Procrastination: The Overlooked Epidemic

Kenny Xu

Mrs. Henning

AP Language and Composition

6 October 2014

Procrastination: The Overlooked Epidemic

"I'll do it later." We hear this phrase throughout our society, ringing in schools, workplaces, and any other place where one is given responsibilities. This epidemic, known as procrastination, is highly prevalent in society despite the efforts of teachers, counselors, and even students discouraging it. Procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing something for later. By this definition, it may not seem all too worrisome, but the fact of it being extremely pervasive in the modern world makes procrastination a relevant and expanding crisis especially since majority of students suffer from these procrastination instincts. In short,

Humans fear a variety of things: spiders, heights, water, anything really. But, fear is also a factor for procrastination. Procrastination, in the majority of students, is commonly caused just by fear. Sometimes we are afraid. Let’s take an ordinary student named Joe, for instance. He is afraid of failing. Afraid of not being good enough. Afraid of confronting an obstacle. Afraid of not achieving the best he can do. These are common fears in many people, but from this fear, Joe does initiate any of his goals or assignments, and the vicious cycle of procrastination begins. Joe starts to neglect his responsibilities, expecting his "future self" to take care of it, but really Joe is adding unneeded stress upon himself. In the end, the student must confront this fear. Joe must stare fear in the face, and reduce it to nothing. In other words, confronting the fear or ignoring it will make avoiding procrastination easier. If not, the student will be overwhelmed with stress, which will then lead to a multitude of other

A certain amount of motivation is needed to complete even the most nominal of tasks. But quite often, as seen in many students’ everyday lives, there is not enough motivation to simply start an assignment or project. A lack of discipline is sometimes correlated with lack of motivation; generally, the rare students that are not found procrastinating are more mature. But is simply maturing with age a solution to procrastination? Many studies suggest otherwise, for instance, numerous adults, especially in the corporate world, are found lacking motivation in their field and thus are not progressing themselves and their companies. Let’s look at Joe for example; Joe is not an immature student and is known to be a mature, polite individual according to his peers and teachers. Nevertheless, we find Joe staying up the night before due dates because of procrastinating. This makes one wonder if Joe is immature or simply lacking motivation, although it is most likely the latter. Procrastinating high school students need to see the bigger picture of their schoolwork, realizing that their achievements now will affect them in the future. This mindset may conjure the right amount of motivation to get students to start their work early, without the stressful pressure of deadlines. Hopefully next time, the mature student Joe will be able to motivate