"I'll Do It Later"

Gigi Domine

I glanced at the clock: 8:30 pm. I started to type faster, worried about the nine o’clock deadline. I had a Writer’s Workshop assignment due about Gilgamesh and was struggling to get it done on time. I had had plenty of time, and still I didn’t finish it. In fact, I hadn’t even started it. Throughout the entire day, I went and got ice cream with my friends, finished reading my book, watched an episode of TV, and yet I still didn’t do it. I was a major procrastinator. I was often doing homework right before it was due, even after. I would look at my to-do assignments, and then I would think to myself, I still have a day. I still have a couple of hours. I still have time. I would go off and do something else, like hang out with my friends, message online, or read a book, and I was always telling myself I had more time. I always felt a little guilty or anxious about it, but I would always brush it off.

One day, at the end of seventh grade, I realized I couldn’t do this. I couldn't be completing my homework an hour before it was due, and I really couldn’t be finishing my homework after it was due. I was going into my eighth grade year and soon high school. High school isn’t a place where you turn in your assignments late. I was soon to go into high school, and I knew I couldn’t have these kind of bad habits there. I had to get my act together.

I decided to start working harder. I thought it would be simple, like deciding to go for a walk. I assumed that it would come easily, but I was wrong. Very wrong. I always had other things to do that I prioritized over my homework. I always put my homework aside and made excuses.

One afternoon, I was sitting in my room, reading a book. The sun was shining in through my window, creating an environment of serenity and peace. But even with all this, I felt like something was off. My phone buzzed, and I looked down.

Your assignment on ‘Family Trees’ is due tomorrow. The grey text stared me in the face.

Suddenly, I realized that I had a ton of homework due. I thought back through my day, wondering why I hadn’t done it earlier. I realized that it wasn’t just about making time to do my homework, or remembering to do it, it was about making excuses to myself.

It wasn’t other people who were going to make me do my homework. Only I could make myself do it. I went over to my laptop, put aside my book, and finished my homework. I opened up Google Classroom, went to my to-do assignments, and started on next item due. I was always tempted to do other things. Message my friends, read a book, hang out with my sister, there were so many things I could do. I force quit all my applications that weren’t related to school, and tried to tone out all the distractions. I put on some quiet music, and that was how I concentrated.

That day, I really started to work towards my goal of overcoming my own bad habits. It was definitely difficult, and there were times when I just felt overwhelmed having to finish everything all at once. But as I continued completing all of my homework on time for a while, I felt great about it. I felt like I was really making progress and making better habits for myself.

Sometimes, I felt almost like I had relapsed back into my old routines, and that could be scary. Often, I had to remind myself what it was like before I really did my homework on time. It was stressful, and I always felt guilty when I was with my friends.

One time, it was about four o’clock in the afternoon, and I was at my friend’s house. My friend had asked if I wanted to come over, and we could have a movie night and go on her zipline. I had looked at my to-do assignments. I had two assignments due the next day. I knew I had to do them, but regardless, I told myself it was fine. But then I thought about it.

“Will I really have enough time to do these? I know they’re long assignments. It might take a while...” I knew I really wouldn’t have enough time, but I went anyway. I once again put my priorities behind where they should’ve been, and I went over to see my friend.

I had to change. I needed a way to keep track of my assignments and get them in on time. I ended up organizing all my digital bookmarks to have Google Classroom, my to-do assignments, and each individual class. It doesn’t seem like it would do a lot, but it actually really helped me. I would open up my laptop, and that was one of the first things I saw. I would click on to-do, I’d see all my assignments, and I would actually start them, realizing that I had a lot of work to do.

I finally felt like I was in a good place with my work. I was able to feel good about myself when I thought about my homework situation, and the assignments that I had finished. Instead of reading my assignment and thinking about how horribly written they were, I looked at my assignments, and I felt proud of myself. I didn’t feel guilty when I walked downstairs to dinner each day, and my parents asked if all my homework was finished. Now, I would sit down and smile.

“I finished all my homework, and I don’t have any missing assignments,” I could say. It felt good, like I had reached a goal. In a way, I did. I had better habits, I almost never turned my homework in late, and my work was really starting to improve. I had won my battle against myself, overcoming my own procrastination.