You are sitting in your class listening to your teacher drone on about assignments when suddenly you hear one you don’t recognize. You had put off so much work in trying to get other work done you failed to do the one most important assignment . The procrastination of all your work prevented you from doing what you actually needed to. Many students have said that when they put off a ton of work and say they will make it up, they end up more behind and often forgetting important things.

There are many things that can distract a student from doing their needed work. With phones so accessible and social media just one notification away, there is often a temptation to get distracted. But there are other things that cause distractions to school work. Anything that is of interest to you could pull your attention away. Reading is something that is good for you, but when in a good book it can be hard to put it down and actually complete tasks that you might need for the next day. Or going outside and playing a sport can stop you from doing the work that you may have been putting off.

Sometimes though there are times when students might just not have enough time. When students are in a sports season and/or other extracurricular activities, it can be hard to sit down and do the work when there are practices, meetings, and games. These students have to work extra hard to work on the work during school or stay up late after practices to get everything they need done. But to be a student athlete, keeping your grade up is a must so there isn’t really time to procrastinate. Many students said that they just force themselves to get it done because they know that if they don’t they can’t play their sport.
Girl lacrosse player Katlyn Gardner says, “If I don’t have that motivation to get things done, then I can’t play and that makes my life that much more stressful.”

One thing that can really affect students is ADHD which is a mental disorder that causes people to not be able to stay focused and have hyperactivity. These are things that can stop someone from getting the work they need done. When you have something like this it can cause you to not even want to start work.
FMHS student Tristan Firm, who struggles with ADHD, says, “It affects my ability to study for long periods and really understand the material given.”

So how can you stop procrastinating and stop the distractions? When asked, many people said that to prevent themselves from being distracted they give their phone to one of their parents and/or turn it off. However,sometimes having your phone and using it as a tool to listen to music can help people to just sit down and get the work done. Students also mentioned how they would create a to-do list so that they knew what they needed done and how much stuff they had.

Procrastination is not something that is uncommon. Many students and everyday people struggle with it. There are things that people want to do and others things that they don’t. What really matters is that the work eventually gets done. Most likely it’s a lot easier than you think and just getting in the right mindset you can just get the work done quickly. Procrastination is not something that you fix overnight but if you keep trying to overcome it eventually it will get easier with time.