Most people cannot deny having procrastinated at some time; almost everyone can sympathize with the desire to delay working on an uninviting task. As a high school student, I have seen the extent to which both my peers and I postpone our work, putting off assignments until crunch time when we rush to get it done. Empirical studies have largely classified procrastination as a maladaptive trait, as it has been correlated with irritation, regret, self-condemnation, low self-esteem, despair, test anxiety, and lower GPAs (Burka & Yuen, 2008; Ferrari, Johnson, & McCown, 1995; Ferrari, 1998; Lay, Edwards, Parker, & Endler, 1989; Schouwenburg & Lay, 1995, Schraw et al, 2007, Tice & Baumeister, 1997) though I was well-acquainted with these findings long before I read about them in scientific journals. Experiences with all-nighters, avoidable typos in papers that were not given the time to be properly proofread, and stress caused by piles of work left until Sunday night had taught me first-hand about the dangers of procrastination. Yet I could never explain to myself why I dawdled in beginning my work it was simply a habit I had grown to accept. And for that reason, I began my research to understand why students procrastinate. Procrastination is something so common and relatable, yet something that we rarely take the time to understand and I wanted to change that.

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• Psychology