I’m sure you’ve either been the person or know someone who, an hour or two before 11:59, realizes that their two-paged paper on the success and failures of our democracy is due. By some miracle, the paper is finished in the nick of time. Even more baffling, it receives a high ‘B’ or even an ‘A’.

That was me. I was that person.

Writing was the one thing that I was good at. Half the time, I would look over what I had written after I got my grade back or the peer feedback and I’d have no idea how what was on the page made it there. I felt like a genius. Any time I’d decide to finish my paper early, I never seemed to do as well.

So, I kept this procrastination up for an entire four years.

You’re probably saying, “well why are you telling us to stop procrastinating then? It worked out well for you.”

Funny you should say that!

A good way through my bachelor’s degree, I decided to get a second bachelor’s degree from another school. Specifically, a graphic design degree. If you can’t tell, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I also started freelancing to earn some extra money for my early-onset mid-life crisis.

Surely you can see the mountain of responsibility getting larger.

At some point, you have to admit to yourself when what you’re doing isn’t working. Well, I didn’t intend to fold so easily. After the first few graphic design courses where I narrowly scraped by with a ‘C’, I attributed it to the fact that freelancing was getting in my way, so I stopped.

When I would forget that I even had an assignment due for either school, I blamed my full-time job that I had previously loved. I quit a few weeks after I was asked whether I wanted to do that job for the rest of my life. I realized that I didn’t. In its place, I took up real estate instead since I could, technically, do that predominantly from home.

It wasn’t until I had a graphic design portfolio class where I reviewed the work of my peers and realized how far behind I was in terms of skill that I looked back and had to admit that my problem wasn’t going away. Procrastinating wasn’t working. As the projects got more in depth, I found myself having to rush through and either submit a half-completed assignment, a terrible one, or not turn it in altogether.

I enjoyed being a student but I hated homework. Plus, I was so attached to my procrastination habits that I couldn’t see past those one to two hours of work. The rest of my day was wasted as I did nothing of consequence and occasionally worried about that assignment that was waiting for me.

I can’t say that I didn’t get a rush from the last minute race to get my work done. However, the older I get the less it works. I don’t want to say that it isn’t a good system for some people but I guess it all depends on what you are doing and how good you are at it.

After years of procrastinating my life away, I have decided to try to put an end to this curse. Granted, I haven’t started off on the best foot. Right now I’m watching Netflix while writing this and I still have a nursery to purchase and set up in the next 2 months. It’s slow going but progress isn’t achieved in a single day or even a week. It’s a constant uphill battle.

If you’re procrastinating, don’t give up. It’s a difficult habit to break but I believe it can be done with a little hard work and time.

Here’s to hoping you overcome your struggles!

S.S.S.