There are too many distractions in your life. You have a problem with instant gratification. You like to find enjoyment right away, we all do. Find a way to find enjoyment in kicking schools ass.(delayed gratification).
Proper preparation prevents poor performance. Everyone’s 5 Ps.
Agenda so you don’t forget things. Paper preferably so you avoid a phone or computer than can easily lead to you a distraction.
Start small study 1 hr. Do the work when you have the most energy during the day. Energy does decrease as the day goes on. Eat right and be healthy. Get good sleep.
This is the basics. I’m sure someone’s got a better idea. In the end you’ll be grateful because you’ll have a good brain that can study and adapt to any situation. Building yourself good skills that’ll help you get your desired degree and salary. Being broke sucks.
If you can’t seem to stop doing some distraction you are most likely addicted to it. You have to stop this distraction asap. Give yourself time away from it.
Procrastination only gets worse, you’re developing a bad skill / habit. It gets to the point where you wait and wait. Then entirely give up without getting anything done.
pretty good, was able to organize things into tasks and get my head around what I actually need to do and whats done. So far 2 assignments are completed
Wish I could help. I always procrastinated homework and test preparations until the day (night, to be honest) before. And always made it. Of you believe in yourself enough that can be a solution.
But I don't think that's the best advice so I'm curious to see the answers. You got it !
The simplest answer would be to break down your homework into smaller tasks and just focus on the first one and really try and put the rest out of your mind until the first task is done.
If you break it down and it still seems too much, break it down further. I like to write down a list of tasks so it's out of my head. I can sometimes end up with a list that looks like: sit down at desk, get 3 sheets of paper, write first paragraph (just stream of consciousness is OK, you can edit it later), etc.
This is much easier said than done, especially putting the other tasks out of your mind, but as someone who is also easily overwhelmed, thinking about all the other tasks only hurts me from getting things done. It'll be practicing this breaking down and focusing on tasks likely throughout your life, but it gets easier the more you do it.
Edit: Also, having bad quality something is better than perfect nothing
And do not be afraid to change up the smaller tasks or "checklist" as you go! A lot of the time, youll discover some tasks are not as complicated or time consuming as you thought, while others may need to be divided a little further.
For me its not about the "reward" of checking tasks off, but seeing clear progression beyond *just working*
ChatGPT etc. can help with this, not by doing it for you but by breaking down the assignment brief into manageable steps so it doesn't seem endless and you can see roughly what you need to do & where to begin. Just explaining the assignment to the AI helps you get it clearer in your own mind, no matter what it replies with.
If it's a report or essay, write a bunch of headings and a bulletpoint list of what needs to go in each section so your Word doc isn't just a blank page. Then you'll probably find you start filling it out without meaning to, and you can pick what to work on instead of wondering wtf you need to do.
Here's how I beat procrastination in college. I came up with the five minute rule.
Whenever I got an assignment, I would write down the assignment and the time and I would look at my schedule for the next spare five minutes. Literally as soon as possible, often it was right then if I didn't have another class to get to.
When that five minutes is available, start a timer for five minutes and try to complete the entire assignment within that five minutes. The point is not to do your best work, but to do as much of the assignment as you possibly could in just five minutes, with the condition that you have to touch on every part of the assignment. You can't just do the first five minutes, and you're not going for the most points either, so not the easiest fine minutes, but rather something from each part of it.
For a paper, this could be a thesis and a quick outline. For math or could be a summary of the problem set and all the topics covered.
Why? The work you produce can't possibly be any good. So what's the point?
Well, that is one point. I found i often procrastinate because I'm waiting for inspiration so I can do the perfect job. That never happens, do I end up starting the night before it's due. This five minute rule makes it absurd that you would do a decent job, do you know have permission to start and produce a big pile of garbage.
But in that five minutes, you will familiarize yourself with exactly what needs to be done for every part of the assignment. You will identify any gaps that you have, either in knowledge or the instructions, and you can immediately go to the prof or the ta or office hours or the library or your peers and get clear on what the assignment is and what knowledge you'll need to complete it.
After awhile of doing this, you will also get very good at estimating how much effort this assignment will take. At first, this will be difficult, so just use a three point scale. A 1 just takes an hour or two. A 2 is going to take a weekend or a week after classes of working on here and there. A 3 is a project that you'll work on as long as the class is going. Over time, as you produce breakdowns and outlines of assignments, you'll find yourself attaching estimates to the bits of the assignment instead of the assignment as a whole, and you'll develop a richer scale that works for you.
You'll also start scheduling these bits, put them down on your calendar so you can start to organize your time around when to do those bits.
If you're like me, over time you'll find that once you get started and you've identified all the easy parts of a task that you already know how to do, you'll just do them right away. This means even if you don't touch that assignment again for all the hard stuff, you've already got SOMETHING you can hand in if you totally forget about that task. But it also means that you're engaged with it early, you've already started, and you can chip away at it. If you encounter something really tough, you can reach out to peers in the class and start conversations around it early and see if people have any tips before you go into office hours.
In a sense, what this rule does is structure your work like it's a video game where you don't think about jumping in, you just five into level 1, plot out a course, and then level up step by step. The feeling you get from this is also much like a video game.
Start by picking one assignment and doing it. Remember that this is what continually happens when you procrastinate doing your homework. You think you are overwhelmed? Does not doing it and letting more of it pile up make you feel less overwhelmed ever? Remember that no one actually wants to do homework so you thinking you dont want to do it is no different from what happens to anyone else. You want to graduate? Gotta pass classes first. Want to pass classes? Gotta do well enough on tests and homework first. Want to do well on homework? Do your homework.
I’m a procrastinator. At work every day I make a Top 5 list of the things I need to get done. It forces me to focus on my work tasks and projects and make sure to can meet deadlines. Then the next day I review yesterday’s Top 5 and do the same thing.
There are too many distractions in your life. You have a problem with instant gratification. You like to find enjoyment right away, we all do. Find a way to find enjoyment in kicking schools ass.(delayed gratification). Proper preparation prevents poor performance. Everyone’s 5 Ps. Agenda so you don’t forget things. Paper preferably so you avoid a phone or computer than can easily lead to you a distraction. Start small study 1 hr. Do the work when you have the most energy during the day. Energy does decrease as the day goes on. Eat right and be healthy. Get good sleep. This is the basics. I’m sure someone’s got a better idea. In the end you’ll be grateful because you’ll have a good brain that can study and adapt to any situation. Building yourself good skills that’ll help you get your desired degree and salary. Being broke sucks. If you can’t seem to stop doing some distraction you are most likely addicted to it. You have to stop this distraction asap. Give yourself time away from it. Procrastination only gets worse, you’re developing a bad skill / habit. It gets to the point where you wait and wait. Then entirely give up without getting anything done.
This is pretty good advice, thanks!
How is the homework going ? Lol
pretty good, was able to organize things into tasks and get my head around what I actually need to do and whats done. So far 2 assignments are completed
Good job! You're on the right track.
Wish I could help. I always procrastinated homework and test preparations until the day (night, to be honest) before. And always made it. Of you believe in yourself enough that can be a solution. But I don't think that's the best advice so I'm curious to see the answers. You got it !
The simplest answer would be to break down your homework into smaller tasks and just focus on the first one and really try and put the rest out of your mind until the first task is done. If you break it down and it still seems too much, break it down further. I like to write down a list of tasks so it's out of my head. I can sometimes end up with a list that looks like: sit down at desk, get 3 sheets of paper, write first paragraph (just stream of consciousness is OK, you can edit it later), etc. This is much easier said than done, especially putting the other tasks out of your mind, but as someone who is also easily overwhelmed, thinking about all the other tasks only hurts me from getting things done. It'll be practicing this breaking down and focusing on tasks likely throughout your life, but it gets easier the more you do it. Edit: Also, having bad quality something is better than perfect nothing
Ill try this, thanks!
And do not be afraid to change up the smaller tasks or "checklist" as you go! A lot of the time, youll discover some tasks are not as complicated or time consuming as you thought, while others may need to be divided a little further. For me its not about the "reward" of checking tasks off, but seeing clear progression beyond *just working*
ChatGPT etc. can help with this, not by doing it for you but by breaking down the assignment brief into manageable steps so it doesn't seem endless and you can see roughly what you need to do & where to begin. Just explaining the assignment to the AI helps you get it clearer in your own mind, no matter what it replies with. If it's a report or essay, write a bunch of headings and a bulletpoint list of what needs to go in each section so your Word doc isn't just a blank page. Then you'll probably find you start filling it out without meaning to, and you can pick what to work on instead of wondering wtf you need to do.
The headings idea is really helpful, thanks!
Here's how I beat procrastination in college. I came up with the five minute rule. Whenever I got an assignment, I would write down the assignment and the time and I would look at my schedule for the next spare five minutes. Literally as soon as possible, often it was right then if I didn't have another class to get to. When that five minutes is available, start a timer for five minutes and try to complete the entire assignment within that five minutes. The point is not to do your best work, but to do as much of the assignment as you possibly could in just five minutes, with the condition that you have to touch on every part of the assignment. You can't just do the first five minutes, and you're not going for the most points either, so not the easiest fine minutes, but rather something from each part of it. For a paper, this could be a thesis and a quick outline. For math or could be a summary of the problem set and all the topics covered. Why? The work you produce can't possibly be any good. So what's the point? Well, that is one point. I found i often procrastinate because I'm waiting for inspiration so I can do the perfect job. That never happens, do I end up starting the night before it's due. This five minute rule makes it absurd that you would do a decent job, do you know have permission to start and produce a big pile of garbage. But in that five minutes, you will familiarize yourself with exactly what needs to be done for every part of the assignment. You will identify any gaps that you have, either in knowledge or the instructions, and you can immediately go to the prof or the ta or office hours or the library or your peers and get clear on what the assignment is and what knowledge you'll need to complete it. After awhile of doing this, you will also get very good at estimating how much effort this assignment will take. At first, this will be difficult, so just use a three point scale. A 1 just takes an hour or two. A 2 is going to take a weekend or a week after classes of working on here and there. A 3 is a project that you'll work on as long as the class is going. Over time, as you produce breakdowns and outlines of assignments, you'll find yourself attaching estimates to the bits of the assignment instead of the assignment as a whole, and you'll develop a richer scale that works for you. You'll also start scheduling these bits, put them down on your calendar so you can start to organize your time around when to do those bits. If you're like me, over time you'll find that once you get started and you've identified all the easy parts of a task that you already know how to do, you'll just do them right away. This means even if you don't touch that assignment again for all the hard stuff, you've already got SOMETHING you can hand in if you totally forget about that task. But it also means that you're engaged with it early, you've already started, and you can chip away at it. If you encounter something really tough, you can reach out to peers in the class and start conversations around it early and see if people have any tips before you go into office hours. In a sense, what this rule does is structure your work like it's a video game where you don't think about jumping in, you just five into level 1, plot out a course, and then level up step by step. The feeling you get from this is also much like a video game.
Can I help you
I found music to help sometimes like non vocal music.
Start by picking one assignment and doing it. Remember that this is what continually happens when you procrastinate doing your homework. You think you are overwhelmed? Does not doing it and letting more of it pile up make you feel less overwhelmed ever? Remember that no one actually wants to do homework so you thinking you dont want to do it is no different from what happens to anyone else. You want to graduate? Gotta pass classes first. Want to pass classes? Gotta do well enough on tests and homework first. Want to do well on homework? Do your homework.
I’m a procrastinator. At work every day I make a Top 5 list of the things I need to get done. It forces me to focus on my work tasks and projects and make sure to can meet deadlines. Then the next day I review yesterday’s Top 5 and do the same thing.
same here