What is the first thing that a student will do on a typical Friday night? Rarely will a student come home, sit down, and work on all their homework on Friday night after school. The most common scenario is a student leaving all of their school work for a late Sunday night. Why do students do this? Even if we have some time before Sunday night, we don’t unzip our backpacks and immediately start working. In short, why do students procrastinate?

Procrastination means to delay or postpone action, or to put off something, according to dictionary.com. At Blake, this seems to be a very constant occurrence. Whether it is an everyday habit or a rare incident, all students have procrastinated at least once or twice.

Each student has his or her own way of procrastinating. “I sit in my room, texting people, or watching Netflix, or go to games. I’m very good at it so I do it all the time,” says Gus Austin ’15. Other students describe their procrastinating as being continuously connected to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and other popular social networking sites. Students do this primarily because they don’t feel like working anymore, especially having just spent seven hours in school, and possibly a couple more hours because of extracurricular activities.

“I procrastinate mainly because I’m bored with homework and I don’t want to do it. I’m tired from school when I get home and I really don’t want to do anything,” says Sita Dandiker ’15. Students are also saying that this problem is becoming larger and increasing even more throughout the years. “I think people are getting more and more distracted by phones and computers and the new social world. Procrastination is definitely increasing, especially with the new iPhone coming out, “ says Myles Cunningham ’16.

So what can students do to stop themselves from procrastination? According to webhome.indirect.com, procrastination is primarily caused by disorganization, fear, and perfectionism. It is important to break away from these thoughts and ideas in order to control procrastination and diminish it. A super effective way of doing this is to make a “To-do” list. That’s right, a list with little check boxes and things to do, numbered in order of what is most important. This little list can help students to become better organized in schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and social/personal life. Focus on the most important goals/hardest stuff and finish them first. Give yourself enough time and pace yourself, don’t rush your work but don’t let perfectionism keep you working on one math problem for fourty minutes. Remember to remove all distractions, focus on the end goal, and always remember that perfection is never necessary. Help, either from friends, family, or teachers is always an aid to your work if needed as well. Motivate yourself to do your best, try hardest, and in return, reward yourself. Your actions of decreasing this issue will only make your life feel more organized and well-managed.