Changing my crappy study habits!

[deleted244469]

How do I do this?!?!? In undergrad, I never studied much until the day before the exam and did fine. Now I am taking all of my sciences and realize I cannot do this anymore. The problem is that I have formed a nasty habit, and my procrastination skills are on a whole nother level. How do I break this????? The motivation to study every day is lacking. UGH. Help!

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[mavric1298]

Take everything one step at a time. Assign yourself small, manageable goals that are easy to checkoff. Instead of "read ch 7" as a goal for the week, try to setup a small portion each day. I find if you break things into easier pieces, it's harder to put them off. Instead of just being able to say "I'll read the chapter later" you'll have to be putting off reading 5/10 pages, which you will find yourself feeling guilty about, aka more likely to do it. It takes practice and dedication, I slip into my old ****ty study habits all the time, and it's learning to catch back up, and "get back on the horse" of studying properly.

 

[deleted244469]

This is great advice! It's not that I am lazy, it's just that I am used to putting it off until the night before and doing fine. I just need a kick in the pants. Haha

 

[mavric1298]

No I have the same issue, and part of the problem is that I generally can cram and do well, so that's what I've always done. But now since I can't afford any blemishes, I force myself into doing it properly, so there isn't a chance to get caught out on a really hard exam because I wasn't studying properly. I find it's more reminding yourself of the end goal, every time you start to slip into the old habit. It's something to be worked at and takes great effort, and make sure to reward yourself when you are doing it right. It's a reason I like the pomodoro and GTD techniques. Rewards yourself with free time, breaking studying up into more manageable bites, and also keeping track of everything, (the great GTD brain dump into my omnifocus inbox is a lifesaver)

 

[kraskadva]

Lotsa advice here:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/straight-as.1088033/

In regards to this ^ when I say "do 150% at the beginning of the semester, and it's easier at the end" you could hold that carrot of slacking off around Dec. for yourself as a reward for doing **** now, but by the time you get there, you'll likely find your habits have changed.

 

[DrMidlife]

5 pancakes. Timeless advice for premed & med student procrastinators: http://rumorsweretrue.wordpress.com/2006/11/01/pancakes-every-morning/

I literally made myself eat 10 pancakes one day just to give myself visceral pain for slacking off at a really stupid time.

 

[dudeliness]

Great advice here. The one thing I will say, hopefully as a motivator, is that it gets exponentially more difficult when you're actually in medical school. The moral of the story is, work hard on improving/perfecting staying on task and studying at least some each day. Medical school will literally chew you up and spit you out if you can't stay organized and on top of it.

That being said, you've got time, you are aware, you can do this! Good luck

 

[instamatic]

Honestly, I definitely had this issue when I started my post-bacc journey several years ago now.

Besides telling you that you have to start forcing yourself to do the things you need to do to "win" in the future rather than doing what you want in the present- and all those obvious little gems-- I will say that as premeds/medical students/physicians we tend to be a people (heh- bear with me here) that like plans and like a 1-2-3 step way to get things done. So for that, one thing I wish I had known a long time ago is the power of habit. As detailed in "Power of Habit"- read it- it will help.

Because totally, you're not lazy, you just need to change up some bad habits.