By: River Reyes

Procrastination is a fickle beast, there is no concrete method for tackling the hurdle it imposes upon a person’s work ethic. When writing this article, many hours were spent thinking about what would work, what is the right way to articulate my thoughts? I was actively working on trying to be productive, yet I had pushed off the responsibility of writing until the next day, and the next, and the next.

People have a tendency to push responsibilities off to the very last minute necessary. In the back of your mind, these responsibilities will remain relevant, but at the same time, you find yourself affixed on minute and trivial tasks. You can still be productive, but you don’t tend to what should be your priority. It’s very easy to understand that what you’re doing is improper, yet it’s still difficult to drive away your guilt and focus on what is important. I believe that procrastination is a product of premature stress. The moment you hear the word “deadline”, in the back of your mind a thought settles, the understanding of your responsibility. You can be exemplary at time management, yet the stress of the idea of a deadline could easily throw you off course as you need relief from the pressure that builds up. It’s a nasty cycle of tearing yourself apart, only to find short-term relief in mundane tasks that don’t amount to anything in regards to the matter at hand. Sure you can clean your room, perfect a personal project, or just get on your phone to distract yourself, but you only delay the inevitable, feeding into the aforementioned cycle of short term relief and further procrastination.

So what’s the solution? In short, there is no conclusive solution, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help yourself to prevent your bad habit of procrastination. Instead of waiting till the last minute for that “spark of inspiration”, take your time to calm yourself and think about what you’re doing and where you want to be. At its root, procrastination is tied to the idea of responsibility and the pressure that may come with it. If you think about where you’re trying to go and set personal goals for yourself to achieve, you may find that pressure lessened. 

Take some time to evaluate your position, think about what it is you’re avoiding. Don’t beat yourself up thinking you have a terrible work ethic, but don’t avoid what’s important.