Procrastinating in High School

 Is Procrastination Killing You??

I have been putting off writing another article for a good two weeks just because I am lazy and on vacation right now. The truth is that I have had numerous opportunities to write when I have been doing nothing but playing video games, but procrastination got the best of me. The worst part is that it happens more often than not, but especially in the high school environment. Procrastination has been known to ruin the careers of many high schoolers.

High School Students always feel like they have one more day to do everything that needs to be done. A teacher assigns an essay at the beginning of the month and says that it is due on the 30th, a time so distant that teens often forget about it. About a week before the deadline of a huge project or essay, students remember and actually start to work on said project. The key phrase is start to work on it. High School students rarely finish their projects until the night before or morning of the due date. Some have legitimate excuses, but most other teens procrastinate.







Yes there are other assignments to do and other events going on in the average teen’s life, but there is usually extra time in between all of these events to get additional work done. The problem is that most teens use this free time to spend hours on Facebook every day or just do nothing. It is very important to relax for a bit every day, but wasting away hours is not healthy, and definitely not productive. It is just so much easier to procrastinate and do everything at the last minute. A friend once told me that if “you wait until the last minute to do something, it only takes a minute,” which is true, but how good will something done at the last minute be?


Successful students know how to budget their time wisely, something that actually takes time and practice to learn properly. An essay might be due in a month, but a good student knows that within that same month there will be at least 2 more large assignments in other classes, along with multiple tests and regular homework. This student might hold off on the essay for a week, but once the weekend comes with a few extra hours to work, you could bet that the successful students are at least writing down their ideas and figuring out how they want to approach the assignment, if not already working on a first draft.

Getting an assignment done early relives stress and anxiety. Even starting an assignment early makes you feel much more prepared and like a better student. Mentally, there will not be the weight of a full assignment in addition to all of the other work, and let me tell you that this is a great feeling. There is nothing better than setting aside an entire evening to work, realizing that half of every assignment was already done, and finishing in only 2 hours. You feel super productive when work finishes itself in 20 minutes and you can move on to bigger and better things.


So bearing all of this in mind, how does a teen or student conquer procrastination? – It takes will power. The student needs to exert himself/herself and just do it. Rather than think of excuses, you need to start and work. You will be amazed at the results and the amount of free time that you will have as a result of not procrastinating. Really. Students will be more relaxed and surely perform better in school. Overcoming procrastination is something that will be beneficial for the future in so many ways. It is best to start to do it now, because the adult world is much less forgiving about procrastinators.