senior believes procrastination should be embraced

The rush of adrenaline. The heart pounding. The shoulders tensing. It’s 3 a.m. and I’m wide-awake, writing that dreaded English paper due in five hours. The suspense is killing me, anticipating the feeling of relief that I’ll have when I’m finally done. Sadly, this is the only way I can work productively.
Everyone has those self-motivating moments when you say you aren’t going to put off an assignment because you want to get it out of your hair. Now with college application deadlines and mountains of schoolwork, I have recently learned it is easier to tell myself, “Actually I am definitely going to procrastinate on this and I am going to like it.”
Whoever came up with ‘save the best for last’ must have been joking. It should be more like “save the worst for last because you don’t want to do it.” As long as it is done on time what is wrong with waiting until the last minute? Nothing.
I have gone through school listening to my teachers’ and parents’ advice, such as, “Don’t procrastinate on this! It will just hurt you in the long run.” Seriously, it’s due when it’s due; if I can get it done on time then what is the problem? If we keep being told not to procrastinate, I think we deserve a little bit of an explanation.
Procrastination is a costly psychological trait that almost all people share, but it may be possible to conquer it, according to an article from Science Daily in January 2009 called “Why We Procrastinate And How To Stop.”
Many people share the trait of procrastination, but I don’t think it is quite that easy to conquer it. There are some people who tend to have panic attacks under a work-overload, but I personally don’t mind working under pressure. There are always those tasks that you dive right into, but just think about the cliche “you can do anything you set your mind to.” I don’t tend to “set my mind to” a hefty english paper. It’s much easier when you know exactly what your strategy is, which is specifically what the study in the article theorized.
“It may be only when a deadline is looming that they first consider the specifics of a task, including what will be required to complete it, the context in which it will take place, and other details,” the researchers of the Science Daily article wrote. “If thinking about a task more concretely enables people to get started, manipulating this variable directly should affect when they are likely to complete the task.”
That actually does make a great point; If something is easily said and done, then voila, it’s done in no time. But if it’s easier said than done, that is when the serious procrastination comes into play.
I recently experienced an episode of severe procrastination with a friend, when we were supposed to be working on our English paper over Hamlet. It was not the best plan considering we had absolutely no idea what to write about. It took us about three hours just to write our thesis statements. It took all of our strength to fight against the distractions, such as YouTube, Facebook and food. Finally, after many snack breaks, caffeine, slap-happiness and cardio-workouts, we mellowed out and eased our way into a rush of concentration. To empower ourselves, we had the film score from “The Dark Knight” playing in the background, which was actually quite effective.
I have realized that I spend more time stressing over something I don’t want to do than the time it would take me to actually complete it. I am always looking for some excuse for myself not to do it or maybe even some way to get out of it. I am learning to just accept it and stop worrying myself over things I will save for last. I will have to face it sooner or later. And I choose later.
So, unless you are planning on conquering the fear of English papers, I recommend spending less time stressing and more time doing absolutely nothing until you have to. Remember, if it weren’t for the last minute, you wouldn’t get anything done. But you never know, you might be able to use reverse psychology on yourself and actually have the urge to start writing your paper at any random moment. But don’t get your hopes up.