I sit in my room on Saturday night, racking my brain over a deadline and waiting for my article to magically come to me in some sort of dream. I study final material for the first time two hours before the test starts. I stay up all night writing a paper that is due the next day. What am I? A procrastinator, of course. The word procrastinator can easily describe a lot of students here at Mississippi State. There is always a time in our lives when we just cannot motivate ourselves to get out of bed on time for class, a meeting or work. There have been dozens of times when we just didn’t feel like studying for that test. There are times when we’d rather put off our work for tomorrow.
We can always find a good excuse as to why we shouldn’t study right now. There are things we would rather do such as watching television shows, playing on the computer or a video game, spending time with people that you don’t really like, convincing yourself that you already know all the information and then realizing that you don’t as the professor hands out the exam.
My favorite excuse to use is that if I were to die before the due date, then I would have wasted all that precious time doing that stupid paper for class. Then again, my time was wasted anyway.
I find also that, as a procrastinator, I can always find something more important to do before I write my paper or study. Two days before a big paper or test that I haven’t started to prepare for, I always find that my truck needs to be washed, or my room needs cleaning up, or that I am extremely hungry and need to go out to eat. Then I have to call and check on my mother, who I haven’t called in a couple of days, to see how the immediate and extended family as well as friends and strangers back home are doing. By this time, I am hungry again.
What’s worse, is that there is no cure for this disease. I set my alarm an hour early, yet I still hit snooze until I have five minutes to get ready for class. I always make a vague attempt to study days before the test, but my efforts are always in vain. It’s a never-ending cycle.
I have found, however, that this disease can be treated with therapy. Sometimes, physical force must be used as enforcement, but it does work.
First, choose a time that is convenient for you to go and hang out in the library on the floor of your choice. The library or another quiet environment is the only place to study effectively. If a couple of hours a day are spent reflecting and studying over notes, then studying for the exam a few days before should be a breeze.
Then, set your clock for two hours early. Surely, hitting the snooze button gets old sometimes. Finally, leave the house and allow yourself plenty of time before class. After all, neither on or off campus students can find parking.
Now, because I am the world’s worst procrastinator, I have no room to preach. I do know, however, that procrastination is a polite word for lazy. So maybe we should all just stop thinking up excuses.