Commonly stated by students around the world, “I love to procrastinate until I have to stop.”

As fun as it is while you are doing it, the end result of procrastination is problematic and often results in shabby work that may be incomplete.

Given two weeks to complete a task, some people start work right away, others wait a week, and others still wait until one day before time runs out. Those that start work the first day usually produce the best and most thorough work. The late starters end up with well-done work that is not perfect by any standards, and usually get it finished on time with little to no added effort or stress in comparison to the first, compromising only on quality.

The lengthiest of the procrastinators often produce with low quality and almost always incomplete work — if it gets finished at all. Those that procrastinate most may be enjoying themselves for a short amount of time and putting off less enjoyable things, but they are developing bad habits and setting themselves up for future failures.

Getting used to procrastinating is not a good idea; once in a while, it’s OK when you have a long deadline on a simple project like a one-paragraph essay or something simple like that. But when you have only one week or less to complete a three- to five-page essay with intensive research and you put it off until 9 o’ clock the night before it’s due, you will end up stressing out and possibly failing the essay. People who do this often end up just deciding it’s not worth doing the project when there is so little time left, and they end up failing classes.

After-school procrastination is bad, if not worse. When you have a job and have deadlines, your boss expects you to have polished projects done by the deadline — whether they are completed or not could affect the future of the company you work for. If you procrastinate and fail to complete your assigned work on time, or produce low-quality or unfinished work, it may cost you your job.

Although it is OK to do sometimes in moderation, procrastination is an overall negative activity that affects us all. It’s best to finish your work now and enjoy yourself later rather than the other way around, to avoid a possible unwanted outcome: an unfinished assignment or a pink slip.

— Lacey is a Kingston High School junior, in Running Start at Olympic College.