I'm really slacking in school whats the best way to motivate myself to get off my ass.

[Ausm]

Originally posted by: Jigga
If you pay me $1000, I'll come over there and kick your ass everytime I see you slacking off. Trust me, this is the only solution.

LMAO

Sysadmin

 

[scauffiel]

but on the other hand, if he survives his 3 year sign up and get his top secret clearance, he's good for $80k/year job in the govt contracts arena

Uhhh, I'd love to find out where you've seen this occur so I can get my resume there...


As far as the original topic goes - head on down to your local McDonalds. Don't get your head out of your ass and that's where you're going to end up. Picking up cigarette butts in the parking lot, or sweeping and mopping floors and restrooms... I'm only 34 years old and I constantly think - man, if only I had kicked more ass in school... Cuz I blew it off. And I make nearly $70K a year. My father laughs because he says "SEE?! I told you!!"

I only hope my kids actually LISTEN and take heed when I tell them...

Steve

 

[FuZoR]

I'm in the same boat...
im just slacking by with Cs and a few Bs.. i know i can do alot better but i just don't try nor care. bah! My assignments are always late, i either dont study or try to cram before a exam which does get me in the B range but i usually get tired and just say i'll wing it.

im working on it though.. just bought a daily planner the other day. hopefully writing stuff down to do will keep me away from procrstinating.

spring break started today...im gonna try to catch up on the classes.. (arrgh i hope i can do it) and try not to have to much fun

 

[Dutchmaster420]

who cares, go to community college for 2 years, do good transfer

 

[tcsenter]

Im such a slacker and put all my work off until its too late. Its a vicious cycle, im up late rushing to get work done, then im too tired the next day until i take a nap or something and finnaly get to doing my work (in this case a term paper) at like 12. Im really intelligent, my exam scores rock but all the little assignments bring me down because i either do a crap job of them at 1-3AM (have to wake up at 6:50) or dont do it at all.

I don't know if this applies to your situation, but its worth mentioning, anyway. What you are describing can be a consequence of more things than just 'laziness', lack of discipline or motivation. Some people who have ADD or a sleep disorder but do not know it unconsciously start to avoid activities that they have trouble doing.

You sound a lot like me in high school. Actually, you sound identical to me in high school.

I was diagnosed with narcolepsy (a sleep disorder) in 2002 and am currently 33 years old. I have had 'overt' symptoms of narcolepsy since around the age of 19, and cryptic symptoms since around the age of 15, although they were so mild in the beginning that it was easily mistaken (misinterpreted) as laziness, indifference, lacking discipline or maturity not only by others but myself as well.

In my case, the problem was that I would become sleepy during certain activities that did not provide a lot of external stimulus, like when doing a homework assignment, reading to myself, listening to a lecture, watching a movie or video in class with the lights dimmed, and other situations that do not provide a lot of stimulation (sitting for prolonged periods). It began as nothing more than an infrequent annoyance, 'just a little sleepy today, no big deal'. But over several months, it slowly got worse and began to hurt my ability to focus and concentrate. So I would have to do something to wake myself up and stay alert until the 'episode' of sleepiness passed.

Many adults who have narcolepsy (among a couple other known sleep disorders) were diagnosed with ADD in their school-age years, and although I personally was not, its no wonder that many are. The only way to wake one's self up during one of these episodes and regain one's concentration is to self-stimulate through physical activity. Not many ways to accomplish that while sitting at a desk in school except to start moving around (fidget) in one's seat or talk to a classmate. Talking is a very effective way to combat sleepiness.

The sufferrer is usually not aware of the underlying reasons why they unconciously feel the urge to start moving around and talking. Its mostly an unconscious coping mechanism going on because the symptoms are not 'overt' enough to be self-evident. Ok, onto the procrastination thing....

Because the person only experiences this during sedentary situations which provide little external stimulus, they unconsciously begin to avoid these situations and rationalize to themselves why they are avoiding them. In ADD, the process is no different, except instead of becoming sleepy during these situations, they experience decrements in their level of concentration, ability to focus, and train of thought. They, too, unconsciously begin to avoid these situations and they don't understand why.

By putting off things you need to do until the last minute, guess what happens? You artificially create a sense of urgency in getting this task done. This sense of urgency is a form of stimulation that keeps you alert and thinking clearly. It is, in essence, introducing an element of fear; the fear of not getting your assignment done, failing the assignment, harming your grade, receiving a harsh or critical response from your teacher, and all the other bad things that come with not getting an assignment finished. Fear is an extremely effective form of stimulus.

This is why persons who are properly diagnosed with a true case of ADD respond well to CNS stimulants like Ritalin, because the drug provides the stimulation they are trying to receive through self-stimulation (fidgeting, moving, talking).

In narcolepsy, we understand the pathophysiologic mechanism better than we do ADD, but they share an extremely similar commonality. For some reason, which we do not fully understand, they have a much lower tolerance for low-stimulus and sedentary situations that potentiate a loss of alertness and mental function (concentration, focus, clarity of thinking), which they unconsciously try to counter by introducing stimulation that is not being provided by the situation or environment.

Again, I couldn't say whether this applies to your situation, but your complaint is not rare or even uncommon among persons with certain sleep disorders and ADD, many of whom are unaware of it for many years. Their behavior is commonly misinterpreted by others as signs of being 'slackers', 'irresponsible', 'shiftless', 'immature', 'impetuous', 'undisciplined', and 'lazy'. They may even come to believe these things about themselves and discount the suggestion that they might have a real medical problem that is beyond their voluntary control.

 

[tcsenter]

bump as shameless plug for my post

 

[sonambulo]

Give up. Buy some unknown dope off a complete stranger and stick it into your arm immediately, without thinking. That's my advice.