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It's now 4:40am and I'm finally done my work for the day. Of course, I had a 3 day weekend to do it but I decided to wait until 10:30pm monday to start doing my things that are due tuesday morning. Ended up being a 30 page lab report + some other stuff for another lab.
Am I the only one that just never learns? I know everyone does it to a certain extent but I'm a lost cause. I'm in my 7th year in university and have spent countless nights studying or doing work at the last minute for no real reason. I'm used to it so I don't actually feel super tired anymore but it's still not enjoyable. Still, I just can't bring myself to do a large quantity of work during the day. I mean, I'm doing OK for myself; I have a 3.7GPA and I retain most of what I do... I just do it in extremely inefficient ways.
I've also gotten worse over the years. When I started university I did things in the evening; on good days even during the day. Now it's at night. I don't have this problem anywhere else. At work, I'm efficient and work hard at all times.
I was actually in a good mood today too; woke up at 7am ready to work on it. Then I realized I had spent all day thinking about doing my work while watching a ton of videos and not doing anything.
Worst part is I find it interesting. I like doing lab reports because I usually learn a few things (although this is an easy class, so I didn't actually learn anything from this one). I put in the effort and end up with good results, so I'm not that guy who hands in a half-assed paper just so he can finish it. To be honest, that's also why I end up finishing my work in the middle of the night or worse every time; I want it to be good so I take my time. You wouldn't realize I'm this stupid if you talked to me in class. I follow in every class, I'm semi-up to date on everything and I understand most things the first time through. I never hand in anything late or half-assed. I'm just really stupid about my time usage.
Heck, I actually like all 6 of my classes this semester and I'm still struggling to study when it's not past 11pm. I actually want to memorize the things I do because I'm in my 4th year in biochemistry so the stuff I learn now is mostly things that could be used in real work situations (probably not from experience because my biochem lab is still using ancient techniques but you never know... at least I've worked in a molecular biology lab on my own before).
Overall, I'm about to start putting limits on computer usage on myself. There's a 50% chance I'll still just watch the walls instead of doing my work though.
 
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You will never break this habit without looking at it from a different perspective.
There is a book and an audio book on the subject called "The Miracle of Self Discipline"
I admit this kind of sounds like trash from the title but it's actually got some good stuff in it.
The most important thing that it teaches is to recognize how being disciplined will make you have an increased sense of self respect.
For example you, take two scenarios
Do homework right away, get a B+.
Do homework last minute, get a B+
You would think this result shows that in these scenarios a person didn't pay for their procrastination. However if you do it right away you will actually feel better about yourself and who you are the same way exercising makes you feel good about yourself.
Self respect is very powerful, I know personally when I go to the gym or work hard on something and succeed and then go out clubbing or to a social gathering I feel much more outgoing and this has value often far beyond the actual completion of the work.
Download the audiobook if you want to know where this response came from.. it's not great but I think well worth listening to.
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I have same problems. surfing internet pointlessly , playing games without any fun. But I started improving at controlling myself since I started reading some self-discipline hints. Try to stop sometimes from whatever you are doing and think to yourself open mindly "What am I doing... what should I be doing". If smth goes wrong again, stop and think again. Don't stop just for a split second, take some time, 10 seconds or more. Hope it helps.
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I did the same all through university and now I take my work problems home and procrastinate. It means less enjoyable time with my woman, broken sleep and a lot of dissatisfaction. I think it all stems from being too hard on myself - spending time beating myself up instead of just doing the work. I think that stems from issues I've had in the past with my parents. My advice is to think less about "why am I suck a fuckup" and think more about "why am I like this in the first place, what caused me to be like this?"
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There's no way out, except pure will.
Right now, I work as a performance management consultant, and I'm reading blogs on TL while pretending to work, while having the CFO right behind me. I'm on a very tight deadline on a millions worth project. But TL > all.
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
TL fucks up self-discipline so hard.
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Speak for yourself buddy, I'm watching GSL, browsing youtube, and posting here while doing a lab report due in a few hours that I had a week to do that I just got started on. MULTITASK.
Ok but really it feels fuckin bad, I've been doing really good this semester and this weekend has been a fucking disaster in terms of productivity, I really do need work on my time management. Have you considered getting away from your comp and going to da library to do all your work, I'm gonna have to start doing that again >.>
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On October 11 2011 21:01 Megaliskuu wrote:Speak for yourself buddy, I'm watching GSL, browsing youtube, and posting here while doing a lab report due in a few hours that I had a week to do that I just got started on. MULTITASK.
That's like the abridged version of my post... except I was watching anime.
Had to skip my 8:30 to 9:45 class... I figured 2 hours of sleep > 1.
Now I have a lab from 10 to 5pm... hooray. Actually, from our manipulations it should be ridiculously short today. Doing a lyophilisation (does that work in english? Freeze drying) on our protein that we've been isolating for the past month+ with old ass techniques and it's basically just dipping the bottle in liquid nitrogen correctly, plugging it to the machine and wait 24 hours...
Not sure what we're going to do to be honest.
Other random thoughts : I hate flushing my toilet at the same time as my neighbor... just awkward. Also, printing 40 pages at 9am makes me feel like a jackass.
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On October 11 2011 21:01 Megaliskuu wrote:
Speak for yourself buddy, I'm watching GSL, browsing youtube, and posting here while doing a lab report due in a few hours that I had a week to do that I just got started on. MULTITASK.
Ok but really it feels fuckin bad, I've been doing really good this semester and this weekend has been a fucking disaster in terms of productivity, I really do need work on my time management. Have you considered getting away from your comp and going to da library to do all your work, I'm gonna have to start doing that again >.>
We all have smartphones which can connect wifi now, and all libraries have wifi as well... And the mobile version of TL R1CH made is so sexy...
There's a reason we sometimes see people banned "on request" in the ABL. Those guys are the real shit. I'm too weak to quit TL.
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I can never trust myself to get 1-2 hours of sleep, it just flat out does not work for me, so its either stay up the whole night or just sleep through everything. T_T
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I can barely function when I get no sleep at all but when I get 1-3 hours I function normally. I'm not even tired right now (well, sore because I worked out a bit yesterday).
You might think I'll be a log tonight... nope. I'll probably be just as bad because I need to do some programming homework (optional class out of 60 choices it was the only one that fit in my full schedule) that I don't really understand. It's interesting but I'm terrible at it.
My body has become accustomed to my stupidity. I'll only feel the kick in the weekend. Come saturday, I will have 0 energy and will sleep like 13 hours and still feel incredibly tired. Then sunday, I'll sleep normally but still feel a lack of energy. Finally, assuming I get a normal night's sleep, I'll be fine on monday.
Yes, I've done this often.
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Netherlands45349 Posts
I do it all the time aswell, it feels really bad and I told myself each and every time that i'd study well, I did do it in the end tho.
Protip: Go to the library and don't study at home.
ow yeah
Teamliquid is bad for studying
T.T
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a total of 20mins of study this weekend, awesome huh? lol
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There are a variety of things that can contribute to procrastination. I used to be a really bad procrastinator through undergrad, but now I am doing much better in grad school. I think my improvement is through multiple factors including more work, more direction/purpose to my work, and awareness of reasons for my own procrastination.
I am a bit of a perfectionist, which led to my huge procrastination problems in undergrad. I'd recommend that you read about perfectionism and see if it applies to you (it probably does, given your description). Solving this problem basically involves lowering your standard of success (and actually setting before-hand that you don't intend to do a great job on something).
Overcoming this stuff takes a while (there is no quick fix), but it starts with some reading about ways you can overcome it.
I am currently studying the management of software development, and some of the concepts I have learned here are applicable on a personal level.
Have you heard of Parkinson's law? It states: "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."
Meaning if you have more time than you actually need, you just waste time inefficiently. This is a strong argument for time boxing, which is when you put a strict time limit on how long you will work on something. I'd try experimenting with trying to time box some of your assignments based on how long you think they will take. Time box to the point where it is challenging, but not impossible, to complete your task within that time period. Then don't even think about the problem outside of the time that you are working on it. I'd also recommend making a set time sometime in the evening when you work on it - then all time outside of this box is your free time (you can do whatever you want, without guilt).
Anyways, this post was a bit of a stream of consciousness - but I have been struggling with some of this stuff, so maybe some if it will help you.
Everyone is different though, so the correct solution will come through trial and error. Just try some stuff out, and if it works it is great. If it doesn't just try something else. I'm sure you'll eventually find something that works for you.
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Don't let it bug you too much.
I've found through experience (in engineering anyway) that procrastination most always pays off.
This is because the world is filled with tech leads and program managers that have no idea what they want, and ask you to do seemingly pointless tasks. If you wait long enough, meanwhile continue designing your product, more times than not the program office changes their mind and wants a different pointless effort.
So my advice to you is, Keep up the good work!
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United Kingdom14464 Posts
I have the problem super badlly. However, I even find it difficult to do the work at all, so my grades are in the toilet right now. After 5 years of it, I have barely improved at all, which is the real problem, as I see no change in the future.
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Hey again, guess what I'm doing!
3am, still studying for my metabolism exam. It's actually just going to be a 15 minute exam but it's worth 25% of our grade and it has ~200 ppt pages + notes total...
Teacher said it was going to be 10 multiple choice questions with negative correction and 5 short open-ended questions.
Kind of ridiculous, but at least it's relatively easy stuff. This is all stuff I've learned before so I should do well... just a little late reading my notes.
I had from 2pm to 7pm to read them but I slept a bit and wasted my time of course. Then I had to do some programming homework (I'm in biochem but I had to take an optional course and nothing else fit in) and that took me a few hours despite my brother helping me over skype (and I still have to finish my last exercise tomorrow today after my exam (at least I don't have any other classes today).
Then I have a diagram + home work for my 4th year lab due for tomorrow (kind of annoying because our lab is on tuesday and we always need to be ready on friday).
Finally, I have 4 exams next week so it's going to be a busy next 9 days if I don't want to fail (I don't). Won't be able to pull an overnight with that schedule unfortunately.
Ah well, back to reading. Around 70/200 pages done. Just slowly going at it but it's just not that interesting since I know all this stuff (but he's a teacher that will definitely ask minor details despite a short exam).
All in all, will never learn my lesson I believe, despite what everyone is encouraging me to do. It's OK though, I'll be able to sleep friday night.
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Figured I'd bump this instead of making a new whine blog.
I've actually been really productive this week with 3 exams done and my last 1 tomorrow. Still, after studying day and night for the past week I'm still stuck studying this one in the dead of the night. Crazy schedule overall, I skipped 2 unimportant classes to study more because I'm exhausted and had to sleep. Yesterday I took a 5 hour "nap" and I still slept my normal night afterwards and it wasn't enough. I've actually been getting 5-6 hours of sleep a night but I'm studying or at university otherwise and it's pretty draining vs doing not much.
Today was a pain... studying analytical chemistry which isn't complicated but pretty annoying. I had to do a lab diagram for my biochemistry lab too. They usually take 1 hour or so to do but this one of course was massive and took me almost 3 hours to do T_T. I thought I would use that time I lost to revise my notes again but NOPE!
Even when I'm not procrastinating I get stuck lol. Ok, I'll be fair, I wasted my morning but still... it's been a good week overall.
Alright, 3 or so more hours then 2 hours or sleep and finally 1 more day until the weekend where (surprise) I have a ton of other things to do. Pretty fucking eager for the next week to end so we are off for our 1 week study break.
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I read this blog post a while back, and I was struck with the similarities between the OP and myself. Procrastination is horrible, and it's good to hear we're not alone.
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Ironic how I'm reading this all while trying to finish my thesis that was due a few hours ago -_-
Sigh.
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Don't want to make a new thread so just bumping this. Man do I feel like just sleeping and doing nothing for a few weeks now. Just feel like complaining a bit before I go back to reading things that feel more like a haze than anything. I spent like the past 3 hours doing god knows what, time just went away.
Last exam tomorrow, which will be my 4th in 4 days + 2 more that I had done before that; so fucking burnt. I had two exams from 7 to 10PM two days in a row (the second one was actually 2 exams too, 1 last exam worth 30% then an open book exam worth 10% that was on things we hadn't actually learned in class) then today one at 12PM... so yeah, basically I had 14 hours in between exams. I studied most of the night, and now I'm dead tired for my next one. Also super awesome when your neighbors have parties/are being a lot more noisy than usual during the weekend, I assume since it's around christmas time. Not like I still need to get up in the morning for exams/studying more or anything, assholes. It's also one of the reason I studied way too late.
I think my grades are going to end up being pretty average unfortunately this semester. I got A+ in my analytical chemistry lab (~93+ for A+ yay) but C+ in physical chemistry gah... I did like 60% on the last exam (and I deserved like 30%). I was so badly prepared because of my schedule (and it's a complete exam so 9 chapters of crap on it, didn't study enough at all; exam wasn't even that hard for someone prepare correctly which makes it even more pathetic). I had like 80% average in that class before, which is decent since I suck in it but that just owned me pretty badly.
Finished Metabolism, C++ Programmation (I think I did well on the exam today, I revised it like 4 times before handing it in --- I needed 50% to pass but I think I can do like 85%+ and maybe even 90% if I didn't make any stupid mistakes which means my grade in that class could vary from failure to A- pretty much) and a Biochemistry lab but I didn't get those results yet. I think my lab is going to be A or A+ (need 95% for A+, not sure if I got that on the exam but probably not) but metabolism is going to be in the Bs and C++ is a crap shoot for me. The final C++ exam is worth 50% and if you do better than the first exam ( worth 20%) he also replaces that grade so it's worth 70% pretty much. On the first exam I did 74%, and pretty much all my mistakes were stupid crap (I had 2 exams in a row and was really tired so I didn't revise) which is why I revised so much this time. I have like 11/15 on homework because I didn't really do the last one (more like couldn't, I'm terrible at this) and 9/15 on the second exam (again, terrible at this) so 20/30. If I can do very well on the last exam I can do up to 90 in that class, which would be awesome considering how much I hate it and how much trouble it gave me. Assuming a more reasonable 80% on the exam give me a B- though, which I'd take at this point sadly enough.
Last one tomorrow is analytical chemistry. 9 chapters; teacher gave us the value of each chapter and told us it's 35% theory 65% problem resolution so yeah, just trying to get my shit together and give it a last go before I drop dead tomorrow after my exam (thank god it's only at 3:30PM). I need 4/35 on the exam to pass, so that's not a problem; I just have to show up. It's also the same teacher as physical chemistry so I know the exam will be long but not insanely difficult (just slightly harder than things we do in class like usual I hope) + he's generous with points even when you have bad answers... but at the end of the day I still want to do well. Doing C+ in a class is depressing, I want to at least do B+ or A- in this.
And finally, tomorrow night = SLEEP! For as long as humanely possible. Then I need to do a bunch of crap on monday that I shoved aside the entire semester (like my student loan demand for next semester, oops; thank god I got way too much first semester) and finally I can go back to wasting all my days playing Skyrim (already got ~100 hours on it despite getting it 2 weeks after it came it) before going to see my family!
Also, typing all this didn't help motivate me at all like I thought it could. Oh well.
*edit : LOL at me saying I liked all 6 of my classes... more like liked 1/6 (biochem lab although chem lab was alright). Me and my stupid optimism.
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Check out The Now Habit by Neil Fiore. One of the best rated self help books, and one I personally recommend (when you get to Chapters, just tell em Lexpar sent you, they'll now what it means). Its a bit of work to actually implement the practices- just reading the book wont solve your procrastination problem, but it's very helpful. Give it a look 
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Lol, my habits from high school have not changed at all. I worked my ass off the beginning of this semester, pulling all A's , then started getting complacent/lazy. And now I've been procrastinating for my finals and i will pay for it. Had 3 finals in 3 days last week, and felt like shit after each one. Sigh. I just can't wait for this semester to be over and re-evaluate my study habits -________-. ( 2 more exams, on Monday and Tuesday).
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EPT
