Your teacher assigns you a four-page essay that’s due in three weeks. You look at the assignment and think, Well, I can start this later. A week passes, then another. As the second week comes to an end, you finally sit down to write the idea that you just thought of. But instead of finishing it then, you leave it half done and forget about it until the night before it’s due. Panic sets in. You finish your essay in the dead of night, printing it out during passing time, and rush to class to slap it on the top of the pile. Barely safe. A week later, you receive the final grade which was… Not what you were expecting.
All students are familiar with extreme procrastination: beginning an assignment the day before it is due and turning it in with seconds to spare. While this method is popular, as proven by many South High students who participate in late night homework sessions (myself included), it is extremely stressful and often produces subpar results. However, procrastination is neither inherently negative nor necessarily extreme— it is just the act of delaying something for later. And in moderation, it can improve creativity and efficiency.
When students procrastinate until the last minute, they often focus on completing the assignment within the remaining amount of time. In order to accomplish this goal, students may use the first idea that they think of which leads to unsatisfactory grades or critique. However, “moderate procrastination” allows students to develop unique ideas for creative projects or essays. In a study by University of Pennsylvania Professor Adam M. Grant and Yale University Lecturer Jihae Shin, participants who began working on their assignments ten to fifteen minutes after receiving it scored higher in creativity than those who began working immediately. This is because participants subconsciously thought about the assignment while procrastinating, creating novel solutions to the task. The effect of moderate procrastination can also be seen in this 2006 study that shows how creativity is related to time in a bell curve: creativity peaks around halfway into a deadline, opposed to at the beginning. Rather than negatively impacting students, moderate procrastination can give students more time to think of a collaborative idea for a group project, to draw inspiration from a mentor source for art assignments, and to mentally organize an outline for written essays.
Moderate procrastination also increases efficiency in completing work for any class. Everyone, especially extreme procrastinators, has experienced the burst of adrenaline that comes with frantically finishing an assignment as the clock ticks down. While efficiency improves, the accumulated stress counteracts, and even diminishes, this efficiency. According to the Yerkes-Dodson Law, efficiency and stress are related in a bell curve similar to that of creativity and time: when stress is too high, efficiency and quality plummets—something that extreme procrastinators know well. While their assignments will be completed in time, their work will be insufficient in effort. Comparatively, moderate procrastinators will have more time before the due date. Though they will also feel stress from having less time to finish the assignment, it would be nothing compared to what extreme procrastinators feel in the minutes before a deadline.
Naturally, we do not plan to procrastinate. However, intentionally delaying an assignment gives you more time to develop an idea and beginning closer to the deadline gives you more motivation to efficiently complete the assignment. Everyone has their individual methods, and moderate procrastination will effect everyone differently. Consider how this might help your own working habits: Will it improve your creativity and efficiency? Will it prevent you from procrastinating until the last minute?
A month later, your teacher assigns you another essay that is due in three weeks. You look at the assignment and think, I’ll start this later. The assignment brews in the back of your mind, as a week passes, then another. A day ago, you read an article that introduces you to a new perspective on your topic that you can use for your essay. As the second week comes to an end, you finally sit down to write with the idea that you’ve completed thinking about. Instead of finishing it then, you leave your essay unedited, and forget about it until three days before it’s due. You finish editing your essay, turning it in on time without ever pulling an all-nighter, and receive one of the highest scores in your class.
