With winter break near and final exams, papers and projects piling up, let's talk about procrastinating. We've all been there at least once, and it's okay. It happens to the best of us and you don't have to beat yourself up over it every time.

Usually, when I procrastinate on an assignment it's because I'm simply having trouble starting, and even when I attempt to start it seems like I just can't get into the groove of things. Although, this doesn't usually happen with assignments for major classes that I really dedicate myself to, but with more general coursework and projects.

In my experience, I've never procrastinated to the point where I wasn't able to complete something, but enough to where I had no choice other than to be productive.

Sometimes when you procrastinate an assignment you're not quite that interested in, it can work in your favor because it almost forces you to focus on it.

When you know there's a time crunch, you're more motivated since you know it has to be completed soon. On the other hand, if you have too much time to complete a task, you might start to overthink and question your work, which gets in the way of developing and progressing the project.

The key is to find that perfect amount of time to where it's relatively close to the deadline so you're more motivated to work on it and leave yourself a bit of review time, but not pushing it to where you're rushing and not trying.

It's okay to put things off once in awhile, especially if it tends to work in your favor. Everyone works differently so you don't always have to put yourself down about this. If your tasks are building up during a busy time like finals week and you're feeling overwhelmed so you have to hold off on one assignment in order to focus on something that has to be done sooner, so be it. We are all human.

BUT, be careful. Don't get too comfortable and over estimate your skills, because that's when it will come back to bite you in the butt. When in doubt, just do it.