You get home from a long day of school and have lots of work to do, and then you lay eyes on your bed or your computer, and you just don’t work, at all. That is called procrastination, and everyone is guilty
of it, even you ! Even teachers are guilty of it; they sometimes don’t grade papers on time. When people procrastinate it affects everything they do. When you’re procrastinating you don’t think of how it will affect you. Then when you stop, you realize everything that you could have done, and you have to rush to complete your task. The biggest excuses are “I’ll do it later,”“It’s not due ‘till next week,” and “I’ll do it in the morning.” The truth
is that, no, you won’t do it tomorrow or later. You’ll wait until the day it’s due and cram. It’s a great feeling when you finally stop being lazy and get work done. Facebook is a huge part of procrastinating in the modern world that affects teens and adults everywhere. It can hap- pen to anyone with a Facebook account — you’re doing work, you go on the internet to research, and, BAM, two hours later you realize you’ve been on Facebook the whole time.

“The psychological definition of procrastina- tion is replacing high priority with tasks of lower priority. Everyone procrastinates but people under stress usually procrastinate more,” says psychologytoday.com. Stop- procrastinatinginfo.com gives 3 steps to stop procras- tinating in every day life. Step 1: Honestly list the tasks that cause you to procrastinate. Step 2: Break all the big tasks into smaller more manageable tasks; this makes the tasks to look smaller and easier. Step 3: Bounce your ideas off other people to get their advice on “recovering” from the problem. These three steps should help to stop procrastinating, so now when you get home and you just want to be lazy, remember these steps and do your work.

Most people think of procrastination as a bad habit that will ruin your life, and that is true in some

cases, but in a few cases procrastination will benefit
you in life. It might provide an escape from your busy schedule that lets you reflect on your day or week. Another example is if you’re nervous about something, like asking a serious question, you can procrastinate and take time to think about what you’re going to say or mentally prepare for the task before you. Those are just a few benefits of procrastination. However, procrastina- tion is rarely a benefit and only works in a few instances. If you procrastinate, and you think that it’s not helping you, then it probably isn’t.

People who procrastinate think that they are alone and that no one can help them. The opposite is true. There are many people in your life who can help and influence your decisions and can motivate you. There are parents, friends, family members, guidance counselors, and influential adults, like coaches or youth leaders. These people want to help you with your prob- lem, and most of the time all you need is a little push to give you a jump-start. For those trying to help someone overcome procrastination, give them advice, talk to them and possibly sit with them and kindly force them to work.

Some examples of procrastination are, sleep- ing during school, not writing stories in journalism, not deciding what you want in the cafeteria line or while ordering at a restaurant, and not doing your homework on time. These examples affect other people around you, not just yourself. For example, when you procrasti- nate while doing a group project, you might jeopardize your group’s grade in that assignment. A big example of procrastination is waking up in the morning, hearing you alarm clock go off, and turning it off for a few more precious minutes of sleep. Sometimes it seems like the gravity around your bed is 10 times stronger than any- where else. This is no excuse for procrastinating!