How can i trick myself to enjoy doing my homework ?(i'd usually like this work))

[Marund]

I Want to enjoy it so i can spend all my time on it. Its weird how when its homework i automatically feel its evil.

Maybe i should completely convince myself that its not homework! Like just never let the homework thought into my mind. Or when i start feeling tense about, turn my thoughts in another direction and say "this is fun, its my big project, its all i ever daydream about"

*Thinks outloud and solves her own problem*

Actually maybe im over-thinking it.

If you have any more ideas lemme know. I'm interested in hearing what you have to say even though I've thought about it.

[joydream]

I am a college student and I don't like doing homework.

However, I have the highest grades in my classes right now.

I'll share my secrets with you....

1. I have time targets most days for doing homework. For example, 2 hours of homework in one class and 3 hours of homework per day for my hardest class.

2. I use a stop watch to make sure I hit my time targets. (Usually I only time the 3 hour homework for my hardest class.)

3. I have specific, achievable goals for every hour of homework. For example, I don't just say... I'm going to "study" for 3 hours for one class. I say...

Hour 1: Do 5 book problems (these problems are very long and complicated)
Hour 2: Make flash cards from Notes #9-11
Hour 3: Review Notes #9-11 with repeatedly writing down information for review

And that's my day. I don't stick to this method every day, but it works well when I implement it.

You don't have to like homework to be good at it.

[VinceG]

Try playing around with your identity. See yourself as different kinds of people. And act as them. It will seem silly at first, but after awhile it won't. One time I took on the identity of someone who enjoys headaches. The headache didn't last very long after I did that, unfortunately.

[truant]

I find that the biggest obstacle for me, when I need to do something I don't want to do, is forcing myself to get started on it.

I used to have this problem with washing the dishes. I'd let them pile up for days, loathing the moment when I would have to tackle an enormous pile of crusty cutlery and moldy pots and pans.

I found an easy way to solve it, however. One day, I just decided that I was going to wash one dish. That's it. That's all I was going to do. Then I was going to kick back and relax.

For the first few days, that's all I did: one dish. I made a deal with myself. I was not obligated to wash any more dishes. As long as I did one a day, I could feel good about myself because I was making progress. (After all, I used to go for many days without washing a single dish.)

At first, the mess was worse, because I also stopped doing my 'power sessions'. Eventually, though, (after only a few days) I found I was washing more dishes. I would wash two or three before stopping. And it really wasn't any worse or more annoying than washing a single dish. In fact, I felt pretty good about it, because all of a sudden I was washing almost as many dishes as I used to when I did my power sessions, but without any feeling of annoyance at all.

Over time, I started washing more and more dishes. Some days I would still only do one dish, but other days I would wash four or five or even six. The important thing was honoring the agreement that I had with myself: as long as I committed to washing a single dish every day, I could feel good about myself. Because washing dishes everyday made me feel good about myself, I found that I started to enjoy the feeling of having washed dishes. Within about six months, I found I was washing almost all of the dishes every day and I felt absolutely no annoyance or irritation about it. It was just a habit that I had built up gradually over time until I did it without even thinking about it.

Obviously, this technique could be applied in almost any area of your life.

[Johnny Skosnik]

Why the need to "trick" yourself?

If you're taking classes that don't interest you, that don't help you achieve your goals, then why? Are there external forces like parents, traditions or social conditioning forcing you to?

If you are genuinely interested in these classes but merely feel overwhelmed there are a variety of time-management techniques on this site, like time-boxing to triaging to memorization tools. This may help.

[Mounds]

I think there are some pretty good ideas in this thread already. I would definitely try what has been written.
VinceG talks about changing your identity. This works surprisingly well. I tried this a few times when dealing with problem people at work. I ended up imagining how Buddha would deal with those people (rather... how I think he'd deal with them), then Chuck Norris and a few others. Once I found something I could see working, I used it. So lets say... how would the smartest man alive do his homework? He'd probably work smarter... not harder. Absolutely no use in trying to plow through because it will FAIL.
Leads into what Truant said. Instead of committing to doing everything at once, commit to doing a fraction of it. After that fraction, you can stop. Come back later, do another fraction. What I would add here is to read over your homework before you walk away. I find that the brain likes to work on things in the background and you might go back with a new insight.
I've created my own method now for doing homework. Say I'm going through a module that leads up to some study questions that are for an assignment. I make jot notes as I read because otherwise, I know I'll be reading it twice. I also break it down into sections and write down page numbers, in case I do have to go back. When I get to the assignment, it's usually a breeze. I already understand the material (you figure it out as you make notes) and you know where the answers are.
I usually take it a step further at that point and rewrite those notes. I save the text document and then read it out into the computers microphone so I have an MP3 file. Now you've got something that you can listen to anywhere. Useful for studying.

-Tim

[Lifeisamazing]

Originally Posted by Johnny Skosnik

Why the need to "trick" yourself?

If you're taking classes that don't interest you, that don't help you achieve your goals, then why? Are there external forces like parents, traditions or social conditioning forcing you to?

If you are genuinely interested in these classes but merely feel overwhelmed there are a variety of time-management techniques on this site, like time-boxing to triaging to memorization tools. This may help.

I tried the first lesson of this Memory Master - Association of Ideas - Additional Exercises and have to say that this is very powerful. This is about illogical associations. I was amazed at how easily and fast I remember 10 items, 10 faces in a row. Takes twenty something seconds to remember them exactly in order and to write them down very quickly. I guess I have a new goal - to improve my memory.