Is the art of procrastinating a skill to be mastered, or have college students simply taken forgetfulness and made it something greater?
As a habitual procrastinator myself, I can personally say it is indeed an art. Even though it is ultimately just waiting until the last minute, being able to work under immense pressure due to time constraints is difficult. More stressful than that is having to produce quality work at the same time. Those who decide to do their work last-minute have surely chosen a more difficult path, but the end result in many cases is the same as those who prepare early. If the assignment isn’t too tedious or you find yourself extremely busy leading up to the due date, waiting until the night before may be in your best interest.
Of course, there are also those who procrastinate unintentionally versus consciously choosing the night before. These procrastinators are different. They are not among the artists who prefer to challenge their minds, patience and nerves. Instead, these people exemplify horrible time management skills. It is one thing to assess a situation, including the assignment and due date, and determine it doesn’t require much effort. However, it is something completely different to forget about the assignment altogether until right before the due date.
Imagine your professor assigns a ten-page paper at the end of the semester. The average student receives this information thinking they’ll have to start working on the assignment at least a week before it’s due. Not a procrastinator. To this person who has mastered the skill of last-minute perfection, an assignment of this nature sounds like a mere obstacle in the distant future.
In this situation, the first thing I would do is make sure I understand the assignment. This means assessing what will be required to complete it in a timely and efficient manner. The nature of the topic is one element that might lead to me completing the writing assignment at a later date. If it’s based on something I already feel I have extensive knowledge in, I’ll automatically assume I don’t need to spend as much time on it. The more knowledge I already have, the less time I would need to spend researching information to include. This method of time management obviously isn’t suggested for everyone, but those who have learned to make it work for them truly are innovators.