“The deadline is Monday 12:00 AM”, my teacher says. I think to myself: “This time I’ll really try to turn it in early”, but this is a promise that cannot be kept. On Sunday afternoon, I sit down to start my math homework. Ding! Suddenly, my phone rings and a text from my friend pops up. Though I try to ignore it, I can’t resist the urge to pick up the phone and reply. Then, failing to withstand the urge, I take the phone and start tapping the screen, thinking: “This is the last time. It’s only a few seconds, anyway”. When I start my homework, 30 minutes have already passed, and the time is 5:32. “So uncomfortable! I’ll start again at 5:40”, I think to myself. I start surfing through my social media, finding out what all my friends have been doing. When I check the time, it’s 5:43. I continue watching videos and check all the new posts my friends have made. This process continues until I finally start working at 7:00. After working for about 20 minutes, I feel like I need a rest, and pick up my phone again. When I realize that I have to finish my homework, it’s already 10:00. I start solving the problems. With so little time left but so much to do, I start panicking. I am unable to concentrate, and I hold onto an easy problem for about 10 minutes. At 12:00, I submit my work with half of the problems blank. As I expected, I got the majority of the questions wrong. When asked about a bad habit I have, I would definitely answer procrastination. Procrastination has led me to many other problems.
Firstly, I undergo pressure and stress. With the amount of work I have left and the time I have, it is very pressuring. Stress may lead to other health- related problems as well. Some examples of health conditions caused by stress are anxiety and loss of ability to focus. In addition, I often have to stay up late at night when finishing up my assignments, so I also suffered from sleep deprivation.
Procrastination also negatively impacts my grades. Since I am stressed and cannot concentrate, the quality of my work decreases. Consequently, I will receive lower scores when I procrastinate. There are many examples of this from my personal experience. I was required to write an essay for homework. However, as always, I waited until the last minute to write the essay. Then, I finished the essay 5 minutes before class. During class, my teacher checked my essay and knew immediately that it was rushed. Since he knows my level and ability, he had been able to notice that it had lower quality than usual. Since I didn’t have enough time, I wasn’t able to perform at my optimal level. Here is another example. I once procrastinated my math homework until the last moment. Since I rushed the process, I received the lowest score I had ever received in my life. On that day, I decided that next week I would try to finish the homework earlier. In the next week, I improved a lot. Procrastination will conceal one’s true abilities as well. So, even if one has the full potential and skill to excel at a certain task, the action of procrastination will prevent them from doing their best.
Since I get lower grades, my relationship with my parents gets worse. I experience this frequently these days. My parents have high expectations for me, and when I receive grades that don’t fulfill their expectations, we get into an argument. In addition, I often suffer from sleep deprivation due to procrastination, and it makes me sensitive and easily irritated. I have experienced this several times in the past. I stayed up until 1:00 AM, doing my homework. As I was answering the questions, my mother came into my room. Since I was very sensitive at that moment, I got into a fight with her, and we didn’t talk to each other until the next day.
Procrastination is a toxic habit that causes many problems, eventually leading to aggravation of family relationships. I desire to break this habit since I am aware of the consequences it can bring, and I am making constant efforts to do so. For example, I am trying to keep my phone away from me and create plans. Although it will require a lot of time and effort, I hope that one day, I can fully fix the habit and prevent these problems from occurring again.
(Source of Image) https://dribbble.com/tags/procrastination
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