What if I just waited?

I am not one to procrastinate on school work. I strive to do well and in my mind, a big part of that is not procrastinating. When I was trying to think of what to do for my experimental feature I was stumped. So I asked myself, “what if I procrastinated on my school work, and prioritized people and extracurriculars?” A lightbulb went off, and a theory emerged. If I procrastinated on my homework over the next week then my grades most likely would not change at a significant rate? This was a risky experiment, but it was a risk I was willing to take. I was slammed with work and club meetings through the week so having an excuse to put off homework seemed opportune.

The first step in executing my experiment was to say yes to more social and work events. I focused on going to all the on-campus events even if I was not that interested in them. I went to a Student Government Association, Theta, and multiple work meetings that I was not required to attend. I was able to bond with my classmates that I did not normally see, and it was a refreshing change. I think in college a chunk of bonding time is studying together with someone. It was nice to focus strictly on enjoying a persons friendship instead of forcing friendship and study time together. This did not last long though.

As soon as I got home from those events, I had to start on an assignment due that night. There was this bitter sweetness riddled through my experiment. In one moment I was carefree enjoying and living in the moment, and the next I was scrambling to get my homework done by the deadline. For one, my school work for the week of the experiment was low in daily work, but high in projects. I had a midterm, story, an editing project, and a bibliography all due at different times through out the week. I studied for my midterm for a total of 5 hours and did it show.

To be candid, I did not do as well as I hoped. It was a difficult midterm, but I still had a B in the class after the grade was put in. Did that grade encourage or discourage my hypothesis? It is difficult to say yay or nay on that one because it is subjective. After contemplating this dilemma, I decided that it was a middle ground. My grade dropped, but it was not below a B. As my two weeks came to a close, I realized that procrastinating only affected 1 of the 5 class that I am currently enrolled in. If I continued procrastinating on assignments would it inevitably affect all of my grades or would I be able to focus on the relationships in my life more than solely on my school work? With so many questions, I began to wonder, “why do student procrastinate?”

“More often than not, the underlying reasons for procrastination fall under two categories: fear of failure or confusion about the first steps of an assignment,” said Youki Terada who wrote the article “3 Reasons Students Procrastinate—and How to Help Them Stop”. I did not fall into either of these categories, but I was also challenging a hypothesis. I decided I needed to get out of my own head and ask a consistent procrastinator.

“I don’t know where to start,” said Kyle Tooley. Tooley is a sophomore and consistent procrastinator. He falls into the second category provided by Terada. After going through the consequences of my experiment, I think that procrastination is not the worst thing if that is how a person needs to work. Life is hectic, and every person should simply do what they need to do get fulfill their goals: no matter what that looks like.