By Michelle Gao
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Thursday, March 2, 2006, The OG, opinions

I admit it. I'm a procrastinator. Not to the degree that some others are, but … yes. I procrastinate quite a bit. Example: There's a paper coming up that I've known about for maybe two weeks already, and the rough draft is due in one week on a Monday. Well. No big deal, right? A whole WEEK to write a paper. I've got time. I'll start it tomorrow.

Except that tomorrow … well, there's a whole five days left. No need. How long could it take? Not long at all. And it's only the rough draft.

And so it continues, until the weekend before the rough draft is due. At this point, I've really got to get it done. The outline's already formed in my head and everything, and all I really have to do is get it down in words. How hard can it be? So if I start it tomorrow, it shouldn't take that long at all. Right?

Definitely WRONG.

The rough draft takes much longer than anticipated (maybe because I'm on AIM and Myspace and Facebook at the same time). Now the regret kicks in. Whyyyyy didn't I work on it for just half an hour yesterday? It could have made life so much easier.

I finally get it done, read over it, and discover that I don't like it at all. After peer-editing in class, I discover that I only have to fix a few things to tie it all up into a main point. Hmmm. Not so bad. And it's due in three whole days, so I'll be fine.

And as expected, I'm frantically trying to fix everything the night before it's due. Great. After I'm done, I'm satisfied with my work, but I'm exhausted.

This is a bad cycle. A very bad one. And I've found myself caught up in it multiple times, but since the paper ends up all right in the end and my grade is decent, I don't have the incentive to change. (TEACHERS, PLEASE DON'T GIVE ME ANY INCENTIVE.) And look on the bright side! It's giving me the valuable skill to work under pressure, right? It could save my life in the future!

Or maybe I'm just making excuses. I guess I'd better get started on that history paper due next Friday, then. But there's a whole week and a day left …

[Note: This column can also be found as a March 2 entry in the Gargoyle staff blog.]