nikko49's Ending Procrastination/School Log

[nikko49]

I don't know where else to put this log, so here it is.

Insipred by: http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=158139

This semester my grades have taken a large hit because I cannot seem to dig out any more motivation to do well in school. In addition I put things off (procrastinate) a lot, then don't get much sleep, and you know where this cycle goes. This log is my attempt to turn that around. I'll post things like how my current situation/grades are, what i need to get done tonight, how i plan to get it done, how i feel throughout a day/working, and some tips that have worked.

 

[nikko49]

I just got back from a Flordia vacation (with a little something extra) and am ready to turn my grades around. Right now my Powerschool (online grade report) has my GPA at a 3.21. I have A's, B's and C's.

I have an essay and a programming project overdue that I haven't turned in yet. I stayed home all day today and it is currently 9:00pm and I haven't done anything yet. I plan to talk to my teachers and turn those 2 assignments in by the end of this week.

I took a long nap earlier so I will be able to stay up later tonight without any consequences. However, from now on a major goal is to: go to bed before midnight every day, regardless of if I have finished every assignement or not. This is because I will be able to pay more attention in class that way and concentrate better the next day, and not get sucked into "the cycle" described in the first post of this thread.

Right now my plan is to take B+'s for the first quarter and work on getting high A's or A+'s for the second quarter to cancel the B+'s out and make my overall grade an A. However I have B's, C's and C+'s in many classes and I can't cancel those out with A+ or high A's. We'll see what happens...I think I will be able to take 1 or 2 B+'s.

Things to finish tonight: nightly assignment for Calc (80min), research colombia for spanish (40min).
How to finish them: no clue...just do them...?

I will be more structured tomorrow, I promise.

 

[piranha45]

I got my bachelors in biology despite my incredible procrastination habits-- which I never bothered to try and fix-- and so can you!

 

[dispatch]

great advice - I bet you learnt nothing.

 

[jocca]

great advice - I bet you learnt nothing.

Agreed, taking a proactive approach to your study benifits you significantly now and even more so in the future (as im finding out this year).

A few tips which you can choose to adhere to or not which I have found helpful so far.

1. Try and set a side 1-2 hours of study a day (in retrospect this isnt very much) this can be done in whatever schedule you wish (4x 30min sets, 2 one hour sets and so on)

2. have a solid study area away from the noises of TV, music, computer ( unless needed) and other distractions. Ideally this environment should be close to exam conditions as research has shown studying in an environment much like that you will be quized in improves your grades by a hole point on average( assuming you study ofcourse).

3. make sure you have other habits outside of the study arena. I feel a holistic approach is the best way to go about anything in life, so take some time out to hang out with mates here and there, go to the gym and so on. Its all good and you can then hopefully get back to the study with the distractions out of your system.

4. Dont pay attention to the people who are still immature enough to think its cool to cruise through life and achieve mediocrity. Be better then that, people only respect the people who have actually had the balls to go after what they want full throtle and take everything before them. Trust me I found this out the hard way in first year uni whilst I was busy getting hammered often my friends in my course studied and now have a leg up on me.

Sorry if that was a bit long winded, wish you luck with your studies in the future

 

[nikko49]

it's currently 6:20am...i need to finish this short reading then go to school and talk about it at 7:15. this assignment was previously waived for me because of my school-excused trip, but i did bad on another assignment and need to make it up.

 

[nikko49]

Here's what I have planned for until 5:00...let's see if I can stick to this plan.

12:15(now)-2:00
Have lunch. Move my studying area to my sister's room. She moved out a few years ago and it's vacant. I'm not living in there, just studying in it. She has a bigger desk than I do (she's got a corner desk, i have a normal desk). A bigger desk might help me work more efficiently.
2:00-4:00
Do 2 assignments for Calc AP that I have missed. We just started a new chapter in class so this should be a perfect time for me to catch up.
4:00-5:00
Do that spanish assignment that was due on Monday. After this I will find more assignments to do, and do them.

let's see if i can get myself moving.

 

[nikko49]

ok what the ****.
why can i make a schedule but never follow it?

new plan for saturday and the rest of my life
never think about what i am going to do, just do it
don't think about how long it is going to take, how boring it will be, how painful it will be to do...just do it. i don't think i can survive this quarter of school if i don't at least try something like this.

this starts with shutting off my alarm first thing saturday morning.

if this doesn't work...**** me. ****.
i'm pretty pissed right now.