COMPLETE lack of concentration/determination/focus

I worked so hard to get on this degree course. I am enjoying it and find some of the work interesting, yet I procrastinate like CRAZY. I say to myself "I will do this essay today" and then spend the entire day on facebook/msn/tsr.

It's genuinely starting to affect my work and I am finding it really hard to start concentrating. I think the reason is that the work is so damn hard that I just don't even know where to start. So I delay it, delay it and delay it some more and never get round to starting. I'm going to get a 3rd class at this rate!

Any advice?

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Reply 1

andrew.awad

same problem here mate

Reply 2

James

If you can't motivate yourself then try to find someone in the same position and brainstorm with them. Obviously you'll need to do the work yourself in the end, but it might help you get started.

Reply 3

cucumber sandwich

dude, you're definitely not alone. I just can't understand people who can study for hours without interruption. I can't study one hour with at least some msn or casual internet.
If it start to go downward becuase you can't work, pull out your network cable and give it to someone. Tell them to give it back by the end of the day or something.

Reply 4

marcusfox

I had this feeling too - but I couldn't pull the internet because I needed it so much for work.

Marcus

Reply 5

castroneves

I think this id the plight of a very high percentage of students all over the country and world.

Reply 6

as cruel as school children

that's what i used to do at GCSE, and that's why i got such crappy grades. the way i now complete my work is, to spend at least half an hour a night on work. i don't set myself targets on how much work i do, but as long as i do that half hour a night, then when i come around to doing the main bulk of it, i've already made good inroads rather than leaving everything 'till the last minute

Reply 7

Soundwave

I'm very much the same - in fact it's almost at the stage where I'd actually rather fail than do the work... so I'll be watching this thread with interest as to any potential solutions (apart from "stop being such a lazy ****!" which is what I usually get! :redface:

Reply 8

rozzy

lol exact same situation!!! i've got an essay due in in just over a week, all my mates have done it and i keep getting distracted! kept telling myself that i'd start this weekend and i still haven't got anything down! up now trying to do something! ARGH!

Like others have said, disconnect your internet....facebook and msn is actually the devil! you start getting addicted to it when you actually need to do work....i hardly go on the net if i dont need to work lol!

hmm you gotta try n do something to motivate yourself, like think how good it will feel to get ur work done or something! ah im useless!

good luck!

Reply 9

Brainstorm

I think i'm gonna deactivate my facebook account in any minute...

Reply 10

Mr Smooth

I always study in the library to overcome this problem (even on the weekends). I suggest you give it a try.

Reply 11

love_mojitos

I know it sounds silly, but just do not sign in to msn. I never had a TV in my room then when i was 17 I bought one and for a few weeks always forgot to watch it as I never remembered it was there because I had a HABIT of watching TV downstairs.
Just do not sign in to MSN etc. Really... do not need to do MSN/Facebook/TSR, it will not hurt you to stay of it. It is just full of waffle. Fair enough you can help people, but if you want a degree do not use it, leave it for people whjo are in the habit of being on at 3.49am in the morning!

Reply 12

danni_bella

Since a lot of people here have already said the whole 'omg I'm the same!', I won't elaborate lol but I certainly had the same problemo in the first, then last years of uni :p:

Anyway I've found that positive role models can help, are you friends with anyone who average really good marks, like 80+ for example? If so hang out with them! And by that I mean, not in terms of homework but chat to them - hopefully their lifestyle might rub off on you.

It will be hard at first but if you think of the positive things studying well can reap, then you're already on your way.

Best of luck

xx

Reply 13

Da Bachtopus

I doubt that people on an internet forum are the best to ask about avoiding procrastination.

Reply 14

Aladdin Sane

Already this is a way of avoiding your work. The problem is the Internet, as I know only too well. The advice someone said earlier of handing your network cable to someone is very sound - I have to turn off my Internet to get any semblance of work done, but it would require less willpower if someone else prevented me from plugging it back in again!

Reply 15

Sunnydazzleeyes

omg that is me right now

i will get work done today, but just a 15mins on internet now it is over half an hour

Reply 16

white_haired_wizard

work in the library or a computer room on-campus. The best thing that ever happened to me was my own computer blowing up in the March in the final year of my degree. It meant i had to go over to the university, use the computers there, to start on my dissertation. It meant i wasted no time on the internet, and because everyone else in that room was specifically there to work, i also did. That bit of cheese that did my computer in, i'm very thankful to it (some cheese somehow worked its way into my computer). :cool:

it was stilton. no jokes now :wink:

Reply 17

Angelil

Here you can request to be banned for a certain period of time (e.g. the week an assignment is due in).

Failing that, when you really need to work just go somewhere where there's no internet :p: