Strictly Delayed

Procrastination is the First Year FASHION!

I strongly believe that first year for any individual is a trying time where life’s biggest and worst habits are bred, harvested and cultivated. One of the more prominent and common habits we initially pick up, or rather perfect is the art of procrastination. Hence, first years do their assignments the day before, of which are generally very slack. Most chant “I work best under pressure”, or “there’s nothing like the adrenalin rush of the last minute”. This, ladies and gentlemen is simply a defence mechanism created by the first year student who lacks a sense of time and discipline. The definition of slack according to my online definitions assistant is “not showing enough care, attention, or rigour.” This translates into the results of the assignments with ranges of 40 percent to 50 percentages. I am surely for the generalised opinion that [we] first years have a problem with meeting deadlines before they are dead. Who does that in this century?? This is the testimony for my motion: as I rant about this procrastination fashion, I burn the laptop keyboard, punching in letters at a ferocious speed: reason being that I too am rushing to beat a rapidly pending deadline. Need I mention the mole hill of work that has evolved into Mount Kilimanjaro? I dare not.
My opinion is backed by Nicolette Saulez, a BA Law student who is also doing her first year at Rhodes University. “I am the biggest procrastinator. In fact, I’m renowned for that. I can’t exactly pin-point the reason my condition exists, it’s just that I get so easily distracted, and having ‘Facebook’ at my disposal is of no help whatsoever.” For a split second, I thought my condition was an isolated diagnosis. However, my affected fellow punctuality hermit assures me.” Oh no, I have a large group of first year friends, and neither of them are diligent “before deadliners”. I doubt it’s because of our hectic social lives; I mean it’s not like I go out seven days a week, but I’m always tired. I find myself sleeping in the wee- hours of the morning but realising I have not done a single thing,” confesses Saulez to a very understanding pair of ears. I believe that the binding factor of this unproductive ‘disease’ is a lack of motivation. The drive, will, passion, enthusiasm to work...call it what you will is in constant absenteeism in these lives of ours. Could this be that since it is our first year, with courses that take three to four years, excluding the fact that most have aspirations to study further makes our dreams seem like a distant reality? I would that say seeing the results of the fruit of one’s labour in a period of an approximated seven years would be demotivating for anyone, including the Einstein’s of our time. Or we could perhaps simply have a serious condition that needs a prescription.
First year students will side with me in saying that, in the case that an assignment is due in three weeks; this particular scenario brings about no sense of urgency we ask ourselves “what’s the hurry? In that same light we answer ourselves saying “after all, tomorrow is another day.” Indeed tomorrow is another day and it will continue being another day, until we face the dawn before the deadline. A reasonable person with a reasonable mind would rationally start to see red lights of emergency flicker. Do these red lines trigger in the mind of a reasonable student? Is there a reasonable first year student? Especially when time is concerned? I have serious doubts. After all it’s only the dawn before the deadline right? As I rant about this procrastination fashion, I burn the laptop keyboard, punching in letters at a ferocious speed: reason being that I too am still rushing to beat a rapidly pending deadline. It’s too minutes before the dreaded deadline. I therefore rest my case.