Procrastination: effective strategy or self-sabotage?

Sitting in front of my laptop, sugar-free Red Bull in hand, I stare at a blank Word document. The monotonous blinks of the cursor serve as incessantly rhythmic slaps to the face of my (as of yet nonexistent) productivity. Yes, I have another week before my research paper is due, but wouldn't it be nice if I handed it in more than 60 seconds before its deadline? Eh. I could be watching Arrested Development reruns (there's always money in the banana stand).

Sound familiar?

Like your neighbor's annoying ball of fluff (er, precious pomeranian), procrastination is the deranged pet most college students only wish they could take back to the pound.

So why is it that, despite the myriad minutes we could spend working on our final projects, papers, whatever--we choose to do otherwise?

Many students are convinced they work best under the pressure of a high-stress, time-constrained environment. Others iterate that they work more efficiently as the due date approaches. Many (and here I would include myself) have absolutely no idea why they procrastinate so inconveniently often.

One study recently published in the Journal of Accounting Education quantified the effects of procrastination in an effort to determine whether or not procrastination actually boosts academic performance or not.

Using an objective measure of 'procrastination' (as opposed to the self-reported ones on which many studies rely), students were given a set of online homework assignments. One group was asked to perform the online task early, the other was given directions to begin the assignment 'just-in-time.'

Interestingly enough (or unsurprisingly, depending on your logical progression of thought), the researchers found a positive correlation between an earlier start time and better academic performance. This is taking quality (i.e. intelligence) of the student into account, so that the task performance can be attributed only to the procrastination factor.

If you are, like me, an ardent procrastinator, this news may be shocking, appalling and altogether repulsive. But hey, who said you had to change your study habits now, this late in the semester? I mean...

...there's always tomorrow.