Cant break old routines.

Dimitri

Only three weeks in to the new college year (2nd year cs) already i'v missed a couple of days of lectures, a lab submission, i've completly lost track of what i'm meant to be doing in this course, forgotten why i'm doing it and simply fallen into the old routines of last year of taking long lunch breaks in the green kiwi followed by endless cups of coffee in java city.

After having to spend my summer studying for 2 exams i should have easily passed in may i promised myself i wouldn't slack off this year i'd attempt all my course work and go to all my lectures and tutorials. Not how things turned out unfortunately. Started going down hill last thursday when i wasen't feeling well so i went home after just one lecture, i slept in friday morning, missing the one lecture i had that day, monday i managed to go to two lectures, but again not feeling well so i went home, tuesday stayed at home and went to the doctor turns out i've a touch of toncilitis got some anti biotics and was feeling fine. So today i went in with the best of intentions of catching up on my course work and getting those valuable notes i missed, instead i fell into my old routine of drinking coffee all day and than went over to the labs to watch some music videos has anyone else had this problem and managed to change it?
Oh and i also promised myself i join one of the clubs (probably kick boxing) and never did.
Can anyone tell me why i cant break ths habitual lazyness, why do old habits die hard? Not doing the work makes me feel unbearably guilty and yet i cant seem to break the cycle.

At times the whole thing seems to get on top of me like the unregged poster below but i tend to break problems down into smaller ones and this is what i came up with.

Thanks for reading my little rant any suggestions would me mighty welcome.

dundalk cailin

hey,

i was a bit of a waster in 1st yr, but i tried hard to break the mould in 2nd yr cos i wanted to pass the yr to go abroad (and here i am) but it is tough esp when ur used to doin this that and the other rather than goin to class. the only thing i found good was the fact that i lived a good bit from coll n relied on bus so i couldn go home when i felt like it. hope u can find some motivation

Vangelis

Dmitri, you sound very tired. Maybe you expect too much of yourself? Are you anxious to perform well and be a hero? 'Cause that can wear you out even if you haven't done any work at all. The pressure suddenly breaks you.

hm?

rick_fantastic

i have the same problem myself aswell as in i cant get motivated to do any college work.

tbh ive breezed my way thru the first 3 yrs of my course had a hiccup in third year and had to repeat 2 exams cos i was smoking weed instead of studying for the actual exams. they were the first ones and i never study 4 the first ones usually do badly and then cram for the rest. did really good in the repeats even tho i didnt do a tap of studying!!!

5 weeks in2 fourth year and there is a a subject i havent been to a class in yet. keep telling myself i should really go but f_uck it college is meant to be about having a buzz not working ur ass off.

do like 99% of college students... do sweet fa til its (nearly) too late and then cram!

my course is like 50% continouos assessments so i gotta do them but sure they arent that bad.

id suggest getting ur ass to class, i make it to most of mine but missing the odd few wont kill ya!

funk-you

i think the only hard part about going to college was actually going to college, you can leave early or not come in and there's no immediate consequences so you'll just do it and worry about it later. i'm out of college just over a year now and though i'm still the same lazy fecker, i go to work because if i dont i wont be able to come in in the future or reap the rewards(ie: i'll get sacked and wont get paid) towards the end of college i treated it just like i treat work, if you dont go in now and work(the reason you're there) you wont get anything out of it. it's hard to stop looking through a lazy students eyes but if you just say to yourself 9-5 monday to friday is work time, not goin home to do nothing/sleep/get stoned time. Treat it like your job and you'll be able to get through it. i was exactly like you and if i got through it anyone can. Hand your parents a copy of your time-table aswell so if you arrive home early and someones around they'll give you **** about not going to classes. this might get you to stay in once you're there.

Good luck with it man, i hope you do well.

Just read what i just typed and i seem like a ****in auldfella, when did that happen? i'm 23 ffs. anyway good luck and just go to classes, if you can do that much you're well more than half way there.

-Funk

rainbow kirby

I was like that for my first 3 years in college, got through 1st year pretty much on natural ability and a little bit of work, then failed spectacularly in 2nd year and we won't even talk about 3rd year... Realised then that I hated my course. Decided to change course, now I'm 2nd year CS (was exempt from 1st year and 1/3 of 2nd year). I'm actually going to all my lectures and getting all my assignments done! I'm quite proud of the fact I seem to be motivated! For me though, the fact I have to pay fees now because it's not my first time in 2nd year is the big kicker. I've worked it out that each lecture costs me 15 euro. So if I skip one, that's like dropping 15 euro in the bin. Not a nice thought. My lack of money has also kept me from spending as much time and money on video games as I have done before...possibly a good thing! In the past for me, if I got frustrated with studying I'd put the GameCube on. And that would generally be it for the day in terms of studying. Not good!

The_B_Man

exact same as meself. finally in 4th yr now after repeatin 3rd yr (after repeatin in august too :rolleyes:). only thing i can say is that you'll have to do it on ur own. im back in the same habits, ie over sleepin, skippin class, havent been to a cupla subjects yet, not done a tap of study. fact is, the difference between ppl who do well in life and ppl who dont is that ppl who do well can dig themselves out of this hole. i admit i am off to a bad start, but at least i know i wont pass like this. im alreadyt behind and will already have to work hard to catch up. im sorry but ur on ur own in terms of catching up. in terms of the situation ur in, u are definately not alone!!

dudara

rick_fantastic wrote:

5 weeks in2 fourth year and there is a a subject i havent been to a class in yet. keep telling myself i should really go but f_uck it college is meant to be about having a buzz not working ur ass off.

do like 99% of college students... do sweet fa til its (nearly) too late and then cram!

TBH I really wouldn't recommend listening to this guy too much

College is a big change from secondary school and lots of people let motivation slide in 1st year, usually receiving a sharp kick then in the form of exam results.

There's no harm in extended lunch breaks, and coffee breaks, but they have to be put into context of course work. A good idea might be to go on breaks with people who are on the same timetable. There is always one person who will be motivated to go to lectures (it would have been me in my day) and this might help motivate you.

Word of warning, I've worked as a lab demonstrator in the Physics and Elec Eng departments, and if you don't complete your required number of lab assignments during the year, you might not even be allowed sit summer exams. If you're borderline between pass/fail, this will also be taken in consideration. Don't let things like this slide, even if they seem so casual

Dimitri

Thanks for the replies i think the general conceses is its is entirely up to me whether i attend lectures and labs, i tried and half succeeded tis morning missed my first lecture but went to the second one ( i only had two). I plan for tomorrow to be a little better by going to my lab and my one lecture of the day! Vangelis has a point i am tired, exhausted in fact, i suppose i should have mentioned in my post that i work on average 26 hours a week on top of college. Unfortunately this is necessary for me to be in college!

@Dudara, you mentioned you were the motivated one, what helps/helped motivate you because that really is something i'm lacking at the moment, and lacked badly last year, and when i repeated my leaving, and when i did my leaving... in fact its not someting i ever really had.

dudara

I don' know what made me more motivated than other people. I think a big reason I went to all my lectures, was that i hated getting other people's notes. I had my own style of note-taking which got a lot of detail and I found that my friend's notes justs didn't compare. The lack of detail made me feel like I'd missed lots. Now, realistically most lectures aren't chock-a-block of info, but I really preferred to get my own notes, it made studying so much easier.

I've always been motivated academically, from day one. My mother is a national school teacher and she drilled good habits into me as a child, and I couldn't break them, even if I tried I think that I wouldn't be the best person to offer motivational advice, perhaps someone else here in a similar situation who has overcome it, would be best.

If you're tired though from work, make sure that you're eating a good diet, take a multi-vitamin if neccessary and regulate your sleep. It will all help.

Khannie

I was a lazy bollix all the way through secondary and in college until I nearly failed 2nd year in my computer science course because of stupid French. Gave me a right kick up the bum it did. Aced 3rd and 4th year. So....basically...it's possible to turn things around.

TBH, if you're working 26 hours a week so you can go to college, then you bum out on the lectures, you're wasting your time (obviously skipping the odd one isn't a big deal, but try to be selective about the ones you skip....you know what I mean).

Maybe try dropping a few work hours and see how you end up.........Better to have a degree and a bank loan, than no degree and no bank loan IMO.

With a bit of effort it's not actually that hard to juggle life and college.

Good luck!

Vangelis

Dimitri wrote:

Thanks for the replies i think the general conceses is its is entirely up to me whether i attend lectures and labs, i tried and half succeeded tis morning missed my first lecture but went to the second one ( i only had two). I plan for tomorrow to be a little better by going to my lab and my one lecture of the day! Vangelis has a point i am tired, exhausted in fact, i suppose i should have mentioned in my post that i work on average 26 hours a week on top of college. Unfortunately this is necessary for me to be in college!

Ok, that's a clue to your problem. What do you eat usually and how often?
A good portion of vitamines, fruits, salad and bread could help.

It is indeed very unfortunate that you have to work so much. It shouldn't have been legal in fact. Do you have to work so much to pay for all the things you need? Maybe it is possible for you to buy less of some things(magazines, sweets, gadgets you buy for fun) and make sure you have money enough for the most vital things(pens, travel, paper, clothes and nutrition)? At least think about it.

Clearly you need to rearrange your life to manage to pass your exams and graduate. It would be bitter to have wasted so much worry and time on something you will not succeed on.

Also sleep is important. Make sure to get at least 8 hours of sleep. I've also heard that taking a 20 minute nap in the middle of the day, between 2 pm and 4 pm is will be refreshing and give you lots of new energy to go on the rest of the day! If you sleep longer, you will feel more groggy and it will be harder to adjust to being awake. This has been studied and verified by scientists.

Dimitri

Hmm this is food for thought.. literally cause my diet usually includes at least two take aways, chineese thursdays and chipper munch fridays. I had thought about the work already and managed to get every second sunday off so at least i'll have a full day off in the week. I googled some things on diet but a lot of it seems contradictory at first glance does anyone have good links to sites for this? It would be greatly appreciated.

@khannie its that kick up the bum at the end of this year that i don't want!
And again cheers for all the advice everyone!

Vangelis

Dmitri, you don't have someone who could give you advice at your Uni?
I would be careful with searching the net.

Glad I've given you something to think about. Now off to the shop and buy coarse bread and fish!