Hey I’m back for your weekly dose of me. I’m here to inform you about the highs and lows of procrastination.
We all go through phases during an assignment.

In the musical “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” Charlie Brown has a book report due. He sings in a halting, panicky monotone: “If I start writing now…when I’m not really rested …it could upset my thinking which is not good at all…I’ll get a fresh start tomorrow…and it’s not due till Wednesday…so I’ll…have all of Tuesday unless…something should happen…Why does this always happen…I should be outside playing…getting fresh air and sunshine…I work best under pressure and there’ll be lots of pressure if I…wait till tomorrow…I should start writing now but if I…start writing now when I’m not really rested…it could upset my thinking…which is not good at all.”

Now we can all relate to poor Charlie Brown. As high school students who get “mountains” of homework, we’d often times be doing anything else with our time. We’d rather be hanging out with friends, watching Netflix, or snapchatting! Focusing on tasks that we’re not completely into is hard, but in order to get a good grade, necessary.
Now, if doing our work is so important why does it have to be so darn hard? Turns out the human brain is wired to naturally procrastinate. Our brains have many systems. The two involved with procrastination are the limbic and prefrontal systems. The limbic system is involved with pleasure while the prefrontal is the “OCD-like planner.” When the limbic center “wins” it results in what we know as procrastination.
But just because it’s natural doesn’t mean you can go blaming anyone for you not getting your work done. Scientifically the limbic system is automatic because it is there for mood repair, while the prefrontal is not, because you only need it during tasks. The minute your brain is not engaged, the limbic system takes the wheel.
All hope is not lost! There are ways to, in a sense, control the control-hippie-freak that is your limbic system.

• Do the hardest most boring thing first- this will get the ol’ gears turning.
• “Can’t cut down the tree, cut down the branches,” instead of focusing on the bulk, focus on what you can do.
  Have someone keeping you accountable- this way if you don’t accomplish there’s that embarrassment of failure.
• RACE THE CLOCK
• No interruption!
  (We’ll still procrastinate anyways…)

Sources:
Spencer, Amy. “How to Stop Procrastinating.” Real Simple. N.p., 18 Mar. 2011.
Web. 28 Oct. 2016.