Procrastination is defined as the voluntary delay of important tasks, despite the understanding it will result in negative consequences. For many seniors, their high school experience has been defined by whether or not they have procrastinated.
Procatastination can result in additional stress, anxiety, sleep deprivation, and reduced academic or athletic performance for a high schooler.
Additionally, students can be more prone to procrastinating for a variety of reasons. For example, if a student is managing a job, sport, and school simultaneously, they may put off specific tasks to seek relief from stress. Another student who does not work or do a sport may experience less stress overall, leading them to procrastinate less.
According to the National Institutes of Health, procrastination only lowers stress temporarily, as the task one is putting off still needs to be completed. Yet, our brains, and specifically those of seniors, resort to procrastination.
Senior Johan Deon reports being a procrastinator himself: “Sometimes I am just lazy. I procrastinate on school work and due dates. I find that I don’t care until the grade is in.”
For a high school senior, procrastination is intensified, especially after they have committed to a university or college.
Dominic Munsell says, “I procrastinate all the time. My teachers assign a lot of work and it gets really overwhelming for me to complete.”
With procrastination, work can pile up for seniors, considering their mind is focused on a variety of tasks they need to complete before graduation. For a student like Avery Bonewicz, who juggles sports, running a business, school, a relationship, and more, procrastination becomes easy to run into. He explains, “Yeah I would say I procrastinate. I have missed various assignments throughout this year.”
Puja Pantha also says, “I do procrastinate. Completing my assignments just becomes too overwhelming so I put it off.”
Although procrastination is a bad habit, it is a hard one to break. Setting goals for oneself and staying disciplined is one step in the right direction for chronic procrastinators. Sticking to completing assignments on time allows one not to slip behind and enter a pattern of turning in assignments late or never turning them in at all.
