By Justice Colmon

You have a math test to study for, but you stay up all night watching TV, sleep in all day, and wake up only to realize you have three hours until class and you know nothing.

There is a three page history paper due in one week, but you spend your time with friends and before you know it, a week has gone by and your paper is due tomorrow. Although you try to estimate the time, you continue to push the hours back until you are up all night and handing in sloppy work.

Procrastination is a bad habit that many people have and yet few try to correct.

I know because I’ve been there.

Like most people, I used to believe that I do my best when working under pressure. Now I know that while it may work for some, there are others whose grades suffer greatly. In fact, turning in assignments late can cause a major drop in one’s grade for a course.

I recall one instance when I had to take a biology exam. I waited until the last minute to study, so I failed, which caused my course grade to drop from a 77 to a 67.

After I saw my grade, I had a defeatist attitude, but I told myself that I wouldn’t make the same mistake. I knew it was important to keep my GPA up.

Since that day, I began to do things differently and keep a schedule of assignments that need to be completed.

During Q-time, I work on assignments given by the previous class and finish what’s left when I get home. I decided to limit my TV time to two hours each day, and every Saturday I take a four hour break so I won’t overwork myself when taking on difficult assignments.

I do this because although procrastination feels good at first, in the long run it is not only detrimental to your grade, but to your health as well. In other words, I’ve learned that procrastination leads to lack of sleep, stress and anxiety.

Because I have epilepsy, overworking or stressing myself could cause me to have a seizure, so I try to do as much as I can during the day in order to sleep at night.

If I exhaust myself during the night, it would make no sense to go to class the next day when I know I won’t be able to keep myself awake to hear the lesson.

When I was younger, my parents told me “education first, play time later.” By experiencing the struggles of procrastination and with finals around the corner, I now take those words to heart.

My motto now is “determination outweighs procrastination,” so I will not succumb to temptation and I will do everything I can to pass my finals and keep my GPA up.

Contact Justice Colmon at communitarian@mail.dccc.edu