The Risk of Procrastination

The encumbering pressure is boiling over with each tick of the second hand. In a fury, you strain to organize muddled thoughts of topic relevance, blurred by shifting alarm and regret. The rushing stream of type comes to a screeching halt. Unable to do any more, you hit print, rush to your class and slide into your seat with only seconds to spare. The panic dissolves into a sense of accomplishment as you relish in yet another triumphant victory.

Procrastination is common practice, particularly in today's fast-paced society driven by deadlines and speed. It is understandable, life has a tendency to be overwhelmingly hectic at times and deadlines can creep up unexpectedly. Whether it is due to an impacted schedule of school and work or the enticing party alternative to that research paper, we all procrastinate on occasion.

However, for some, procrastination is not an occasional practice, but a developed habit that has become a hindering facet of behavior. These individuals constantly succumb to the pitfall cycle of procrastinating, in which procrastination consumes their daily life and pressure becomes their only fuel for motivation.

Timothy Stone, a Fullerton College student who is among the many individuals who frequently procrastinate, says "I try to work ahead of time, but I never get motivated and end up waiting until the day before an assignment is due."

Matthew Carter is another Fullerton College student who admits to have maintained a high level of procrastination since high school, saying "I constantly procrastinate when it comes to things I don't want to do." He adds, "I do things that are fun first, so homework is at the bottom of that list."

College students are particularly prone to resort to the last minute scramble. According to a 2007 meta-analysis by University of Calgary economist Piers Steel, procrastination affects a surprising 80 to 95 percent of college students.

From the late night spent starting and finishing that term paper that had been assigned months prior to the hurried student you see rushing to class as they try to finish up a reading assignment before a quiz, it is clear that chronic procrastination has become the college way of life.

Melissa Huerta, a student attending both Fullerton College and CSU Fullerton, says that procrastination is just a part of the process of schooling. "I procrastinate more in college than I did in high school because I have harder classes and I work," she explains.

A busy and complicated lifestyle is a contributing factor to the high percentage of college procrastinators, but, in most cases, procrastination is simply the result of laziness, indifference, or the belief that pressure and stress produce better work.

Huerta swears that she works better under pressure because the time constraint motivates and produces a faster response to get work done. She says, "I'll try to start things ahead of time, but usually I'll sit in front of the computer and nothing will come up."

This common form of procrastination is identified as the arousal procrastinator, according to Claremont Graduate University psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, which is defined as an individual who believes they work better under high pressure circumstances. However, the fit of madness that swarms the mind during times of pressure and stress may not always lead to better work, as some may think. There are consequences that come with working on deadlines last-minute, which could be avoided with better time management.

Procrastination does have a downside, as Huerta realized when she submitted college financial aid documents at the last minute and was not able to get any aid because of it-one of the many instances in which individuals experience repercussions for late action.

According to an article from Scientific American Mind, it is estimated that "40 percent of people have experienced financial loss because of procrastination." There is also evidence that procrastination can have negative affects on health, as shown in a study performed by the University of Windsor Ontario showing that "procrastinators had higher stress levels and more acute health problems than did individuals who completed jobs in a timely manner."

There is a convenience in putting off deadlines. It is settling to know that work can be put off and it becomes a worry you can deal with further down the road. However, even as students attest to the effectiveness of procrastination, most feel that it is something that may not be of good practice. Stone says, "I don't mind [procrastinating], but it would be nice if I could stop and actually work on my stuff when I should do it."