Study tonight - or find something else to do?

Jorge Castillo

In college, most of the time you get a syllabus at the beginning of the term outlining all the tests and other works to be handed in. Even though students receive this syllabus with anticipation, most either leave it for the last minute and others simply forget, or didn't have time to do it. This is called procrastination, that is, leaving the work for the last minute even though you had plenty of time before to do it. College students must realize that procrastination only leads to more stress, more accumulated work, and lower grades. By realizing this, college students may better organize their time and start the assignments ahead of time to avoid the negative consequences due to procrastination.

According to California Polytechnic State University, many procrastinators leave their work for the last minute because they are over-confident about their skills in completing the work. They feel they're in complete control and that they have plenty of time to complete the work. As days pass by, he suddenly realizes he must complete his work since he now has no time left. So he might stay up all night finishing his work. After the student receives his grade he might feel proud because he managed to finish just in time and angry because he didn't get the grade he expected.

College students must learn from their mistakes and in this case realize that if he or she would have started the work days earlier, he or she might have earned a better grade. Instead, many students get a false feeling that they work better under pressure and so keep doing it. This makes no sense since you have no other choice, either you do the work and finish your work or you don't do it and fail.

Procrastination is very common in students of all levels, from high school to college. It is something that students should learn to avoid to furthermore help themselves. It will only get you frustrated and tense and will affect your grades and develop in you bad habits.

"Procrastination is the bad habit of putting of until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday."

- Napoleon Hill