This story was not started until the first deadline was less than 24 hours away. That’s procrastination. Procrastination is a habit that affects teenagers and adults in schools across the country, including St. Benedict’s. Especially with final exams approaching, the Gray bees aren’t sure when they will finally do their work.

UDII Jonathan Lewis said he has had difficulties before in some of  his classes because of procrastination. “Over the summer I almost failed my summer reading assignment,” Jonathan said. He said he had to read a whole book in one day and analyze it all in one day to not fail his summer reading work.

“People get tired of working… work can get boring… and so they don’t work anymore,” Jonathan said. There is no doubt that the chances of failure increase in any task when a student procrastinates. So why do so many people do it? Jonathan said there are many distractions which prevent people from doing their work earlier.

How can people stop procrastinating? “First of all, people have to find a place they like to work. Second limit distractions, and lastly know your limits,” Jonathan said. Recently Jonathan was inducted into the National Honor Society and he said he could not have done it without cutting the amount of distractions in his work time.

Jonathan suggested downloading applications that block certain content on devices. Technology can provide both distractions and also remedies for procrastination.

Not everybody thinks procrastination is bad.

Senior Alfredo Romero believes he has benefitted by procrastinating. “I’ve managed to do roughly 95 percent of my work successfully,” Alfredo said. But he said it is essential to relieve stress with distractions. Among his favorite distractions are: playing soccer, relaxing and watching Netflix.

Senior Joel Kellam believes procrastination is not all bad and is rather more part of human nature. Even though music can distract him, Joel said, “Music gives me a motivational edge even though I’m procrastinating.When I’m doing something like physics I listen to music to stay motivated.”

Senior Serge Ayinou also enjoys distracting himself by watching YouTube videos and episodes on Netflix. He attributes much of his success to these distractions that help him relax his brain whenever he needs a break. Jonathan on the other hand said,  “One of my favorite healthy distractions is to read for an hour a day.”