to distract us. At this point the best we can do is try harness our fear of failure to push us towards the hope of success. Make achievable goals for yourself. Write everything down. Remind yourself how important that grade-determining essay is, and schedule yourself plenty of time to complete it.

It’s not going to be easy. Breaking out of habitual slacking requires patience and perseverance. But with enough dedication, it’s definitely possible. So keep that in mind this finals season. Your GPA will thank you.