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.
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.
Doing things you don’t want to do is part of being an adult. It may sound silly but my method is to write a list of what needs to be done. I feel a little pleasure every time I cross something off
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
