Help me please I'm falling apart!!!

[bollenbach]

Hey

I'm not the type of person to do this.. but I'm posting this because I really need help. I'm in college right now and I'm finding that I'm not into time management at all anymore. I'm starting to things at the last minute and things are really starting to build up.

if anyone has an extra minute and could give me some pointers to some articles to get on the right track again that would be really great!!

I'm studying digital multimedia technology so if you could possibly come up with creative inspirations that would be amazing as well...

anyway.. Thank you for your time!!!!


Ryan Bollenbach.

[justin]

check out 10 Tips for College Students by Steve.

[David Hausladen]

Be calm. You can't work well at anything if you're panicked, and if you know about the Law of Attraction, you know that "energy flows where attention goes." So try not to feed the problem of procrastinating or poor time management by putting attention or worry into it. If it helps, realize that you are not in a crisis; your grades in college will not determine the rest of your life, as your teachers/parents/advisors might have you believe--so if it takes some time to get things back together, it won't kill you, and it will make you stronger. Realize also that "what one person can do, another can do" so you can be just as productive as disciplined as Steve or any other person you might take as a role model.

If you want to become disciplined, use written/spoken intentions to tell your conscious and subconscious mind that you want to become disciplined, and then use visualization to show them how you would think and act if you were disciplined. Reading about how to become disciplined (e.g. Steve's article) could help you a great deal with the visualization. If you don't doubt the process or yourself, then you'll soon see your thoughts and actions start to conform to your intentions and visualization.

Good luck!

[bollenbach]

if this forum was a person I would hug and kiss it!!!

great start.. I'm definitely going to read over these articles... please.. if anyone else has anything to contribute I would appreciate that a lot!!!

I have sooooo much work ahead of me.. and I really need to pull my weight


but just so you guys know.. I'm pretty well an a student except for my drawing class and english class in which I get about a c+ in both

anyway...

MORE FEEDBACK IF YOU CAN PLEASE!!!

ps thanks david, I really appreciate the advice I mean that!

[Cassie]

Hi Bollenbach. I was just severely overwhelmed this past week with two papers due, and a 15 minute oral presentation thrown on me at the last minute. I was pulling 12-15 hour days (working part-time as well) and became sooo stressed. As a result, I'm now really sick. Let me tell you, the feeling of being overwhelmed and stress that comes with it is just not worth it.

I am going to take a lighter class load next semester and make it a priority to spend more leisurely time for myself in contemplation. It's easy to get swept away in the crazy bustle of school life, but ultimately I want to spend time on things which are also important for me. I enjoy volunteering in my free time and studying philosophy, for example, and everything else was detracting from that.

You need to find your own balance and then budget your time accordingly. It helps to lay out a specific schedule when you know an assignment is looming ahead. I prefer to work on heftier projects a little bit at a time instead of doing it all in one extensive haul. It's too easy for me to get overwhelmed, which I unfortunately found out this past week.

The stress isn't worth your health. Focus on relaxation/meditation techniques and consciously make an effort to prioritize your assignments in a way which is not overwhelming for you right now. Then take a nibble off the load at a time. Try not to look too far ahead, just focus on what's at hand until it's complete and then move onto the next when you're physically and spiritually ready to.

[bollenbach]

hehe thanks for the advice cassie

good luck!!!

I get stressed out.. but somehow all my work always lands up getting done

[Milo Riano]

You have to identify the problem first on why procastinate. Then decide the importance and urgency of the task that preoccupies you. Work on the more urgent tasks first and the important ones later. Make sure to finish the urgent ones right away and don't wait that the important ones become urgent. In the end it's all about self-discipling and the power of your mind.

[bollenbach]

yep that's a good way to simplify it

I've jumped right back into reading some articles.. it feels great

[Cassie]

but you're still procrastinating in the process

[Mohit Pawar]

1. Start working early during the day.
2. Do not overpromise yourself. Assess your priorities and only take as much as you can finish in a day.
3. Live in present. Focus on work at hand and do not think too much about what still needs to be done.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes -

" Question: How do you eat an elephant?
Answer: One bite at a time."

Hope this helps.

[Lonewolf]

The first thing is to break the pattern, and do it radically.
If you are procrastinating by using the internet, then disable it; send your modem to a friend's house so you absolutely cannot use it. Do the same with your TV. Keep it up for a few weeks until you get a better grip on the procrastinating behaviours.

[Adam Sargant]

Originally Posted by bollenbach

I get stressed out.. but somehow all my work always lands up getting done

Sounds like maybe the stress is part of your current strategy for getting things done (an "away from" motivation... "oooh that feels bad lets do something about it")... the problem about "away from" motivation is that you a) feel bad and b) have to wait until you reach a threshold of "badness" before you will do anything about it.

It may well be that you would benefit from finding ways of focusing on the benefits of having gotten the work done... give yourself a more positive, goal orientated, "towards" motivation. There are a number of ways of developing/enhancing that focus... mine, because of my background and training tend to be NLP and hypnosis orientated, but I'm quite sure that many here can give some useful approaches too.

In light and love

Adam

[ahimel]

I agree with everything everyone's said about how to fix the problem long-term (take a lighter class load, identify why you procrastinate, etc.) The best way to deal with this crisis is to avoid getting into it in the first place. But since you are in this crisis, I thought I'd post the things that helped me when I procrastinated during high school, and ended up with a 4000-word essay, research for a 4000-word essay, a 1500-word essay (fortunately BS-able), an oral presentation, and 4 pages of math homework to be done over Christmas break, when my family thought I should be buying gifts or spending time with them or something....

1. Write down everything you need to do It can be a depressingly long list, but it makes getting it under control easier.
2. Write down how long each task will take (estimated) In my case, I found it comforting that I could, theoretically at least, finish everything I had to do in the time allotted and still sleep 8 hours a night. It might mean working 16-hour days and skipping Christmas breakfast with my family, but it could be done. On the other hand, if you are not going to be able to finish everything in the time allotted, be aware that you're going to miss some things. Make sure the things that don't get done are the least important things.
3. Sort the tasks in order of priority An assignment that, if not done, will cause you to fail a class is more important than an assignment that will take your grade from an A down to a B, which is in turn more important than an assignment that won't affect your grade at all, no matter how well or poorly you do it.
4. Do as much as you can; it's all you can do. Do the tasks in order of importance, except where this will obviously cause you to miss a deadline. This is important in case your time estimates are off. I way underestimated the time it would take me to do research, and therefore was unable to get the math homework done. But the math homework took my grade from a B+ to a B- ... not finishing the essay would have cost me my diploma.

And don't give up hope. Inside the little college box, they want you to believe that failing a class is the worst thing that could ever happen. It's not. If accepting an F in one class will allow you to easily get an A in 5 others, then drop the assignments for that class from your to-do list. An F in one class and an A in 5 others is a much better GPA than a C in 6 classes.

[karkaremtg]

Here are a few things that help me when I'm in panic mode:
1. Force yourself, if only for ten minutes to organize you problems on paper.
This sometimes feels like a waste of time, especially when your are hard pressed for it. Overall, however, its a really great thing to do. It focuses your mental faculties on the tasks at hand. It clears your mind and just the act of organizing your problems make them seem less imposing. It'll give a huge boost to your confidence.
2.Keep saying to yourself 'This is easy'
I don't know how this works, but it sure does for me. Its not so much intention-manifestation as it is self talk. Self pep talk is in itself one of the best things you can do for yourself.
3.Days to go till....freedom
I was waiting for a phase in my life to get over and luckily for me, there was a definite time frame within which it would. I knew the exact date when the change would happen. I took a small pocket calendar, circled the date and began striking of the days every night. It gave me immense pleasure to see myself so close to freedom from the situation i was in. This striking off of days was very helpful to keep me going through a very difficult time.
4.Keep chipping away at it
No matter how overwhelmed you are by a task, you are going to have to complete it. And that won't be possible by just sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. Keep chipping away by getting things done in smaller chunks.

Hope it helps

[norbert]

Originally Posted by Milo Riano

Then decide the importance and urgency of the task that preoccupies you. Work on the more urgent tasks first and the important ones later. Make sure to finish the urgent ones right away and don't wait that the important ones become urgent.

I strongly disagree on this point. The better you are at working on the important tasks first the more growth you experience. Put first things first. This is very important. Believe me you'll have enough urgent tasks until the day you die; if you keep working on them, your growth will be way too slow. Highly effective people put first things first (Covey #3). See also Scott's article Overcoming All The Little Things. Take your life seriously, you are the one in charge here, you have the responsibility to choose between urgency vs importance. According to Covey, you need to work on tasks which are important but not urgent. This paradigm shift has drastically changed my life.

[bollenbach]

interesting comment Norbert.. I'm definitely going to have to read into those articles that you posted


once again... thanks everyone that has posted in here..

Yes I realize that I didn't have to make this post and really I could've probably just searched this forum for related advice.. but i wanted it specific for my situation and input from people.

Thank you guys so much!!

[StevenA]

Sometimes I feel like I'd rather drop a class than complete a paper. Instead of doing that, I go for a long walk. I always end up cranking the paper out in no time. Of course, I forget how much it helped every time another paper comes up.

[bollenbach]

One thing that's been driving me crazy is this website that I'm working on.

I have this idea and it's going to slooowly.

I think what I'm going to do is re-create the site tonight and use another topic... like a video game or something.

[Adam Sargant]

Originally Posted by norbert

According to Covey, you need to work on tasks which are important but not urgent. This paradigm shift has drastically changed my life.

Well not entirely... by definition, you have to work on those tasks that are urgent AND important... the trick is to focus more of your energy on those tasks that are important but not urgent in order that fewer tasks hit quadrant one.

Milo's advice is pertinent to someone climbing their way out of a perceived crisis situation... sort out the urgent and important stuff (quadrant 1) then reorganise so that it don't get that bad again

In light and love

Adam

[bollenbach]

thanks once again for all the input guys..

things are going pretty smoothly with things right now...

luckily a test got bumped back to next week.. and I'm finally rolling on this website I'm working on.

I've decided to do it on Super Mario Bros. games.. so that's pretty cool!!!

anyway...

KEEP UP THE FEEEEEEDBACK!!

[ditto]

Procrastination trick.

[tparikka]

Hi Ryan!

Definitely the little-at-a-time thing is a much better way to go about it, but it can still be hard to work out. If you have a chance, try and pick up a copy of "Getting Things Done" by David Allen from the library. It's an action-based time management system, which is centered around keeping track of the things you have done and making concrete definitions for each thing you have to do, so when you have time, you have an action all set out for yourself - all you have to do is do it. I'm just getting into it now, and hope to use it from both my work and school stuff. I don't know if it's all it's cracked up to be, but I'm currently working through the first steps of organizing all my stuff into a solid system that I can work out of. What I can say is that those first steps and organization already are helping a lot.

But yeah, try and get it from the library and see what you think!

[bollenbach]

I've actually read that book I found that it was too business oriented ...

A lot of the things that he talks about are cool but then he gets into stuff that's just to business specific. I guess I read that about a month or so ago

[Hilary]

I recognise myself in everything you write! At university I got it all done by the last possible minute. After university, working for myself, there were no external deadlines any more and I am still (10 years on...) learning how to get things done to my own deadlines. Systems work for me for a while, and then they don't.

I think at least some of the solution is contained in Neil Fiore's book, The Now Habit. Easy and quick to read, and very strongly recommended.

A tip from the book you can use now - watch how you talk to yourself. Every time you say, 'I have to do this' or 'I should be doing that' you're awakening the other half of you, that says, 'But I don't want to' or 'But I'm not, so I'm all wrong...' . In other words you are setting yourself up for a) resistance (because you've made it a fight for freedom!) and b) guilt. Try saying, 'I choose to...' and 'at 9am I'm going to...' instead. Or 'I choose not to.'

[bollenbach]

lol so then how do you start things?

[Hilary]

Well, today I choose to sort out another 3 months of email Inbox backlog, for instance. That's a manageable amount, something I know for sure I can do. If I told myself 'You've absolutely got to sort out the Inbox! Think of all the emails you should have answered...' then I would recoil from the whole thing, because I don't like thinking about things I should have done and haven't, and never get started.

That's another Fiore-ism, come to think of it. Don't think about what should be finished, think about what you can do first. What should be finished is usually a monster, and it's human nature to run away from monsters.

[fourthdan]

I think David Allen's GTD is good, and the more time management books you read the better. However it's not rocket science - all you have to do is create a tasklist of all the things on your plate and keep it visible to begin with. I use Tadalist.com as my homepage with my tasks on it. So every time i open a browser it's a reminder I have that I have to do so many things. I usually do a quick review on the status of each task. There are one or two tasks like dentail appointments that I do find hard to get around to - but it's all a matter of setting a time and date and then keeping your promise to your self.

[bollenbach]

hmm that's really interesting...

I'll have to check out that site forsure.. because I find a common distraction is websites ... except this forum. I <3 this forum!