Everyone including family members knows Jade to be a procrastinator, this is a habit that has become part of him since his childhood. He would always leave his school assignment for last minute and would not study until the night before his exams. He has been punished severely by his parents for not doing his house chores when he was supposed to, yet nothing was different about Jade, he wasn't ready to make changes because he doesn't see the need to.
Jade struggled with this bad habit even when he got admission into school, he was always the last to submit his assignment. One day, a lecturer sent him out of the class because he didn't submit his departmental project work at the due date, Jade pleaded persistently but was refused by the lecturer, he went through his class representative but the lecturer refused still.
"I really tried to convince him that you were sick but he wouldn't believe me, the lecturer said that it's your habit of treating important things nonchalantly " the class representative said to Jade.
Jade was sad, he doesn't know what else to do, he really need to get his score on the project or it will be a carryover for him which is bad and his parents wouid definitely kill him if they find out about it.
He thought about his situation and the possible steps to take so as to correct his mistakes. He pleaded with the course representative to accompany him to the lecturers office, he agreed and they went together. When they got to his office, Jade greeted politely and explained why he couldn't meet up with the deadline to submit his departmental project work, he promised never to delay in his assignment anymore and to be always punctual for his lectures.
The lecturer looked at him intently and saw that he was really sincere. He accepted Jade's submission and Jade left happy and full of thanks to the lecturer and his course representative who accompanied him and pleaded on his behalf as well.
The course representative said to Jade " have you seen what procrastination would have cost you? I'm happy you were able to submit your project, there might not be a next time and remember this is our final year, so you have to be careful with this lecturers unless you are ready for an extra year"
"God forbid that I do an extra year, how can you even think that about me, anyway thanks for the prep talk it won't happen again and you won't have to plead with any lecturer on my behalf" Jade replied to him.
It's now time for final exams, all Jade's course mates are reading intensely, they even formed a reading group to encourage each other to study and prepare well for the exams because it will be their last exams in school, in just a few weeks, they will be graduating.
Jade didn't care, he continued normal like nothing was happening in school, he wouldn't study ahead for his exams even when he knows that it's his final exams. It was time to write their final exams and everyone was in the hall except Jade, the lecturer gave 30 minutes wait time for Jade and he didn't show up, he gave another 20 minutes extra time to wait for Jade and he still didn't show up so exam commenced because they couldn't wait for him anymore.
It was now 25 minutes to round up with the exam when Jade dashed in, panting like someone chased by a wild animal, without delay the lecturer handed over his exam sheet to him and before he could do anything, time was up and the lecturer collected their papers, Jade pleaded for extra time but there was none to spare. His paper was also collected and the only thing he had done was to write his name on the sheet.
They found out that Jade who had refused to read his book because he felt there was plenty of time before exams, stayed up the night before the final exam to read and he woke up really late the next morning and got to the hall when exam was almost over.
The lecturer looked at Jade and said to him "do you know the consequences of what you have brought upon yourself? After all my warnings and promises you made to me you still allowed procrastination to affect your final exams" he hook his head and said old habits die hard.
Jade didn't learn his lessons and he got a bad result due to his procrastination, his friends graduated and left him behind and one of them said "I feel sad for Jade, I hope he overcomes his negative traits of procrastinating because old habits die hard".
