Well, here we are again. It’s the day that an assignment is due and you’re still working on it. My mother would always be on me when I was a freshman at our local community college for not starting a project the day it was assigned. She HATED that I would give her a paper to proofread the day before it was due. Well here’s something I found out, I just work better that way.
I used to be filled with great anxiety whenever I thought about a soon-to-be-due project. I would be wide awake at night having panic attacks about projects that I haven’t started and yet I wouldn’t have the brain power to start them. This would cause me to be miserable. I was a shut-in. Since I still had projects to finish, regardless if they were due the next day or the next month, I felt that I didn’t deserve to have fun or any type of life outside of school.
Then, I read an article about how some people just work better at the last minute. They need the pressure of a deadline not only to do the work, but to do good work. I know my limits. I know roughly how long it will take me to a write paper or study once I finally buckle down and do it. So I decided to give it a try. I just let my procrastination take over.
The result of this? I feel so much happier. Now I don’t spend weeks thinking of all the things that I should be doing and driving myself into a feeling of slothfulness and depression. Instead, I set myself a time limit. For example, I’ll start studying for an exam two days before I take it. Then, and only then, is when I worry about the exam. I’ve found that even though I have less time to put into something, the effort that I put into it is comparable to something that would otherwise take me a week or two to do. I find that the crunch causes my brain to become more focused and because I’m not constantly worrying about projects, my anxiety has gone down as well.
I wouldn’t recommend this for all the procrastinators. First, think of the quality of work that you do. Have you noticed that you work well at the last minute or is your last minute work just crap? Maybe start with something small that won’t be affected much by procrastinating. However, if you feel yourself being driven into panic attacks, depression, or periods of anxiety because of procrastination, then I would definitely give it a go.
Image: http://www.monicamilas.ca/articles/how-victor-stopped-procrastinating-in-one-easy-session
Unruly Bodies 
This reminded me of my self and seriously hope that it does not lower my grade. I am procrastinator. And I don’t know what is wrong with me . Is it disorganization, business(probably not), anxiety. But something needs to change. But with consideration to your writing I happy to hear that I am not the only one thinking about this.
Yeah I definitely agree with you! My whole family thinks I’m strange because I’ll study for major exams or write ten page paper the night before and morning of; to be honest, I think it lowkey terrifies my mother that I work under such a deadline but that’s really what works best for me! I wish I was the type of person to calmly start a paper two weeks before it’s due and have a nice, organised agenda but that’s not who I am. I definitely work better under intense stress and it honestly improves the quality of my work because I’m filled with my creativity and ideas when I’m writing and closer to a deadline. I definitely feel you on this!