Thoughts on Procrastination
With how busy all of our lives are, sometimes it’s quite easy to fall into periods of procrastination. Thoughts like ‘I’ll just do it tomorrow’ crowd our minds until we feel paralyzed or as if we are drowning in late work and missed responsibilities. However, in reckoning with the root of this way of thinking, we can break the habit and move towards a less stressful life.
I know I can speak for many when I say that the pandemic has brought about many changes and challenges in even day-to-day life. For me, the switchback from distance learning to in-person school was a welcome one, but not without its own obstacles. Now that work was being assigned not a week in advance but instead, on a nightly basis, my previous system for completing homework was strained. During the months of online school, teachers at my school would assign all homework for the upcoming week on the Friday before. Personally, this method worked well for how I learn and best study. Over the weekend, I’d spend time finishing all the work for the upcoming week, so that each day after school, I’d be able to have more free time to work on projects or take a hike; anything that helped to relieve the stress from life during a lockdown.
As much as I found positives in this new normal, I was glad when I heard the news that my district would begin to go in person once more. I didn’t think much of the workload changes that were sure to ensue, expecting my one-and-done work session approach would simply carry over. After all, I enjoyed the benefits of having a more flexible schedule and saw no glaring issues with my method. However, I discounted just how much stress there is intrinsic to major shifts such as the transition back to in-person school. Between diligent handwashing, remembering to stay socially distanced, and navigating my new classes, I quickly became overwhelmed. Work felt like it was piling up, since each day brought what seemed to be a mountain of extra assignments in comparison to the way in which it had been in online school. I needed to re-evaluate my once tried-and-true approach to completing homework, but I couldn’t seem to break free from the cycle of “oh, I can just do it later” and “I’ll do it tomorrow”.
After one particularly unproductive work session (which mostly consisted of me staring at a blank page trying to formulate my response), the only thing I would think of was “why?”. Why was it so difficult for me to get my work done when only months before I had been doing so much more? Why did I not feel like I could complete my assignments? It was this latter question that brought a sudden realization: I needed to understand the why behind my procrastination in order to figure out a plan. It was a bit uncomfortable, but I made myself write down all the reasons why I didn’t want to or felt like I couldn’t finish my work. My list brought about an unexpectedly great amount of clarity. Seeing my worries written out so plainly made it much easier to objectively evaluate each one. I found that this process also helped me check the spread of stress and feeling negatively about myself, as it became easier to reason with my worries and realize they were not nearly as inevitable as I had thought. Diving into the root of my behavior greatly helped me let go of the paralyzing worry that had had its grip on not only my mind but my creativity as well. I felt freer, now that I had reckoned with my worry.
