Procrastination Can Get the Best of Us by Shayla

Procrastination Can Get the Best of Us by Shayla - January 2022 Scholarship Essay

We have all found ourselves watching the clock go by as we try to finish the 5 page paper before midnight. It kept getting put off and now we have to deal with consequences. I have so many regrets or I should’ve started the project earlier, the list goes on and on. We don’t want the teacher to figure out that we haven’t been staying on top of assignments.
This experience is known as procrastination. It catches us in our tracks without being able to go back. So many of us say, “I’ll work on it later” or “It’s due in two weeks, so I can wait a while”. This is something I really struggle with sometimes. I catch myself wanting to take the night off or wanting to do it later. When I get to it later I end up putting it off again. I realized that I needed to stop procrastinating and start making a plan for myself.
Staying on top of things is really important when it comes to reading assignments. When you have to finish a book by a certain deadline for a project, it’s important to stay on track. I didn’t take that into consideration, and I waited until the last two weeks to read my book. It was stressful trying to finish the book in time and I knew my teacher wouldn’t accept it late. The morning it was due I still needed to read five chapters of my book and it wasn’t fun. This helped me realize that I needed to work on staying on top of things.
I found that having a planner really helps because I can write down every single thing I need to do that day. If there’s still things on the list by the end, then I know something needs to happen. That thing will either get done right then and there, or it will be my first priority the next morning. I check my planner about 3-5 times a day and that really helps the things I need to complete get stuck in my mind. I feel like a failure if I don’t get everything finished.
2021 was a tough year in general with COVID and everything that comes along with senior year. I had to take control of my work and make a plan that works for me. I never want to deal with late deadlines again, and I will always keep a to-do list of what I need to do.