Procrastination affects students and adults alike

By Jenna Dyer,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

It is a stressful day in the office. Emails arrive left and right from different cities across the country. The MGT Consulting Group’s Executive Vice President, Brad Burgess, along with others in the office sit and organize a and proposal due later that day.

The unavoidable process happens frequently, but procrastination is not an option. Working to prioritize each task or assignment is what gets them through the day without ripping their hair out.

“You have to have a good understanding of priority and what is the most important thing that comes next,” Burgess said.

Understanding what is important and necessary seems to be the key for Burgess and helps his company navigate ways to avoid procrastination and putting off work. How they avoid it, however, is a different question.

“We all have moments of putting things off and later regretting it. Experience teaches you everything is easier when you just get it done,” Burgess said.

Not finishing work or necessary projects can create unwanted stress and anxiety in your day-to-day life, outside of what you are procrastinating on.

Not only business people, but high school students as well have to deal with how to manage their work and the time they have to complete it. .

“It feels like I have more time than I actually do to finish work,” sophomore Donovan Ruelas said.

“When I don’t finish my homework, I have to wake up early to finish it before school,” sophomore Parker Johnson said.

Waking up early to do homework takes away from the necessary sleep needed for growing teens. Procrastinating on one thing, can create a chain of events that can screw up your daily schedule and leads to unhealthy habits.

The cause for procrastination can also be because of knowing what is to come. If you know, your task is going to be a challenge and stressful, putting it off may seem like a good way to avoid stress and anxiety in the present.

“I push things off sometimes if I know it’s going to be hard and time-consuming,” sophomore Cate Lautzenheiser said.

“I had a biology project last year, and I thought I had plenty of time to finish,” Lautzenheiser said as she recalls the stressful last few days of completing a biology project due earlier than anticipated.

Often times it truly seems like the best idea to wait and finish things until later, but stressing about getting it done is usually what is on students’ minds in those last few moments of working.

“I feel stressed out and embarrassed about the work I turned in when I procrastinated,” sophomore Bailee Nicolet said.

Finishing work in a pinch leads to lesser quality and less confidence in the work that is submitted.

“The work is usually sloppier and not as thorough,” Johnson said.

In addition to high school students, colleges and university students also struggle with procrastination.

UC Davis held a seminar called Overcoming Procrastination on Nov. 2017. The Student Academic Success Center put on the seminar to help students understand their personal procrastination habits and how individuals can create skills to cope with them.

Whether in business, high school or college, procrastination affects people all in similar ways by causing stress and anxiety.