It’s 9 o’clock at night. You have a history research essay and a physics worksheet due the next day, and you’ve barely written a word. You also have to study for an upcoming math test, and you’re terrible at math. You decide to start with the physics worksheet. However, after a few moments, you find yourself giggling at your phone, watching a funny video of a cat falling from the kitchen counter into the trash can. And you keep scrolling.

Sound familiar? That’s what you do every day. You procrastinate.

Procrastination is when you slack off despite knowing you need to hurry and get your work done. It is simply putting off work and doing it at the last minute.

Procrastination is a matter of self control. The decision and ability to not procrastinate is what sets you and me apart. It’s why I am a much better person than you.

I know to remove distractions

Your phone is always beside you, and when it’s sitting on your desk, you are always tempted to play games, check social media, and mindlessly watch YouTube videos. You think, “I’ll just spend ten minutes on my phone, then I’ll start working.” Well, you’re wrong and you know it, because you tell yourself the same thing every day, yet every day you procrastinate.

Unlike you, I remove distractions by putting my phone away when I work.

If you find yourself to be a chronic procrastinator, try putting your phone at the top of the refrigerator or in your closet before you go to your desk and work. Slowly, you’ll learn that you can live without your phone glued to your hand.

I am great at managing my time

Procrastinators often turn in terrible work. Their assignments are filled with obvious spelling mistakes, poor grammar, or artificial ChatGPT-generated sentences that they don’t even understand. That is because they let work pile up until an hour before the deadline.

Unlike you, I don’t recklessly waste my time.

I always give myself enough time to complete my assignments rather than rushing through them and turning in mediocre work. For example, when I’m writing an essay, I always leave time for myself to revise and ask my friends to peer-edit. I get better grades than you and I learn more because I manage my time. Maybe you should try it.

I understand the consequences of procrastination

Procrastination leads to stress, anxiety, and guilt, making procrastinators feel unproductive and incompetent. To make yourself feel better when you procrastinate, you find excuses. Even when you know that procrastination is going to negatively affect you, you do it anyway.

When you’re in a bad mood, you might not want to work. However, putting off work will only make you feel even more stressed, anxious, or depressed afterward, making procrastination a vicious cycle. Just when you finish the work that should have been done a week ago, more work overwhelms you. Then, you have low motivation to start new tasks. Doesn’t that scare you?

Everyone goes through emotional roller coasters, and sometimes, we just don’t want to work. However, when I don’t finish my work, panic and anxiety kick in, making me even more overwhelmed with everything I have to get done. Plus, checking off things on my to-do list is one of the most satisfying feelings.

I have the motivation to get my work done

Once you start procrastinating, you get stuck in a dangerous cycle and it’s difficult to pull yourself out of it.

The assignments we need to do are boring and can feel useless. They may also seem difficult. Unmotivated to do them, we procrastinate, attempting to temporarily escape from the pile of work in front of us. We hope that these tasks will magically disappear or get done on their own, but the reality is that work will be there until you get it done.

However, these assignments aren’t a 100 page, graduate-level research paper. Mostly, these assignments are easy. Why not finish a simple task and then move on to do something you enjoy?

Rather than giving yourself a treat before you do anything productive, treat yourself afterwards. Give yourself permission to take a break after, not before, you finish an assignment. If you’re incapable of controlling yourself, go to a library or a coffee shop to study. Find motivated people and join their study group. Try these methods a few times and see what works. Maybe you’ll find that you’re more like me and no longer chasing deadlines every day.

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I have better self-control than you. I don’t get distracted easily and waste my time like you do. If you’re smart, you’ll follow my example to be as successful as I am, because you surely don’t want to be a massive failure. Because, ultimately you know that your research paper and your physics worksheet would’ve been spectacular if you hadn’t left them both until the last minute.