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struggling with procrastination

guys, i feel so bad about myself. i did badly in my a levels 2023, got ddd, and im retaking them at home. at first, i was so motivated to do improve my grades and now, a month in, i've been on a study slump for 2 weeks. i literally can't get myself to do things, i sit on my study desk and scroll through TikTok and then if i remove my phone out of my sight, i go on Google or youtube on my laptop and just do random things, just to pass time, when i have things to do. my attention span is low, i literally can't focus for over 10min on somethings. like whyyyy, i just feel so helpless, this is a big part of why i did badly last year too.

Reply 1

hibyehereforasec

Original post by Anonymous

bro this used to be me and ngl it still is like ill sit down to study and find my self on yt watching some debate or watching drama edits n i swear your not alone, lots of us do this just maybe others dont do it AS much as us but the way i got out of it was mindset. You can have all the revision materials in the world, all the video playlists, all the flashcards pre-made, everythin on a silver plate but if you dont have the mindset you wont get anywhere. Only YOU can do anything for YOURSELF. Take little steps. Give your self the goal of covering one spec of each subject a day. hwo much time would that take 20 min per spec? do a spec in the mornin, a spec in the afternoon and one in the evenin. The rest of the time is all yours do what you want. I swear youll feel much better cus knowin that your doin somat makes you feel like your doin somat with your life as opposed to scrollin etc
Also maybe getone of your mates to call while you revise/learn, just havin someone there while your workin makes you stay in lane. You gotta take the initiative to not click on that cat video or whatev, save it to watch for later. Focus. You can do it

Reply 2

username6118628

Try switching environments, it could give you a fresher mind and focused drive. I know I feel like this when I work at home but it's all relieved if I do all my work at school or the library. I remember spending last September trying to do my work from home because that was where all my materials were but I could barely finish one piece of homework a week. That was until I started spending time after school to work. Of course for you this can look different: you can try moving furniture around if you want to stay home or try finding a good space outside. I know it's hard for me to take the first step out the door so I always plan to do it with someone else to get me out the house.

Secondly, it could just be the mood of your study space. I have three younger siblings so my house (including my room) feels like a party more than anything. My bed also seems to engender a feeling of hopelessness and sloth because that was where I usually spent my time when I was in periods of low mood so I am just automatically reminded of feeling demotivated and dispirited in its presence.

Thirdly, maybe take a stroll outside, have some natural light to wake your sense (it tends to pull me out of my abyss.) If you've been looking at technology for a long while, it can do you good to use your vision in a slightly different, more far-sighted way. This change in how you use your sense can be very rejuvenating.

Lastly, I suggest just letting yourself be like this. Doing this can be a great reliever of stress: procrastination tends to arise when you feel overwhelmed by your work, like there's a long list of to-do items. I can imagine when you were excited to amend your grades that you fantasised all the great stuff you achieved and this compiled into a list that now daunts you. I tend to solve this by just letting it go the way it is and then just start picking it up little by little.

This all depends on how big a change you are willing to make and how much energy you have to spare during this state - I know only moved furniture around once or twice and not every single time I felt like this!

Reply 3

username6118628

Another point is the amount of choices you have. I found it is much better for me if I were to take only the few materials I plan to use at a nearby coffee shop than do my studying at home for numerous reasons: the commute to the coffee shop takes me to a wider environment that lacks the small space made my the walls of my house, it relaxes me when I use my senses how they are meant to be used as a human and my body and circadium rythm can function more naturally with more stability because of the natural light.

When arriving at the coffee shop, the environment lacks all distractions I would otherwise have (except for my phone but you can keep it tucked away in your bag).

The great thing here (and the same deterrent I used to have) is I only have my maths hoemwork to do (or any single subject). This helps my focus greatly because I won't switch to another subject when I hit something I find boring in the one I'm working on now.

I used to be worried that if I didn't have everything and all my materials, I would lose out on important details but let me tell you all those choices will only stress and distract you more - and eventually lead to dreadful procrastination.

And there is a strange thing here - maybe it's because I enjoy a more focused environment but - I tend to lose track of time (unless I'm doing English which I struggle with deeply). Unless you are intimidated by other people (which I used to be) you will find yourself working for longer than you would have otherwise.

Of course at first you will still struggle with keeping attention (certainly with technology, we come across many thumbnails that interests us all at once, everywhere about everything) but keep at it and you will find yourself training your ability to keep focus! And also here, you have literally nothing else to do besides that maths homework (or your subject) if your attention span does give way.