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The Collegian

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Fresno State's student-run newspaper

The Collegian

Fresno State's student-run newspaper

The Collegian

Woman+fingers+with+pen+writing+reminder+Stop+Procrastinating+in+calendar.+Close-up.
Woman fingers with pen writing reminder Stop Procrastinating in calendar. Close-up.

Procrastination: my worst enemy

My school day starts at 5:30 a.m., lasts until 5 p.m. and by the time I get home, I am exhausted and overwhelmed by the workload that still needs to be done because there was not enough time to finish it at the school library. 

Once I start feeling overwhelmed, I debate whether one assignment should get done before another, or whether I should take a few minutes to sit down and grab a bite to eat before sitting in front of my laptop and staring at it for another hour before getting anything else done. 

Many of us may be experiencing the same situation when it comes to being a student, sibling, child, friend or employee when our procrastination takes over these roles as a big part of our family day.

As I sit in front of my laptop in the library, I am frozen still, trying to decide whether I should read a chapter for Spanish class, get ahead in another class while simultaneously falling behind in another. On the other hand, I could just simply sit back and procrastinate a little more. 

Procrastination has become the bigger battle since starting college. The pace in high school and college are completely different in every aspect. 

In high school, you are required to be at school for eight hours while participating in school activities of your choosing and go home to do a few pages of homework. A “few pages” is nothing compared to reading chapters, daily journals, 10 or more math questions requiring multiple steps and other college-level homework. 

All this work requires time. You have to balance school, work, outside activities, your roles in a family and the rest of your life. So, what do you choose first? 

I have tried different strategies on how to conquer this procrastination, but nothing seems to work. Perhaps I am not strict enough on myself because I work better under pressure.

According to an article from The Guardian, Dr. Tim Pychl stated that when a student claims to work better under pressure, it is actually due to an adrenaline rush that the work is almost done. 

The goal is to beat procrastination, but it requires commitment. 

Some tips suggested by the author of “The Procrastination Equation” by Dr. Piers Steel are to get rid of temptation and find a place where it will only be used for ‘work.’ 

Second, allow yourself to work with restrictions, such as working for 30 minutes without any interruption and seeing how much gets done. 

The last tip is to find resources at your university that could help you deal with procrastination. 

Perhaps I should test these tips out, but I do not guarantee that I will nail this within a few months. 

The 24 hour, seven days a week schedule of mine seems to be skimming by, like a college student’s note pages hours before an exam. 

This concludes that I have a task to conquer, but it will also take some time since I am not the type of person to shake such a long-standing routine so easily.

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