I’m a first-year university student. Right now, we’re going over completely uninteresting topics that I’ve either already covered (or skipped) back in school. I have no motivation to complete the assignments because these subjects don’t interest me at all. I know that in the future there will be subjects I’ll enjoy, but for now, I’m stuck with all of this – and without any motivation.
As a result, I end up doing nothing all day, finding ways to distract myself just to avoid working on my university assignments. I don’t like this at all because I’m not doing what I actually want to do. I “wait” until late at night, realizing I can’t procrastinate any longer, or I end up sacrificing sleep. It feels like a waste of time because I’m neither doing what I have to do nor what I want to do.
Anything worth doing is worth half assing. If you don’t feel like doing the assignment, sit down and start doing the work, but badly. Don’t check your work or self edit, for reading just skim it. No matter how badly you do it, it’s still going to be better than none of it being done.
Often just starting is enough to get you engaged and do better work. And if it’s not, well, half assed is better than nothing.
Motivation isn’t a real thing. Stop leaning on it and waiting for it to show up out of the blue and support you.
Discipline is what you need. Sucks to hear, sorry for that.
Trust me on this: you told yourself it’s easy. So do it. It’s easy. If you don’t, these inactions will low key create self hatred. You’ll fall behind before you realize it, be inundated with work, and your subconscious will think back to this moment. All you’ll hear is “Fuck this I hate this this sucks” maybe even “I hate myself”.
Don’t let it get there.
It’s easy? Prove it.
If you get shit done while being true to yourself, self-hate is genuinely difficult.
Motivation is why you want to do a thing.
Discipline is how you achieve that thing.
I knew it, but how to discipline myself? How to start?
As shallow as it may sound, just start. Set a timer for 5 minutes and do it fir just 5 minutes. When the timer is up I bet you will continue.
ok, I’ll try it, thx
Pomodoro technique. Basically set a timer to do work for 20 mins (or even 10 minutes), then take a break. Then do it again. Sometimes this can get you over the initial hurdle of getting started. Once you get into the task you may not want to take a break anymore.
A similar trick is if you think of something else to do that’s timewasting, like posting on lemmy (lol), then its ok to do it - but only after working for 10 minutes. You can still do those things but prioritize getting something done first.
Another one: go to the library to work. Initially all you have to do is go, not do the task itself. Then you’re there, and there’s nothing to do except for work. This can turn into card games in the library cafe lol, but then you have to choose a less popular place.
pomodoro really good. Already tried it. And tried today(remembered) and I have some results. But it’s not only about pomodoro. Thank you all, guys. Even if I know about most of all this tips - I just needed to hear it.
If you have a Mac the free app Tomito in the App Store is a genuinely good pomodoro timer. There are plenty other options, even websites, but this one is my favorite so far.
For my Wife the answer was medication because she has ADHD.
I hesitate to share my own strategy it was very effective for me, but I don’t know if it’s for everyone. What I found worked well for me was to integrate video games into my study routine. I would play CSGO, when you die in CSGO you are dead until the end of the round, and queue times are ~5-10min. Anytime I wasn’t directly paying in the game I would study, and I would play very aggressively so I would be more likely to die early. After a game I would take a 20min study break then reenter the queue and study until the game started. It’s not the most time efficient, but it didn’t feel like work for me like that so I could do it all night. great for easy but long tasks.
Sometimes I would also play single player games on a slow harddrive and play during the loading but that is probably not as effective as it once was.
thx, I thought about it, but never tried. Maybe, I’ll try it, playing in valorant :D.
Also ADHD, and I tried your method. Except it was with World of Warcraft. Long story short, I woke up in the middle of the test having finished a sentence related to material elasticity with something like “you have to heal the…” Scrawled down the side of the margins where the end of the sentence should have been.
Not recommended
I do not. This is like the core of ADHD executive dysfunction. Stuff only happens in last minute panic mode. Meds help some. Anti-anxiety meds help some too. But I got through college by, frankly, just getting better at doing stuff at the last minute. Same thing that keeps me going in the corporate world.
(The pomodoro technique mentioned by another poster is also good though. It’s not a perfect solution, but in some situations it has helped me get started on something to know “I’m not committing to finishing this, I’m committing to working on it for 25 minutes. Surely I can handle suffering for 25 minutes”)
I tried pomodoro earlier and tried it already today. It’s very good, like it.
i failed out of uni so take my advice with a huge grain of salt. but its ok to fail or rescedule. as long as you persist ofc. I failed some class and the shame made me fail more. reality is pretty much everyone has parts of their studys that are boring or incredible hard. and pretty mich everyone fails some stuff. Just make a plan, figure out what made you fail last time (if it happends) and try to prevent that next time.
tl;dr: dont be like me. be open and honest to your friends, professors and family. and you will make it :)
thank you
Ask about ‘Independent Study’ from your faculty adviser. If you don’t have one, go to your Department head. If you don’t have that, ask the Registrar.
Independent Study means you get to propose your own coursework and, if approved, get to do it and get credit for it. You still have to deal with faculty supervision but the subject is specific to you. Think about what you would love to learn and propose a way to get there.
Anyone can theoretically sit down and study for the equivalent of a university degree. Most people don’t have the motivation or discipline for that.
Half the point of the degree is that it pushes you to get it done. (The other half is verification that you did it.)
If you still can’t do it, then it isn’t so easy after all, is it? The main challenge isn’t how big your brain is. It’s actually putting in the work.
If you can’t find enough self-discipline to get through it, you’re going to regret it later.
what a non answer. imagin someone asks for directions, and all they get as an answer is “traveling isnt just beeing good at walking. you need to do the work and find the way”
I mean i totally agree with your observation, but op asked for tips. they are probably a younger person asking more experienced people how to start into life.
It’s important that he disabuses himself of the notion that he’s really good at this if he tried. The trying is the part that’s the challenge. They make the ability to understand part relatively easy. That’s the whole point of college.
The tip is to change his perspective and stop thinking that he’s above it. It may not be the only tip, but it’s a big one.
The world is filled with people who used to be brilliant slackers when they were young who did nothing with it.
I had this issue all through school. I would always stay up the night before and do whatever it was while having 17 mental breakdowns. I made it through just fine using this method, but I guess I wouldn’t recommend it lol. That’s all I got, sorry!
Sounds like you might have ADHD. People with ADHD sometimes have difficulty getting things done until their stress response kicks in.
I mean maybe but I think more than likely I’m just lazy. It seems the internet diagnoses everyone with ADHD nowadays. If everyone has ADHD then does anyone really have it? I think it’s a pretty normal human thing to have difficulty doing things you don’t want to do.
My older brother has it and it’s much more obvious that he does. I have no issues paying attention or sitting still or anything like that…whereas he will get stuck on things and stop paying attention. Homework and chores are just not particularly fun for me or anyone lol.
This might not work long term but for my ADHD I pit a timer for my task.
Depending on the task, I will come up with a time just long enough to complete it. I’ll start the timer and be so busy rushing I don’t even think about how much I hate it. Just blaze through it as fast as possible.
I do something similar. But I also have a huge master list organized by category (for chores it’s rooms based) and frequency (daily, monthly, etc) with a check box next to each thing.
I have it posted up on a wall where I can’t help but see it, and next to it is a whiteboard calendar where I schedule all of these tasks. You could always try something like this (I know it’s borderline insane but ADHD gonna ADHD) or make it your own.
The key though is to make it iterative. Pay attention to what works (for example with chores, is sweeping daily too often? Then change it. Same goes for studying) and modify it on set intervals (every 2 weeks, month, whatever).
It gives a visual representation of what needs to be done, when, and provides accountability because you can see what you did/didn’t do, and so can anyone else who has access to it.
It took me probably 6 hours to initially set it up, but it’s been huge for me.
Alternatively (or as part of some organizational strategy), focus your effort on tasks you do like and subjects you do like, while doing enough to just get by on everything else. Breaks are important, but try not to interrupt any states of flow you get into.
Bonus: Post Secondary School is hard! Be gentle with yourself. And remember it is rarely a life or death situation. Follow your syllabus, it’s there to guide you, and talk to your instructor and classmates when you can. There will never (unless you have insane physics professors like did) be new material on a test. It’s always something you have covered. It may not be a specific question/problem/topic you have solved/written about, but it will use all the same skills and knowledge you’ve developed. Plus, a lot of questions come from fairly standard question banks with digital learning software becoming nearly ubiquitous.
This is not great advice, but I just go the Shia Lebouf method. I just tell myself to “Just do it!”. If I need to do something and there’s no way around not doing it, then it’s just a matter of time when that deadline happens and I’ll be more stressed with cramming. So I might as well do it and get it over with.
Someone once paid me to poke them with a stick every time I caught them not doing their assignments. Offloading executive functioning onto someone else can work
Make a list of all the tasks you need to do, pick the ‘hardest’ one first (psychologically hardest for you), and force yourself to just make a start, even if you tell yourself you’ll just do 5 mins, it’s usually easier to keep going longer once you make that start. Pomodoro technique, 25 mins focus, 5 min break to move about, works well for me.
I would also say be targeted. It’s only first year at uni, depending on where you are studying it might not be that challenging or even important to you final degree. Make sure you know how you’re being assessed, what the learning outcomes are, and if there’s stuff that’s new to you, or you’re rusty on, spend time learning that. But for things you already know from school, it’s fine to just dip in and out, do a bit to reassure yourself you know it well enough, then go socialise, get some exercise, do a hobby, join a student society. All those things are good for you, some can even look good on a CV, and it’s likely you’ll have to de-prioritise them a bit in later years of your degree, so enjoy the chance while it’s there!
Treats. Find something u like. Could be candy, could be a game, whatever. Use it to reward yourself when you do the thing you need to do. Even better if u can do it small. Like if doing homework for each question you finish you get a pistachio for example.
Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing and learn the hard way. Anyone can tell you to do your assignments, but until you fail the course and have to do it again the consequences might not seem real. Then you will really be kicking yourself for wasting even more time.