Junior Anish Ramanadham blinked his eyes and yawned as he neared the end of the short horror story he has promised to write for a friend’s birthday. He had spent the majority of the week writing it for her and couldn’t help but smile as he finished his masterpiece.
After finally finishing it, he looked at a clock, which read well past midnight. Unfortunately, Ramanadham still had to start a history project that was due the next day.
At 3 a.m., Ramanadham mustered whatever energy he had left and pushed past the fatigue to finish his history project. He even received an A on it.
Ramanadham is not a typical teen procrastinator. He does not waste precious hours every day scrolling through Facebook or watching clips on YouTube or beating his high score on Candy Crush, only to finally realize that he has been neglecting his homework this whole time. Ramanadham procrastinates by using his time to do the activities he enjoys, waiting to the last minute to begin schoolwork.
“I definitely am a procrastinator,” Ramanadham said. “I guess what sets me apart is that I procrastinate all the time.”
Like many students, Ramanadham loves music and the arts and finds they often distract him.
“I don’t mind procrastinating on schoolwork because I have other things that I do prioritize over school, such as playing the guitar or designing artistic things like album covers or tattoos,” he said.
However, Ramanadham still believes procrastinating can be detrimental since it adds unnecessary stress and can confuse his sleep schedule.
In order to relieve his stress, he enjoys writing songs because it lets him express his emotions in a positive way.
He finds that songwriting acts as an outlet for him to remove any frustrations that build up in him due to school or life in general.
“I found [songwriting to be] a good way to vent my thoughts and feelings,” Ramanadham said. “I kind of just picked up a pen one day and started writing. I try to procrastinate less, but I also don’t mind because I’m doing something that makes me happy.”
Like Ramanadham, senior Edward Lin also procrastinates to focus on activities that he enjoys.
“I almost always wait until the last minute to start homework,” Lin said. “I don’t remember the last time I started a project or assignment two days before it was due.”
In fact, Lin once started a statistics project on car prices at 2 a.m. the day it was due.
Lin said he procrastinates to avoid long and tedious homework assignments. He instead uses his free time to play online poker or solve Rubik’s cubes, pastimes that he finds both mentally challenging and gratifying.
Ramanadham believes that students should pursue their interests rather than spend too much time on homework.
“I think making yourself happy is more important than focusing mainly on schoolwork,” Ramanadham said. “If you’re passionate about something, then a lot of the time you have should be spent on that passion.”
