/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.2653404]

HOW THE FUCK DO YOU OVERCOME PROCRASTINATION?

seriously I've had this problem ever since 4th grade. I've always done essays and studied for tests the day before. Surprisingly I've gotten away with it for the majority of my schooling years and in college (3.3 GPA, soph Chem-E major). However I still know this is going to EVENTUALLY fuck me over big time in the future and I need to get rid of this habit before it does happen.

I'm not looking to completely get over it in one day since I know it's a gradual process. Any suggestions/strategies/ from you guys who have learned to deal with this?

[Anonymous No.2653410]

>3.3 GPA, soph Chem-E major
No problem here
Carry on

[Anonymous No.2653430]

Pretend that you have a test tomorrow, everyday.

[Anonymous No.2653441]

>>2653410

Give or take, that GPA could be a lot lower if it weren't for the generous curving at my university's math and chemistry classes. I know next year I won't be able to get away with that shit when I take Chem-E Thermodynamics and Advanced O-chem.

[Anonymous No.2653465]

Suppress your dopamine receptors. You can't feel very happy, but you won't procrastinate.

[Anonymous No.2653526]

OP, it's a war on several fronts, namely the following which then in turn are related and expand into different areas.

1: Thought processes.
2: The pleasure/pain differential between doing nothing and studying.

You need to take actions to garner interest in the task at hand and any physical discomfort that you are afraid of, lots of little things you need to learn like making sure all your pencil sharpeners, calculators and shit are there, getting a glass of water, or whatever you figure out that you need. Our culture seems to demonize people who are organized as being anal squares but the truth is you're only one if are inflexible in your ability to organize.

You must also change your perspective and upgrade your decision making process, you don't need herculean willpower, often just clearing your mind of your current thoughts and thinking about what you need to do to accomplish the task is enough to stop it from seeming boring. For instance running through in your head the various categories of subjects in your syllabus.

[Anonymous No.2653649]

>>2653526

My problem is that it takes awhile for me to actually "get in the zone" when it comes to studying or writing a paper. Good example of this is when I'm writing an essay and I literally take an hour or more just to finish the introductory paragraph. After that though, I "get in the zone" and start brainstorming/processing ideas like crazy in my head. It's different for science classes because there's a lot more information to process/understand. Whenever I study for a midterm, I always try to understand the entire concepts before even touching a practice problem.

As for the pain/pleasure aspect, I think it stems from the pain (rather discomfort) of studying and scoring high on an exam. For the majority of my schooling years, I've never really "hit the books hard" and study 6 days straight for a midterm; I've always done it the day before and still scored A's/B's (not trying to say I'm some genius, above average at best). I guess it's something in my thought process that tells me I'd be "wasting my time" studying a lot when I can just do the minimum amount and still pass. It can also be applied when I study my ass off and still do bad on a exam.

Don't really know what the source of the problem is though.

[Anonymous No.2653756]

I feel for you OP.

I am in your situation, but I started to nosedive a lot quicker. It meant I failed my A levels, got B's and C's, and didn't make it into the universities I would have like to.

I can't really suggest much, but I do know that setting realistic goals was a good way of getting certain bits of work done early. It sounds like some sort of motivational bullshit but it does help, identifying what needs to be done and what you can do in the time you have.

[Anonymous No.2653862]

>>2653649
If you're talking about concentration, meditation helps.

[Anonymous No.2653890]

>>2653862
Recommendations? Anything without prescription?

[Anonymous No.2654006]

>>2653649
>I guess it's something in my thought process that tells me I'd be "wasting my time" studying a lot
This is something, it's not everything but it's something. I speculate that you think it's a waste of time because your objectives are not clear so you cannot see clearly why you need to study, you need to be more specific about what you need to train yourself to do then you will be motivated to train yourself, by studying. You can probably think of a particular equation right now that you need to brush up on to the point where it's second nature and you can combine it with other equations and interpret it from garbled text descriptions easily. You say you have problems initiating brainstorms when planning an essay, you need to analyze the different ways in which you obtain material for your essay and how to structure it, for instance continually relating to the question in the title, listing an analyzing various points and their relevance and building a structure in your head going from from the most basic objectives and the different routes to achieving objectives or elaborating on facts in order to achieve your objective. You can make your study sessions productive like this and you will be motivated because you will see results.

[Anonymous No.2654015]

Divide your assignments into small segments and give yourself a nice reward (ex: a piece of chocolate, a funny Youtube video, a set up pushups, etc) every time to finish a bit.

[Anonymous No.2654652]

>>2654006

Not OP, but how would you apply this to a subject that requires a lot of memorizing and little to no equations like Biology?