Advice for the motivationally challenged

[Incubus]

It seems the worse you do in college, the more expensive the experience becomes :(

I am mired in academic mediocricy (sp?). The problem is that I have a really hard time motivating myself to actually do any work. I have a tendency to put things off to the last minute, and only work hard enough to pass the class.

Very few classes assign homework/daily quizzes. This is a shame because this is something I was bad at in High School that I have greatly improved upon- a daily ritual of doing an assignment/reviewing because it is DUE immediately. The lecture/exam type- classes are very difficult for me because I pretty much have to establish a study regimen on my own.

One of my biggest setbacks is the fact that my entire life revolves around habitual behavior. It seems nothing I do day-to-day I do because I have to; instead I do it because its a habit. If extenuating circumstances would cause me to be unable to do that task just once, the habit is broken and I have to start over again. However, it takes me so long to start over that screwing up once is generally once too many. I've failed classes before because I was unable to do some regular assigment once and for the rest of the semester couldn't remember to do it on time. If I play hooky for whatever reason at a class, it will be very hard for me to keep going to the class and I'll wind up cutting class half the time.

If I were to wake up one morning and decide I wasn't going to do anything that day, it would be devastating. I wouldn't want go to to work anymore, I wouldn't want to go to school anymore. I'd become too lazy to do the most mundane and neccessary rituals (go to the dentist, eat breakfast, etc)

Its very frustrating, especially since my parents don't really understand the nature of the problem. Their stance is 'just do the work' but thats like teling your car 'just start working' when it breaks down

[Leifsmama]

When I was in school, right before bed I used to make a list of things I needed to do the next day. Everything from read chapters 3-7 for chem to change oil in the car. That helped me enourmously. Crossing things off a list is really wonderful and being able to throw the whole list away before you make the next one is the height of accomplishment.

[Athena]

Yeah, lists help me, too. I work at home, and have been majorly motivationally challenged lately. About the only thing that really gets me off my butt is if I make up a schedule and stick to it. For example, I take a project, and pick the day I want it done. My current project is updating a textbook. It has 30 chapters. I want it done in two weeks, that means I have to finish 3 chapters a day for the next ten working days.

I can then look at my schedule every day, and see if I'm on schedule, or behind. Being behind is a major motivational force for me.

Making the schedule in the beginning helps immensely because you then have a better idea what the workload is. If you're like me, you just assume that every project can be done the night before it's due. By looking at the amount of work involved up front, I'm much less likely to decide that I can just wing it the night before - I see all the work to be done, and the reality of doing it all in 4 hours suddenly become much more frightening.

[neuroman]

What are you spending your time on instead of classes and school work? Just screwing around (Like I used to do?) Or do you have a job?

To bust out of this funk, you are going to need some willpower. The trick is to get the maximum effort out of the willpower. Lists are useful. If you can get get a medium/large white board in your room, and chart when assignments are due for classes, this can serve as an omnipresent reminder of what work you have to do. (Of course, YOU MUST take the 5-10 minutes a day to keep the board current.) Maybe you could even try keeping your % estimate of how much of each task/assignment you have finished.

Try setting goals for yourself, even if they are really small, like "I am going to work uninterrupted on this assignment for the next 30 minutes," and then during that time, resist the temptation to check your email even once. Obviously you need to expand your goals if you want to make real progress, working 30 minutes in one shot won't help if it's the only work you do all day.

You could also try working in a study group of some kind - if you find the right kind of students (diligent, and not cut-ups or people that will distract you) that may help as well. If someone is there to correct you when you get off track, it might help you stay more focused.

Now if I had done more of this in college, maybe I'd have a job right now...