As we get deeper into the school year and schoolwork seems to feel unending, many students start feeling the pressures of deadlines and struggling to meet them. Missing work deadlines can seem to pass by quicker with not enough time to catch up.
After a long day at school and other time-consuming activities, it can be hard to settle down and spend more time on schoolwork. It can be really easy to find yourself slipping into a pattern of procrastination. It feels much easier in the moment to push that work and associated stress aside for longer amounts of time rather than completing it immediately.
Depending on the classes you are in and the extracurricular activities you may take part in, the time that remains for homework can vary person to person. Having AP, IB, or other difficult classes or extracurricular activities can be very time-consuming and require a lot of self discipline and motivation.
“Stress is a big factor in why I procrastinate. I often get overwhelmed with the work I have to do after school, not knowing where to start,” said senior Storey Caldwell. It’s easy to push things aside until the last minute and then rush to get it all done the night before. This can be a form of self sabotage that grows into a long cycle of avoidance and built up anxiety which can escalate into numerous missing assignments.
A lot of the time, students end up procrastinating work if they weren’t given enough time in class to finish it, or simultaneously being assigned unnecessary busy work that doesn’t benefit their learning experience. However, there are instances where students choose not to do their work during class due to a lack of motivation and would rather do it on their own time.
College application season also factors in with these pressures for many senior students, with balancing the work and time they have to put into completing their applications as well as keeping up with the rest of their classes.
The grade you are in can also suggest your average workload, and is expected to increase each year. Many students agree that Junior year is one of the hardest years to get through, with the intense workloads that can result in developing bad habits of procrastination. “I shouldn’t have procrastinated in junior year because the workload was so much heavier than sophomore year and that was definitely a learning experience and it forced me to learn how to manage my time correctly,” said Caldwell.
Nowadays, we have all become accustomed to submitting work online, especially things like essays or big projects. We are familiar with teachers making assignments due at 11:59pm, which is helpful to not have to rush to get things turned in, but it leaves room for students to wait until right before the deadline to do it instead of doing it earlier.
However, there is a flip side to this where procrastination can in some ways be beneficial to motivation. “Personally, I think I do my best work under pressure because I actually have motivation to do it,” said Caldwell. Procrastination becomes a kind of skill the more you do it, which is definitely a bad habit to have, but some people find that procrastinating until the last minute actually improves the quality of their work due to the adrenaline of having to complete something within a short period of time.
Whether you think procrastination impacts you a lot or you struggle with time management and organization, its always good to have strategies to help with motivation and keeping track of your responsibilities. Each student has different methods of learning that work best for them, and it can be helpful to explore new approaches if you feel stuck. “Make a list of everything you have to do and split it up between days or hours. Also, any progress is progress, even if it’s just for 10 minutes. Just take the first step in the right direction,” said Caldwell.
Another student, Jenna Kim said she recommends using an app or planner, and organizing in order of importance, how big of a grade it is and when it’s due. “Try to do the things you like to do or the easiest things first, and then sometimes you’ll just get into the zone and be able to finish a lot of your other work.”
Procrastinating is definitely a part of the cycle of learning time management through trial and error, and it’s valuable to notice what methods work best for us to feel successful in what we put into our education.
