Locked and loaded

Have you ever opened Canvas and seen multiple assignments due the next day? Suddenly, everything feels overwhelming. You know you should start, but instead of opening the first assignment, you grab your phone and start scrolling through TikTok. Ten minutes turns into an hour, and now you feel more stressed. If this sounds familiar, you have been a victim of procrastination.

Procrastination is usually treated as a problem of laziness. But laziness does not fully explain what is actually happening. This is not always a matter of not wanting to do the work. Overwhelming assignments, unclear instructions, lack of interest, wanting to be perfect, and distractions can all lead to procrastination. We should stop treating it as a character flaw and start treating it as a behavior with causes that students and schools can actually address.

One of the biggest reasons students procrastinate is that assignments can feel very overwhelming. At boarding school, students go through a full day of classes, followed by PGA commitments, and often return already drained. With several assignments due the next day, they may not even know where to start. Overthinking how much work lies ahead can deplete their motivation before they have even begun. That can make the workload feel much bigger than it actually is.  Avoiding the work can then feel easier than facing it. 

Another reason is distraction. Being teenagers, it is easy for us to get distracted by social media. We are powered by technology in today’s society, so much so that we tend to get lost easily in social media. An easy way to avoid stress is to find dopamine through scrolling on social media, especially TikTok or Instagram, which can provide an immediate escape. A few minutes of escaping can quickly turn into hours and hours. 

Procrastination cannot be solved simply by having better time management. Yes, students are responsible for getting their work done, and learning how to manage time is an important skill. However, telling a student to stop procrastinating does little in addressing why they are struggling to stay on task. Breaking down the assignments into smaller tasks can make them less intimidating. Greater clarity in instructions can also reduce uncertainty, while better coordination between classes could help prevent too many major assignments from falling at the same time.

Procrastination is not an excuse for students to avoid responsibility, but students who do this shouldn't be classified as lazy either. To stop this, we first need to understand why we do it and how we can cope with it. The hardest part is not always finishing the assignment, but having the motivation and clarity to start it.

So next time you open Canvas and see lots of assignments waiting for you: close the social media apps. Eat something, put on some music, and pick one assignment. It doesn't matter whether you start with the hardest or easiest one. Beating procrastination does not mean finishing everything at once. So, with the school year underway, don't wait for those assignments to snowball into an emergency. Close TikTok, pick one, and start!