2. It is late Thursday night. My eyelids droop as I think about the English assignment before me: Write an introductory paragraph to an essay on one of the five selected topics. I give some thought to the topics, but soon I find my eyes as well as my mind wandering to the mosquito bites on my leg.

3. “How did they get there?” Next, I notice a stain on the shirt I am wearing. “How did that get there?” Next, my eyes wander to the clock. Suddenly, I am pulled back to reality as I realize that in a matter of hours, I will be sitting in English class, and my paragraph still hasn’t been written.

4. This is a classic situation for me. I have managed to put off writing this paragraph all afternoon, just as I manage to put off nearly all my assignments for hours, days, and even weeks. Then, when time runs out, I am in trouble. Henry David Thoreau once said, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Because of my procrastination, I belong to that same mass. As a result, I waste a great amount of valuable time, and I find myself always one step behind in life.

5. The results of my procrastination can be summed up in Edward Young’s statement: “Procrastination is the thief of time.” I spend more time thinking up weak excuses for why I can’t do an assignment than working on the actual assignment itself. And the ways I avoid an assignment definitely leave something to be desired, such as calling my friend for the eleventh time today, or watching a television show meant for a four-year-old.

6. Procrastination also causes me to waste time when I finally get down to the task I’ve been avoiding. The simplest task takes on extreme proportions in my mind because of the panic I feel for having put it off for so long. I become an irrational, unclear thinker when I am rushed, and this causes me to be much slower at any task. However, the clock ticks on; it does not stop for procrastinators like me.

7. Furthermore, being one step behind in life leaves me trying to catch up on what should have already been done. While most other students diligently do tomorrow’s homework, I diligently do homework from the night before, or even last week. Because I can never seem to do a task when it is assigned, I never get the satisfaction that comes with getting things done on time, with being on top of everything.

8. Rather, I always end up feeling as if I am at the bottom of a pit, trying to climb out—one late assignment at a time. However, since I am always behind, catching up on my work is like trying to walk up the down escalator—very difficult and nearly impossible. Because of procrastination, I am never free to live in the present; instead, I always find myself trapped by unfinished business from the past.

9. Thus, procrastination continues to rob me of time. My life is continually interrupted by spurts of anxiety and desperation as one due date or another flies by. I have yet to grasp the concepts of organization and promptness. I hope that I will grasp them soon; otherwise, I will be doomed to a life in the procrastinator’s prison that I have built for myself.