studying, failure to manage time & melt-downs

Post Reply New Topic

I'm studying at uni for not the first time in my life. I'm also experiencing all the same problems with study that I've had all my life. I have no concept of time - couldn't tell you if minutes or hours have passed. In amongst this I always get little done at first then realise my deadlines are just around the corner and panic. It usually results in a very emotional reaction which I can best describe as a melt-down. Once I've pulled myself together I'm highly stressed and can barely sleep because of stress/tension until the work is done - even if that's days or weeks away. (At these times I grind my teeth like crazy when I do get a little sleep). It usually takes me up until the last minute to finish assignments often including all-nighters. For exams my preparation takes until late the night before and I'm too tense to sleep even though I make a point of lying in bed.

Is this an aspergers thing? I'm yet to see a professional about this.... I just really want to know if there's any way I can unlearn this really counter-productive and painful behaviour. Right now it all seems so compulsive I can't begin to work out how I'd get a handle on it.

Sounds like me, and a lot of people I know.

Are you clever? I think that work avoidance and last-minute-ism is a very common attribute among people who have a history of being able to pull off miracles at the last minute. But at some point, you just need to learn how to put in solid hours of work every day. I'm still trying to figure it out myself.

Here's a question, to try to figure out how similar we are: when you start studying at the last minute, do you always think to yourself, "Hey, this stuff is actually really interesting! If I'd put in more time earlier instead of doing it at the last minute, I would actually have really enjoyed this topic, and it wouldn't have been stressful! I'm an idiot! Wait... I remember thinking this exact same thing countless times before! I'm a huge idiot!"

I wouldn't call myself clever but I do seem to be able to defy logic and despite my sleep deprivation and last minute efforts usually get top marks. Thing is though - by the time I hand things in I have no concept of whether it will get great marks or a fail - that also adds to the chaotic feel of everything.

I don't really work the way you describe - its more like I get an early start and get so interested in the topic that I read more than I need to and then have mountains of notes to wade through and no time. Getting an actual essay outline nutted out is hard work and always happens too late in the piece. Once I know what I've got to write the essay comes easily.

But then again there is the maths and math-related subjects - I tend to not have the same problems with those ones - I just work solidly from start to finish. With those I panic a little over whether I'll know enough for an exam... but amazingly there have been a couple of occasions I had a maths assignment finished a couple of days before it was due. Being all bogged down in essays at the moment I forgot that the maths stuff last year worked out.....

Well, that's a pretty good working definition of "clever", isn't it? Nobody likes to toot their own horn, but obviously only a clever person could get away with what you're doing. You probably have classmates who are totally pragmatic with their study, who finish their essay two days before the deadline and spend two days editing it, but end up with lower marks.

I hadn't really thought of clever in that light - I've often been confused how I could appear so smart (say with good marks) but then be so stupid (with social situations, managing emotions etc). I've just always thought that on balance I must have average to below average intelligence and that doesn't really seem clever to me. I've never really thought about how others in my class go with marks vs efforts. I have noticed that a lot of them seem to fail to pay attention to keywords in assignment outlines.... but I didn't think that had to do with cleverness... just thought it was carelessness on their part. Its interesting to think of different perceptions...

So.... if I am clever - is there any cure for this madness?

I dunno. I am currently struggling with it. In fact, this year is a sort of "experiment" for me. I want to find out how well I can do if I really put in a lot of extremely pragmatic, directed study. But it's easier said than done. I have done quite well so far, but I always find myself lapsing into old bad habits. Maybe we can PM each other with ideas for study routines, and hassle each other every now and then?

I often think that what I really need more than anything is for me-studying-at-the-last-minute to live on my shoulder as a sort of "advisor angel", and punch me in the face whenever I get into bad habits. So many times, when I'm stressed, I just want to punch my past self in the face and tell him to stop wasting valuable time avoiding work, because he is just setting up a disaster.

I'm in a very similar situation right now. I always tell myself I'm going to do something productive, but when I arrive home I just waste my time, until the deadline is the next day and then I have to miss a night's sleep to do whatever I had to do, in two cases I had to invest 10 hours straight for something I had to do in two weeks.
And then I get top marks for that, so there is no big incentive to stop doing it. But if I could just invest two daliy hours or sth, It would be so much better... *sigh*
I live alone, but when there is something I really must do I go to my uncle's house, just because I know he'll push me, and I really need that pushing.

[/quote]

I wouldn't call myself clever but I do seem to be able to defy logic and despite my sleep deprivation and last minute efforts usually get top marks. Thing is though - by the time I hand things in I have no concept of whether it will get great marks or a fail - that also adds to the chaotic feel of everything.

I don't really work the way you describe - its more like I get an early start and get so interested in the topic that I read more than I need to and then have mountains of notes to wade through and no time. Getting an actual essay outline nutted out is hard work and always happens too late in the piece. Once I know what I've got to write the essay comes easily.

But then again there is the maths and math-related subjects - I tend to not have the same problems with those ones - I just work solidly from start to finish. With those I panic a little over whether I'll know enough for an exam... but amazingly there have been a couple of occasions I had a maths assignment finished a couple of days before it was due. Being all bogged down in essays at the moment I forgot that the maths stuff last year worked out.....[/quote]

I have this same problem with essays in particular and studying in general (yes, I'm still in school at 43--and still haven't figured this out ) I gather way too much information, because I picked the topic because it was interesting. Then I have a really hard time condensing it + procrastinating/losing track of time until the last minute + way underestimating how much time I need = huge problem and amazing amount of stress and lost sleep, meltdowns, etc. I'm really hoping someone has some good solutions as I am really tired of living this way--hopefully I will still graduate in December as planned.

In aspies this is usually called executive dysfunction.
In ADHD or to regular folks it's called procrastination.

It's pretty common. It's not clever either, being stressed when you could be productive is not clever.

I find it helpful to make time things and remove any and all distractions. Some people find it easier to build a self-rewards programme and break tasks into smaller components.

I've been aware of this problem for many years, but I'm still in the same boat as you.

Jason,

Story of my life. I've been seeing a counselor at school about it but so far nothing has helped. I've tried a reward system, tried removing distractions, tried working out of the house, tried sitting down and just making my self do it (that failed horribly). I'm beginning to think I'm just broken and I'll never be productive in my life. =/

It's not wise, but it does require cleverness. I have a theory that people learn to do good solid directed study only once they have run up against their natural barrier for last-minute miracles. For some people, this is in school, but for others it is at university. But everyone has to learn it eventually.

Could it be that at the last minute you become pragmatic and just do what you have to do to get a decent mark (even if it's not perfect), whereas earlier you overthink it / are paralyzed by perfectionism? I have read about perfectionism causing procrastination. I do see how students can miss "key words" in assignments that procrastinators tend to quickly notice once they start doing the assignment.

Perfectionism is definitely a problem for me. I obsess over each element of a project or each part of a paper or it's wording for so long that I run out of time, and then at the end I just have to do whatever I can to finish and I get upset because the end product is not as good as I knew it could have been. I still usually get A's because I've put so much effort into the work that it is good, but I don't feel good about it, because it's not what I wanted it to be. Some of my instructors have given me time extensions because they know this is such a problem for me.

I've had a good think about the assignment I'm currently struggling with. The assignment brief is vague and it doesn't match the criteria sheet. All students don't understand what is being asked of them but I spent the first couple of weeks trying to work out what I have to do and they didn't. I'm still paralysed by not knowing what I have to do. I've started putting words on paper but am anxious that I'm not doing what my teacher expects. Its all a very uncomfortable feeling. I had an assignment with similar circumstances last year - I got 82.5% and only one person scored higher than me at 85%. That's a very low top score compared to every other assignment I did with every other teacher. I'm hung up on not understanding and not trusting the teacher to be reasonable. I can't deduct marks from them for being vague and confusing but they can deduct marks from all of the student for being vague or confusing. In my mind this is spiralling out of control and I have no way of intervening.

This is where having a mind that doesn't care about details or getting things right would be a huge advantage....

I agree. It doesn't seem quite fair that we can't ask for some points back because of unclear instructions, does it? But as hard as it is, it sounds like going with your intuition worked out well for you last time. If you have a chance to discuss the assignment with your teacher as a group, perhaps several of you who feel the same way can mention your confusion? Then perhaps the teacher will understand that it's not just you that thinks their instructions are vague.