A necessary skill all high school students must learn before graduation is procrastination. In fact, I procrastinated writing this very article. While procrastination is often associated with poor academic performance and mental health, this is only because in general, people are not good at it. So instead of telling you how not to procrastinate, I will tell you the best way to do it:

• Be certain of the deadline

1. 1. • Procrastination is only possible when the deadlines are farther out. If you don’t know when the deadline is, you can’t put the assignment off because it could be due the next day. Be careful when submitting to google classroom because the deadlines can be extra firm.
      •  I was aware this article was due at midnight tonight, so I had a month to relax and work on other stuff, it was great. 

• Understand the difficulty of the assignment for YOU

1. 1. • In general, the more difficult the assignment, the longer it takes to do. Different people take different amounts of time to complete an assignment; just because your friend is doing it the period before it’s due doesn’t mean you should too.
      •  I knew I could write this in less than an hour, but I started writing 5 hours before the deadline (it’s still procrastination, I’m only giving myself 0.67% of the time I had to write this).

• Make a new deadline for yourself

1. 1. • Based on the assignment’s difficulty, make a “start assignment” deadline. Make sure to account for other assignments. Checklists can be helpful to see what is done and what needs doing

• Do productive things while procrastinating

1. 1. • Many people feel guilty while procrastinating, to avoid this, do other, less important tasks. Maybe clean your room or do an easier assignment first. Being productive while procrastinating also makes it harder for people to get mad at you. 
      • To avoid writing this article, I finished an art project—now that’s productivity!

• Always remember:
  • • If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do*

*this does not guarantee quality of work product