Procrastination

Last night, after work, I came home to find my bonus room (which will henceforth and forever be referred to as "The Man Cave") filled with poster board, glue sticks, glitter, construction paper, and countless other cutesy arts and crafts materials. Amidst the chaos sat my sister, Tori, at the laptop researching stock prices and various other statistics for her 10th grade economics project. She looked up just long enough to tell me that it was due today and that she had just started an hour before I'd found her in her current predicament. I had mixed emotions about the situation. Sure, I wish my sister had started earlier but I was also proud that I got to share in her first real encounter with procrastination. As I wiped the proud tear from my eye, I got to thinking about why we (and nearly everyone does) procrastinate on such a regular basis.

Everyone keeps telling us that our generation is hellbent on instant gratification in every facet of our lives. We want faster internet, faster texting, better cell service, etc. So if we want results so quickly all the time, it would seem as though we wouldn't sit around until the last minute to (and these are my recent examples) put together an entire semester's worth of biology into an e-portfolio, write a twelve page research paper, or write an eight minute speech in class the day it was due. I mean, there's no better feeling than just being done with an assignment that you've been dreading, so why don't we knock it out right when we get it. Is there some sort of subliminal pleasure that we get from waiting and pounding it all out in the wee hours of the morning before its due? Honestly, I can't personally justify the notion that you put things off because you want to have fun in the moment because the fun you have while you should be working is rarely equal to the stress incurred in those final twelve hours of frantic typing. So why not just do it? Why wait?

I was going to figure these questions out, but I think I'll do it later...