College student trying to overcome procastination

[CameloLouco]

Hi all,

this is my first post here. I`m 25 and I`m in my last year in Mechatronics Engineering. I was a very good student before I got into college. Now I`m 3 years behind schedule. I should have finish my course in 2007. The problem is that I can`t sit down and read the books. I don`t know why. I seems like I lost the interest in pretty much every thing.

Now, that really bothers me. First because its is a public college. So the taxpayer is paying for me to learn so that I can give back to society later. In fact I`m in one of the most prestigious universities of Brazil. So people have really high expectations towards me. The fact that my parents have to wire me money every month to pay my living expenses bothers me too. ( I can`t get a job yet because I have classes all day long.)

Anyway, in order to get my diploma I have to finish my "Final Paper". On Monday (11/08) I have to handle to my professor the preliminary version. I pretty much have nothing done yet - 3 pages of actual work. I`m going to post here if I`m making advances on that field.

Sorry for my lousy English, I`m not used to write in that language. And thanks for reading. I just needed to get this out of my chest and I don`t feel comfortable taking about this issue with no one of my personal circle (girlfriend, friends and family). In the beginning of the semester I open up to my professor about those issues. I was very strange.

Well, that`s it for now. Bye.

[Sue_B]

You're so close to getting your diploma!

Here's a suggestion. Visualize yourself finishing your 'Final Paper' and handing it to your professor. Imagine how great it will feel to do that. See yourself doing it in your mind.

I suggested this to a client at a gym I used to work at. She was having trouble getting to the gym and exercising. So she imagined herself putting on her shoes, driving to the gym, and exercising. She also imagined how amazing she felt afterwards. She did get to the gym after that.

Plus I recall reading if you write a clear plan of what you want to do and include the details of how, when and where - you're more likely to complete it.

[Alan1986]

Is it your highest joy to get the diploma? If you believe it is, what is stopping you from writing the final paper? Find out what you want rather than what other people want/expect from you.

[chrisrushton]

Try breaking it up with stuff, like going to the gym and lifting weights or running. Something active. Throw a frisbee around a bit. Whatever you can. Not TV or internet. Nothing that involves an LCD / Cathode screen. I find it difficult to work for more than 20 minutes at a time if I'm not in a real flow (I can work for 5 or 6 hours easily if I'm in a flow)

[truant]

I think you know why you can't sit down and read the books.

I'm hearing a lot about how you are afraid of what other people will think about your feelings, but I'm not hearing much about what you want. Maybe you should explore that.

Best of luck on your paper.

[hervens]

Whenever I feel like proscatinating, I just read Steve's article about Self discipline. It really works.

[WarrenG]

Traditional productivity and time management techniques work for procrastination too. So try breaking the task down and setting checkpoint goals along the way to the deadline date.

If you really don't want to sit down and work, tell yourself you'll do it, but only for 10 minutes. If after that you still don't want to, you can stop. Usually it's just getting started that's the hard part.

What else have you got going on that might be sapping your will power? Cut back on everything else until you're done - if you're on a diet regime, drop it until after the deadline, and cut back on exercise.

Oh, I just checked and your deadline is tomorrow. Never mind then, but good luck!