So we have this verb in English to procrastinate.
And I'm guilty of doing this quite often actually.
When you procrastinate, it means you delay doing something and you do other meaningless stuff instead.
You delay doing something important.
In fact, I was procrastinating last weekend.
Normally, I would have made this English lesson already, but I procrastinated.
And now it's late in the day on Monday and I'm just getting started.
But that's okay.
I'll get it done and I'll get it out before Tuesday morning.
No problem.
There was another time in my life when I procrastinated.
A few years ago, my passport had expired and I needed to renew it so I could go on a trip, but I procrastinated.
Instead of doing that important thing, I did other stuff and I kind of forgot about it and then it ended up costing me quite a bit of money when I actually did go to renew it, because I had procrastinated, because I had delayed doing something important.
When I eventually went to do it, I had to pay extra because I needed it within 10 days so I could go on my trip.
So when you procrastinate, you delay doing something important and then whoa, that's a loud motorcycle.
You delay doing something important and usually when you're doing that, you do other things that aren't as important.
Anyways, welcome to this English lesson about procrastination and delaying doing things that are important and deadlines and all those kinds of things.
I'm just going to hang out in this town and along the way I'll teach you some words and phrases.
Another phrase we use in these situations is the phrase to do something at the last minute.
When you do something at the last minute, it means you do it when there's barely enough time left to finish it or to do that thing.
A good example would be this if you're driving on a three-lane highway and your exit is coming up and you are in the leftmost lane if you're in Canada or a country where the exits are on the right, and then, instead of moving over early, Instead of getting ready to take your exit, you wait and you do it at the last minute.
You cut across all the lanes at once, hopefully with your signal light on, in order to make it onto your exit.
So that wouldn't be a good thing.
I've actually done that as well.
Is this turning into an English lesson where Bob admits some of his flaws?
I have been in the wrong lane and then, instead of getting over early so I could get on my exit, sometimes I have, at the last minute, put my signal light on and safely crossed all the lanes in order to make it to my exit.
So when you do something at the last minute, it means you do it when there's just enough time left to get that thing done or to do that thing.
So a few days ago I almost ran out of gas.
I knew the car needed gas, but I put off getting gas because I was busy.
And then eventually the little light came on and then I definitely had to go get gas.
In English, when you put something off, it means that you kind of know that you need to do it, but you decide to do it later.
Maybe on your computer a little window pops up and says, you need to update your computer now.
And you might decide, you know what, I'm just going to put that off until tomorrow.
This happens sometimes with when I have something important that I need to do as well.
If I know that there's no strong deadline, like there's no exact day or time when it needs to get done, sometimes I will put it off.
I will delay doing that thing until eventually I get to a point where I have to do it.
So in English, when you put something off, it means, instead of doing it now or today, you decide to do it later today or tomorrow.
You put it off, you decide to do it later.
We also have a phrase in English to drag your feet.
When you drag your feet, it means there's something that you should be doing, and maybe you're even doing it, but you're doing it slowly because you aren't feeling very enthusiastic.
This happens to me when I need to clean the house on a Saturday morning.
I will often drag my feet.
I won't work very quickly I'll maybe even put it off a little bit before I get started.
Maybe I'll check my email or watch a few YouTube videos.
But I definitely do not work at full speed.
I often drag my feet when I need to clean the house.
I'm sure you have this situation in your life as well.
There are things you enjoy doing and you do them very, very quickly.
But sometimes there's something you have to do that just isn't that exciting.
And so when you do it, you do it slowly.
You tend to drag your feet.
So I'm sure you have a version of this phrase in your own language as well.
It's the phrase to waste time when you waste time.
It means you use your time to do things that aren't important.
I would say that if you are on your phone scrolling endlessly, you are probably wasting time.
I would say that if you're supposed to be doing something important, but instead you're just watching YouTube videos, you're probably wasting time.
So when you waste time, it means you don't use your time in a productive way.
When you waste time, you do something that doesn't really make you a better person.
It doesn't really help the world around you.
It's simply you just doing something that's unimportant.
It's you wasting time.
So we have something in English called a deadline.
A deadline is the time and day where you have to have something done.
For me, a good example would be my driver's license.
I have a deadline right now because my driver's license expires next July.
In July 2026 my driver's license will expire on my birthday.
So the deadline for me to renew my driver's license will be my birthday next July.
So if I don't do it by then, I can still go and do it, but I'll probably have to pay a penalty or a fine for doing it late.
It will cost me extra money, similar to what happened with my passport.
I missed the deadline to renew it early, and then when I renewed it later, it cost me extra money.
So a deadline, that is a time and date by which you have to do something.
The deadline for me for this video is I have to have this done today so that you can watch it on Tuesday morning.
So a deadline, the time and day by which you have to have something done.
So this is actually the office where I will come next year to renew my driver's license.
And I'm going to try and do it early because I don't want to cut it close.
In English, when you cut it close, it means that you wait until the last possible moment to do something.
So if I needed to renew my driver's license on my birthday, if I came the day before, or if I came the day of my birthday, in English, you would say I decided to cut it close.
I would be cutting it close.
So when you cut it close, it means...
You still do it on time.
You're not late, but you do it at the last possible moment, the last minute.
So it's similar to the other phrase, to do something at the last minute.
I will most likely renew my driver's license in May or June because I don't want to cut it close.
I don't want to wait until the last minute.
Sometimes when you have a deadline, it might be at work.
Maybe you're working on a project and you have to get it done by a certain day and time.
But sometimes you might run out of time.
In English, when you say that you are running out of time or when you run out of time, it means that you're doing the work but you don't have enough time to get it all done.
This sometimes happens with students at school.
I will give them three days to work on a project and then on the last day they'll say I'm running out of time.
I'm going to run out of time.
Can I have an extra day?
And sometimes I say yes, but usually I say no.
So when you run out of time, it means you have a certain amount of time to do something and you just aren't getting it done in that time.
You are going to not have enough time to get that thing finished.
You're going to run out of time.
Well hey, thank you so much for watching this English lesson about procrastination and deadlines and all those other things we use to talk about doing things at the last minute.
You can probably tell that I'm going back to teaching tomorrow, and so I'm starting to think about some of the ways in which students behave.
Sometimes they miss deadlines, sometimes they procrastinate.
I know I've admitted that I do it too but I do see a lot of that behavior in students as well.
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Thanks again for watching.
I'll see you next week with another English lesson.
Bye.
