Why do we put things off until the last minute? We push things away, postpone them, and tell ourselves we will do them later. Then, the day before it’s due or on the day off, we rush to meet the deadline anxiously, hating ourselves just a little for putting it off. It’s a vicious cycle that keeps going and going and going.

The rush can be addicting—that last-minute rush to get things done. We breeze through our house or office like a tornado, grabbing, pulling, writing, and emailing until the final click is done and everything has been turned in. We feel overjoyed to have beaten the rush and the time crunch. We promise ourselves that next time, it will be different. Then, the next time comes, and we do it again.

When we don’t beat time and crush our task fast enough, the feeling of failing can be devastating. It’s almost as if someone poured a bucket of cold water over our heads, and we come to the chilling realization that putting it off was not such a good idea. Then, we have to face the consequences of turning in late work. 

Procrastination is like playing Russian roulette: Some days, you win, and some days, you lose. When you lose, you lose big.

The clamor of technology makes it very easy for us to find things ‘to do’ and take the focus away from the things we must complete.  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest are social hooks that trap us in a time warp.  We lose the sense of time and tend to become engaged in light entertainment. 

Pinterest has become so addicting that I get lost in the art of looking at a pin and reading the articles linked to it. I can spend hours liking, pinning, and creating boards on my Pinterest page.  

But what about the paper that is due in a week?  That can wait till tomorrow.  Tomorrow comes, and we say the same thing.  

I did this several times. I used to tell myself that it could wait until the day before it was due. By that time, I knew for sure I needed to turn in the paper because I did not want to have points deducted for lateness. So, I would work a whole day on one paper instead of allocating time throughout my week to work on and finish it.  

There was also that time when I chose to go out, knowing I had a lot of homework.  I lied to myself; I figured I could treat myself first and finish five days’ worth of homework in two.  After all, it can’t be all work and no play, right?  I chose to have my reward first without earning it.  That week, I took the late points deduction.

To change the act of pushing things off, I tried making a to-do list.  That didn’t help.  I knew what I needed to do; I just chose not to do it then.

The only time that lists help me is when I am buying groceries.  Without a list, I tend to purchase everything I don’t need and forget what I need.

I tried using a timer.  I would dedicate 45 minutes of work and 15 minutes of fun.  This method should have made me productive since it fed my social media craving and devoted a consecutive 45 minutes of working.  But 45 minutes was way too long, and I tended to extend the 15 minutes.  The timer method did not work for too long.


Then,  I started a meditation app that made me recall the last time I procrastinated and how I felt.  Recalling those feelings made me feel shitty about putting things off for a later day.  It seemed like the crappier I felt about it, the less I wanted to procrastinate, so I started to listen to it even more.

The meditation became the catalyst that I needed to curb my tendency to put things off for later. I knew that I hated the feelings of anxiousness, anger, and guilt that came with rushing through tasks and homework. I also knew I was not putting out my best effort.







I was reminded of all these feelings every time I listened to the meditation.  After meditating, I would tell myself that I didn’t want to feel that way again.  

Every time the thought of pushing something off entered my head, I immediately recalled the feelings of anxiousness, anger, and guilt, and it forced me to start working on that task right then and there.



When I didn’t feel like working on a project, I would bargain with myself and tell myself that I would work on it for ten minutes.  Once I was in for ten minutes, I tended to stay on the task longer, but I just pushed for ten consecutive minutes of working.  No pressure.

Also, during my school semesters, I created a schedule and did homework at the same time in the same place in my house every day. I would leave my books there and bring my laptop there. I did this to make homework a routine and a ritual, much like exercising is to me.  

As we all know, when something is routine, we come to expect it, and when we don’t get it, it can make us a bit grouchy, like eating. Our bodies remind us every day when we need to have our next meal, and when we don’t get it, watch out!  

What truly helped me curve my procrastinating tendencies was remembering how crappy I felt when I procrastinated, pushing myself to do at least 10 minutes of work, and making a routine out of the process.  

I made homework become a ritual like breakfast, lunch, and dinner to stop feeling so shitty about procrastinating.



XOXO Johanny