The first month at school is one of the most fun and stressful times of the year. As a new junior, I should be the last person writing about this, but I’m going to write this article as a way to ease my stress. Procrastination is a good thing. We think of procrastination as a curse when in reality it is a blessing.

I work better under pressure. I have hard evidence that the work I produce the morning the assignment is due is a lot better then the work I do a week before the due date. Next time you’re wallowing in guilt and self loathing because you somehow wasted three hours of your time, tell yourself you did yourself a favor and your end product will be stronger. Then do your work.

If your quality of work is good, don’t beat yourself up about procrastination. It’s not the worst thing in the world. In Greek and Roman times procrastinating was revered. The highest ranking scholars sat around browsing the internet until it was absolutely necessary they do something. I learned this fact because I had a physics lab report to do. Both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have described themselves as chronic procrastinators. You know how Hamilton wrote the other 51 essays? I’ll bet you he wrote those the night before because they were due the next day.

Often times I procrastinate because I have so much to do that I can’t even imagine starting. I feel like there is not one of the million things I have to do that is worth doing. You need to distinguish between this kind of deadly procrastination and the productive kind. It’s just not physically possible for you to write five essays in two hours.

Procrastination lets you get your priorities in order. Think about it as a gift–now you know you can complete things under crunch time whereas those poor, well-planning souls have to suffer because they will never know whether they can complete things efficiently without the loss of quality.

When I do things a week before they’re due, I feel like I deserve a medal for my responsibility. Yet it just feels so much harder. When you wait until the last minute, you don’t notice the difficulty because a mind-numbing panic starts to set in. The annoyance of the job doesn’t even phase you because the worry about getting it in on time is your main priority. The final product comes out better because you’re thinking more clearly. There’s that rush of adrenaline and extra bloodflow to your brain. Imagine yourself failing horribly at completing the assignment–that will really get your creative juices flowing.

Now I’m not saying that I don’t do my homework or open my backpack until the morning my homework is due, but sometimes the mornings are good. You’re fresher, there’s no distractions, there’s more pressure… your work is bound to be better. Make a huge cup of coffee, sit down in your kitchen, and just pound it out. You have no other choice. That’s the beauty of it. In a couple of hours, you’ll have to turn it in.

Late nights aren’t necessarily horrible either. You zone out and just get it done because the draw of your bed is so powerful. I know that at midnight after being up for 18 hours, I would do almost anything if it meant I got to go to bed. It’s just one more motivating factor.

Also, if you’re procrastinating, just own up to it. Don’t come into school the next day and say your math homework took you three hours. It didn’t. Two hours of the time was spent taking Buzzfeed quizzes. Let’s all be honest here.

“This isn’t one of those things you can just leave until the night before.” This is so often quipped by our teachers, it sounds repetitive to almost every student’s ear. It no longer has meaning because you know you can get it done the night before. Don’t let them underestimate you. You can and you will do it the night before.

P.S. I’m pretty sure this article is due in about 5 minutes.