Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

This has always been a real problem with me, really unsure how to get rid of it. For example I have a huge english paper due tomorrow, and I haven't even started it yet. I've been browsing 2+2, playing poker, watching TV, etc instead of working on it.


BTW I'm a senior in HS.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

Pack a bag with only the absolute essentials you'll need to get your work done, plus a snack if it's going to take a long time. Walk a minimum of 15 minutes to a library or coffee shop where you won't have tv or internet. Turn off your phone. Set a specific time that you cannot leave before, eg "I will stay at the library until 7pm".

Hardcode into your weekly schedule times that you will do this. Treat it like work or a class, ie you will not skip this. If you post your schedule on your wall for your roommates or whatever, write this time block in there. If you don't have any assignments due, catch up on your reading or review your notes.

Oh, missed the part that you were in HS. This advice is obviously for college but a lot of it will work for you too. The idea is to physically move yourself to a distraction-free environment and make it inconvenient to leave. You might also try telling your parents, siblings, friends, etc about your big assignments so that they will hassle you to get your work done. That's often just the impetus I need to get up and leave the apartment to work.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

I've started 99%+ of my homework/papers the day before(or day of) they were due in high school and college.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

eh this is a major problem for me as well. I am also looking for tips on how to start work earlier (a little each day type deal).

dethgrind, I have tried this and basically I just end up wasting time at the library. I can't make myself work no matter the environment if I don't want to. Plan B?

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

I've had this as well and still do in college now just like high school. It's really just a matter of individual will: you can suggest things to do and whatnot but it really just comes down to whether or not you're going to do the work. Sometimes you just have to buckle down and do work. It's like any bad habit: only a strong will will break it. In addition, I wouldn't exactly define this as a problem but rather as an inefficiency, unless of course you end up not doing the work at all.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

the bbv version of this thread is much better

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

Nit: Are we really sure we want to use the term "literal?"

I rarely get motivated early (though sometimes I do) and I generally do stuff at the last minute. My Drama teacher offered a pretty good explanation for us english majors..."As English majors we just use that time to formulate and fully analyze and think out what we're critically looking at....or at least that is what you can tell your teachers from now on when you spent a week thinking about sports or shopping."

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

Why not cherish your ABILITY to do the work the night before its due?

I have a friend who graduated 3rd in his class from a massive high school but blew it bad a college by blowing off every paper that was assigned to him. He'd set aside time, but he just would never end up doing it. He either makes an F or an A in almost every class, depending on whether papers make up a significant % of the final grade.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

If you go to a good well respected college, you should really try to fix your study habits now because it is much more difficult to get an A in college than high school.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

I have done everything at the last minute for most of college, with mixed results. I get most things done, but it probably isn't my best work.

There was a time when I did work in advance for a few weeks and that was really much better. But at the same time, I dont really care about my work or grades so YMMV. I would suggest at least trying to do work in advance and seeing where that takes you.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

Welcome to the world of 90% of 2p2ers.

Smart kids, lots of common sense, plenty of book-smarts, but not willing to do more than they need to in order to get by.

This was me, as well as just about everybody else around here. Skated through highschool with a 3.5 GPA. Graduated from college with two degrees in five years, with honors, while barely doing any studying at all. Got a job that I can do while on the internet and screwing around all day, while getting paid a lot of money. Passed my professional engineering and professional surveying tests with almost no studying whatsoever... just couldn't be bothered.

So here I am... almost 30. Getting paid a pretty decent amount, but certainly not on the "fast track" that's full of kiss-azzes and over-achievers. I get by okay, not great. My condo is messy, I'm fat, and I'm not really all that happy with much of anything.

Find something to get passionate about. Something that you WANT to do. I'm serious here... otherwise you're going to end up in middle-management, smarter than everybody else but going no-where, and constantly regretting not spending your time doing something that excited you instead of just wasting it because you're too lazy.

I honestly think that I could be half as smart as I am right now, and further ahead, as long as I learned to apply myself and genuinely try at something. Instead I just float around thinking that I'm too good or too smart for everything and everyone. Not exactly what I imagined for myself ten years ago.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

when you have an option A and option B, and A more fun than B, you will choose A as you can do B later.

However, B only becomes > A when your realise you cant do B later, but you can A, and so your like [censored], i got to do B now.

The problem is that we leave this feeling too late and so dont have enough time to do B, so it is not our best result.

however we realise that we do not need to perform superbly at B, only moderately, hence the feeling of 'oh [censored] i must do B' only kicks in the day/night before.

Right now I should be doing B, i should of for the last 2 weeks, I have chosen A becuase A is more fun, and I know if I work hard on B the next day, it will make up for the fact that I choose A not B. Only when I know I can't make up for not choosing B as I won't leave myself enough time to do B, then I choose B.

So maybe right now, I dont actually need to do B, becuase if I did, I would be right now.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

[ QUOTE ]
eh this is a major problem for me as well. I am also looking for tips on how to start work earlier (a little each day type deal).

dethgrind, I have tried this and basically I just end up wasting time at the library. I can't make myself work no matter the environment if I don't want to. Plan B?

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you waste time at the library? It's so quiet and boring and everyone around you is studying. The best procrastination I can manage is to work inefficiently, but even that is often good enough.

Aaron Swartz (co-founder of reddit.com) wrote an article on how to be more productive. It was pretty helpful for me, talks a lot about motivation. One of the things I got out of it was that you work hardest on things that are fun, so ideally you should completely convince yourself that your assignments are fun. Either trick yourself or reframe the problem in such a way that it is actually interesting to you.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

lock yourself up in your yaris for a few hours with no distractions and just get er done

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

It only gets worse...... there is no cure... accept the fact that you will do nothing with your life despite being smarter than 99% of people, it is inevitable. I wish I was a dumb chick with big t*ts.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

I feel your pain OP, I am just as bad if not worse than you are. I am a freshman in college and have a Microbiology midterm tomorrow, have I started studying? Hell no.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

I have a history paper due in 9 hours that requires me to read two books. I have yet to crack open the second book. That my friends is procrastination.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

I have the ability to do work before it's due, but my results are horrible. With too much time I overthink everything and end up with a worse result. For me, writing papers the night before was +EV.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

I had a quiz worth 5% of my final grade in mountain geography today, and the teacher gives out all the possible questions ahead of time. I hadn't been to class in a week nor had I read one scrap of the absurd amount of required reading, but I still just went into the quiz blind anyways and guessed on every question because I was too lazy to figure out the answers beforehand.

Why can't everything just be math tests? I hate pointless academia-type classes where I have little or no edge over the other students.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

Same problem. Cannot motivate myself to do anything until the last second possible. Used to think maybe I was an adrenaline junkie, but no just a procrastinator. Have a 3.2 GPA but could do much better.

Re: Literal Inability to do Work Sooner than the Night Before it\'s Due
 

[ QUOTE ]
It only gets worse...... there is no cure... accept the fact that you will do nothing with your life despite being smarter than 99% of people, it is inevitable. I wish I was a dumb chick with big t*ts.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seriously, I could procrastinate so much better if I had a pair of [censored] to play around with.