Procrastination is definitely a habit that can cost people a lot, and I have personally experienced its consequences in different aspects of my life. However, if there is one thing that I would say it cost me the most, it was my academics.
Back in my 300 level, there was this particular course on crops that gave me a really tough time. The lecturer who handled the course was not the type to make things easy for students. Unlike other lecturers who would recycle past questions, this man made sure to set entirely new questions every year. That meant you had to read every single note and fully understand the course if you wanted to pass.
To make matters worse, the course had some calculations in it, and if there is one thing I know about myself, it is that I am terrible at calculations. In fact, let's just be honest—I am very bad at anything that involves numbers. But instead of facing my weakness head-on, I kept postponing my reading. I didn’t ask any of my coursemates for explanations, even though I knew some of them understood the calculations better than I did. Each time I thought about reading, I would just tell myself, “I still have time and don't have the strength to read the note,” so i will just push it to another day. This cycle continued until I realized that the exam was just like one week away.
By the time I finally picked up my notes to read, I realized how much I had underestimated the course. The volume of notes alone was intimidating, and knowing that I had other courses to prepare for made it even worse. I tried my best to go through as much as I could, but no matter how hard I tried, I knew there was no way I could cover everything within such a short time. The night before the exam, I was still struggling to read, but my brain was already exhausted. To make things worse, I had another exam the next day, so I couldn’t even afford to sacrifice all my time for just one course. At that point, I knew I had no choice but to just read what I could and hope for the best.
On the day of the exam, I walked into the hall feeling completely unprepared. The moment I saw the questions, I knew I was in trouble. My mind went blank, and even the things I had managed to read suddenly felt like they had vanished from my memory. I tried my best to answer the questions, but deep down, I knew that my best wasn’t enough. I could only write the little I remembered, and for the calculation part, I just wrote whatever came to my head, knowing fully well that it probably wouldn’t make sense.
After the exam, I already prepared myself for the worst. I was certain that I wasn’t passing that course, and the thought of having to carry it over scared me. When the results were finally released, I saw that I had an E. It wasn’t a good grade at all especially for the degree i want to graduate with, but at that moment, I was just relieved a bit that it wasn’t an F. At least I didn’t have to rewrite the exam.
That experience taught me a valuable lesson about procrastination. It made me realize that there are some courses you just can’t afford to take lightly. Ever since then, I have tried my best to plan my reading schedule better and avoid postponing things until it’s too late. Procrastination cost me a better grade, but at least it also gave me a lesson that I won’t forget anytime soon.
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