Sore muscles, feet asleep, eyes glazed over from staring at the computer screen. Pulling your hair out one by one out of frustration. The uncanny urge to give up and cry yourself to sleep is floating around in your mind like a toy car in the bathtub. “NO, you cannot give up! You have worked so hard this whole semester. Only two more weeks to go!” says the angel on your left shoulder. The devil on your right shoulder is tempting you with the comfort of your nice, warm, cozy bed. With a grinning smile, he assures you you will have enough time to finish your paper tomorrow even though you know you won’t. Why do we do this to ourselves? Procrastination is a habit that cannot easily be broken, and that is the sad, despicable truth.

When working hard on our assignment at 3am, what is really going through your mind? What you are going to eat next? How the world got to be round? What time it is in other parts of the world right now? Or maybe it’s that pretty girl in your English class. It probably isn’t any one of those. You are most likely just thinking about getting your assignment done and going to bed. In my eyes, that is no way to live. No, I am not sayin’ we should not go through life slowly, without meaning. Sometimes we must learn to step back, and just take a deep breathe. In fact, now is a better time than any to do that. I want all of you reading this article right now to stop, close your eyes, take a deep, slow breath and think about whatever makes you happy for 30 seconds. No matter how your day has been going, I hope that made you feel a little bit better about yourself.

Now, Procrastination is not a good habit to have. It is a habit that can be quite damaging, yet rewarding at times as well. Oh, look, I got an A on that paper I was up until 4am writing! HOORAY!! Then the people around you ask why you couldn’t have written it at an earlier time. It is rather unfortunate and coincidental that you tell them you are a successful procrastinator and you are proud of it! I wish I could say I am proud of that, but I am not. Procrastination is the embodiment of poor time management and decision making skills all wrapped into one. Let it be known that, personally, I am proud when I finish the work, but I am not proud that I finished it at an unsightly hour.

Procrastination knows no limits, has no boundaries, and shares no filter. Procrastination is all around us pretty much every day, most specifically at night. A lot of people do not notice it, maybe because you are too busy procrastinating yourself. In the future, here are some of the top things to lookout for that procrastinators do:

• Group member or classmate asking you questions at 2am.
• Roommate or suitemate typing on their laptop late at night
• Hearing someone banging their head against the wall at 3 in the morning
• Hearing someone exercise at 2am just so they don’t fall asleep writing their paper
• The joyful scream of I’M FINALLY DONE at 7am, just 15 mins before they have to get up for their 8am.

At the end of the day, nobody else can do your work for you, and nobody else can plan a schedule for you and make you stick to it. You must make your schedule on your own, but that is not to say you can’t have help along the way. A little help from your friends can go a long way.

You are the leader of yourself, decider of your own fate, and master of your own destiny. I hope this article makes you think twice about your decision making and time management skills (or lack thereof) up to this point in your life. IF you’re reading this, it’s NOT too late to make a change! Go out and do it today!