Self Sabotaging

[drdisney]

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Does anyone else here self sabotage? Or has anyone done it in the past and figured out a way to overcome it?

I have a biochem test on Friday, and I have barely studied at all. I even pulled an all-nighter last night, and then proceeded to spend the night just screwing around. When I get overwhelmed I have this tendency to just completely shut down and self sabotage. I don't know why I do it. I'm clearly going to fail this test at this point, because there's no way I can cram 20 hours of lecture in a day and a half. And so that's making me self sabotage even more - why even bother at this point?

I'm not sure why I do this and it's something that I really hate about myself, yet can't seem to overcome. I doubt I'll make it through medical school if this continues. Anyone have any advice?

 

[Brain Bucket]

For now, just sit down with lippincott and read the relevant chapters as many times as you can. If any upper years mentioned which qbooks your prof tends to take questions from, do them.

This is just another excuse to waste time for now. Turn off your PC and open up your lippincotts. Preferably in the library, or someplace else where everyone is studying and there aren't many distractions.

Let's get back to this after your test.

 

[drdisney]

For now, just sit down with lippincott and read the relevant chapters as many times as you can. If any upper years mentioned which qbooks your prof tends to take questions from, do them.

This is just another excuse to waste time for now. Turn off your PC and open up your lippincotts. Preferably in the library, or someplace else where everyone is studying and there aren't many distractions.

Let's get back to this after your test.

Excellent advice and I'm going to go try to follow it.

 

[Ismet]

I did that with biochem in 1st year. Took a few days of mental break after anatomy, but when biochem is 2 weeks long, that doesn't work out well. Ended up passing, but wasn't fun catching up.

When I fall behind, I make a to-do list. I like crossing things off, so that's a little incentive to get through a lecture. I also take small breaks between lectures, like sorting laundry, doing dishes, going for a walk. Or find a 30-min TV show you like on Netflix and reward yourself with that after getting through 3 lectures.

If you still find yourself unable to focus despite trying several different methods, consider talking to an advisor or seeking professional help. There may be an underlying problem preventing you from focusing.

 

[NickNaylor]

Excellent advice and I'm going to go try to follow it.

I should add that while Ismet and BB's advice is prudent, there are also times where you simply need a mental break. I don't feel bad taking an evening off every once and a while even when I "really need" to study (just did it last night, in fact), because, at least for me, I find that I'm much more productive in the time after that break than I would've been otherwise.

Try and be observant with respect to your behaviors and the conditions under which you work best. I think seeking professional help if you can't figure it out is worthwhile, but frankly I don't think it's unusual to be feeling burned out and unmotivated if you're studying 8-10 hours/day (and by studying I mean actually studying with few breaks).

MS1/2 sucks. It gets better, I promise. As a MS3 I actually look forward to having what my buds and I call a "step 1 day" to crank out some serious studying since that time is now lacking due to clinic responsibilities.

 

[shanighias]

Does anyone else here self sabotage? Or has anyone done it in the past and figured out a way to overcome it?

I have a biochem test on Friday, and I have barely studied at all. I even pulled an all-nighter last night, and then proceeded to spend the night just screwing around. When I get overwhelmed I have this tendency to just completely shut down and self sabotage. I don't know why I do it. I'm clearly going to fail this test at this point, because there's no way I can cram 20 hours of lecture in a day and a half. And so that's making me self sabotage even more - why even bother at this point?

I'm not sure why I do this and it's something that I really hate about myself, yet can't seem to overcome. I doubt I'll make it through medical school if this continues. Anyone have any advice?

I have the same problem 🙁

 

[drdisney]

MS1/2 sucks. It gets better, I promise. As a MS3 I actually look forward to having what my buds and I call a "step 1 day" to crank out some serious studying since that time is now lacking due to clinic responsibilities.

I guess I just didn't expect to be burned out like this as soon as the second block. I don't know if this is just me needing to adjust or what, but so far med school and I are not getting along.

 

[NickNaylor]

I guess I just didn't expect to be burned out like this as soon as the second block. I don't know if this is just me needing to adjust or what, but so far med school and I are not getting along.

No, that's normal. You're just one of those people that lacks the pathological work ethic that is all but necessary to do extremely well in the absence of a superbrain. Just keep your head up and do your best.

Sent from my SGH-M919

 

[zeppelinpage4]

Does anyone else here self sabotage? Or has anyone done it in the past and figured out a way to overcome it?

I have a biochem test on Friday, and I have barely studied at all. I even pulled an all-nighter last night, and then proceeded to spend the night just screwing around. When I get overwhelmed I have this tendency to just completely shut down and self sabotage. I don't know why I do it. I'm clearly going to fail this test at this point, because there's no way I can cram 20 hours of lecture in a day and a half. And so that's making me self sabotage even more - why even bother at this point?

I'm not sure why I do this and it's something that I really hate about myself, yet can't seem to overcome. I doubt I'll make it through medical school if this continues. Anyone have any advice?

I do the exact same thing, I was actually looking to get advice for it too. I'm ten slide sets behind in a class, our pre-exam is tomorrow and the actual exam is another week away. Each slide set takes me over a day to get through...it's just not possible. I tried studying last night, but I was so behind and frustrated with myself I ended up wasting my night on youtube and staying up till 2am doing nothing.

You're def not alone.

 

[GangaMaster]

Story of my life.

I did that same exact thing for Biochem last block and i promised to never do it again. Then this entire block I hadn't studied until a few weeks before our exams and now I have a Genetics test tomorrow and im going through a set of files; before midterms in my first block I was so on point and got As on everything; now I can't seem to get myself to sit and study and its been a year.

I'm stress smoking 2 packs of cigs a day and I don't even smoke cigarettes. I literally came on a few minutes ago to see if I could find any threads to give me an idea on how to overcome this and you post a thread as if I wrote it myself.

Those advice given above me is great for some people without our problems; I don't know if this is ADHD or ADHD-ish but I tried vyvanse once and it did nothing for me and I never took it again.

 

[235009]

it's insane how many distractions exist nowadays. I think that might be why I found med school to be so hard/laborious compared to college. Back when I was in college (03-07) i didn't own a laptop (only a desktop), smartphones basically didn't exist, few people texted with any sort of regularity, wifi (which I used on my PDA occasionally) was only in certain designated areas, youtube and facebook were only just getting off the ground. So basically it was very easy to just go to the library with a bunch of books and be cut off from the world for hours.

Now there are hundreds of sites you can just waste away your whole day on (buzzfeed anyone?), you are hyperconnected with a smartphone, a laptop, a tablet/ipad with wifi spanning every inch of every college or med school campus and 4G LTE for the few spots that don't have wifi. It's insanely distracting.

So my advice is that you need to physically force yourself away from all the distractions. Leave the laptop at home when you go to the library and put your smartphone on airplane mode. Print out material if you need to and use review books. I found that I was much more efficient in med school when I didn't use my laptop. Unfortunately you do need to use it for Qbanks but at least close out your browser so you can focus a bit more. Set aside 10 minutes or so every hour where you can go crazy online and then close or put all the technology away.

 

[drdisney]

Those advice given above me is great for some people without our problems; I don't know if this is ADHD or ADHD-ish but I tried vyvanse once and it did nothing for me and I never took it again.

I'm always reluctant to claim ADHD because I mean, I made it this far - through undergrad, a 1 year post bacc program, the MCAT, etc. I dunno if that would have actually been possible if I had undiagnosed ADHD. But sometimes I wonder. My father and sister both have very severe cases of it.

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one in the world doing this, though. There was that thread the other day where people were talking about questionable medical school admits, and I was thinking "That's me." I definitely feel like everyone in my class just loves school and is super dedicated and never procrastinates.

 

[drdisney]

it's insane how many distractions exist nowadays. I think that might be why I found med school to be so hard/laborious compared to college. Back when I was in college (03-07) i didn't own a laptop (only a desktop), smartphones basically didn't exist, few people texted with any sort of regularity, wifi (which I used on my PDA occasionally) was only in certain designated areas, youtube and facebook were only just getting off the ground. So basically it was very easy to just go to the library with a bunch of books and be cut off from the world for hours.

Now there are hundreds of sites you can just waste away your whole day on (buzzfeed anyone?), you are hyperconnected with a smartphone, a laptop, a tablet/ipad with wifi spanning every inch of every college or med school campus and 4G LTE for the few spots that don't have wifi. It's insanely distracting.

So my advice is that you need to physically force yourself away from all the distractions. Leave the laptop at home when you go to the library and put your smartphone on airplane mode. Print out material if you need to and use review books. I found that I was much more efficient in med school when I didn't use my laptop. Unfortunately you do need to use it for Qbanks but at least close out your browser so you can focus a bit more. Set aside 10 minutes or so every hour where you can go crazy online and then close or put all the technology away.

So I was actually in undergrad in the same era as you (02-06) and I STILL managed to do this, a lot, even if I went to the library. Remember that Snake game that was on the old Nokia phones? I remember once going to the library, armed with my books, ready to study for the entire day, and then actually playing Snake on my phone until the battery died. It's really ridiculous and I think it may be some sort of psychological thing - like I'm worried I may fail so not putting the effort in allows me to excuse myself somehow? I dunno. Or maybe it's ADHD related as someone mentioned above.

The difference is that in undergrad I was able to cram at the very, very last minute for a few hours and still pull out a decent grade. But I don't think that's going to fly in med school, so I'm really desperate to get a handle on this.

 

[zeppelinpage4]

So I was actually in undergrad in the same era as you (02-06) and I STILL managed to do this, a lot, even if I went to the library. Remember that Snake game that was on the old Nokia phones? I remember once going to the library, armed with my books, ready to study for the entire day, and then actually playing Snake on my phone until the battery died. It's really ridiculous and I think it may be some sort of psychological thing - like I'm worried I may fail so not putting the effort in allows me to excuse myself somehow? I dunno. Or maybe it's ADHD related as someone mentioned above.

The difference is that in undergrad I was able to cram at the very, very last minute for a few hours and still pull out a decent grade. But I don't think that's going to fly in med school, so I'm really desperate to get a handle on this.

I get the same feeling, if I'm overwhelmed I just freeze, like what's the point? Nothing I do will make a difference.
If I know I can study x amount, and be ready for y exam, then I have no problem sitting and cranking it out.
But most cases, it feels like I don't have the time to study x amount, and even if study with the little time I do have, I'll still do terrible on the exam, so why even bother.
It's hard to motivate myself if I feel a situation is hopeless...which for many exams seems to be the case.

If it helps at all, I sometimes try to make a study schedule, no matter how bad the situation and tell myself I can cover what I need to (even if it's a little unrealistic) and I try to convince myself that I can still do okay. Just to get back some sense of hope that I could still do well, and that helps bring back some drive.

 

[Anastomoses]

Disney, Zeppelin...I'm very familiar with what you're talking about. I have a good friend who managed to get into a top school out of sheer brilliance but battles with this issue of finding poor distractions, carrying them into ridiculous hours the night before something important, etc.

The doctor has put him on off-label naltrexone but I'd suggest talking to someone. Once it's interfering with your career, it's time to get some input/options for fixing the problem. All the best.

 

[GangaMaster]

Disney, Zeppelin...I'm very familiar with what you're talking about. I have a good friend who managed to get into a top school out of sheer brilliance but battles with this issue of finding poor distractions, carrying them into ridiculous hours the night before something important, etc.

The doctor has put him on off-label naltrexone but I'd suggest talking to someone. Once it's interfering with your career, it's time to get some input/options for fixing the problem. All the best.

Naltrexone, wtf?

 

[GangaMaster]

I'm always reluctant to claim ADHD because I mean, I made it this far - through undergrad, a 1 year post bacc program, the MCAT, etc. I dunno if that would have actually been possible if I had undiagnosed ADHD. But sometimes I wonder. My father and sister both have very severe cases of it.

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one in the world doing this, though. There was that thread the other day where people were talking about questionable medical school admits, and I was thinking "That's me." I definitely feel like everyone in my class just loves school and is super dedicated and never procrastinates.

I agree, I don't think its ADHD because when I tried the medication it gave me no good effects. Maybe because it was once, but I took it at 20mg, did nothing, then a few hours later i took 40mg, still nothing, by 8 hours after the first dose i had done 80mg total and nothing so I don't think it is.

 

[D elegans]

I wouldn't say it's self-sabotage as I imagine on no conscious or unconscious level do you actually want to fail the exam. I think most people have felt the way you do in med school, especially when you have so much material to learn that is seems pointless to even start on a large topic when you have little time. What you have to do is force yourself to get rid of all distractions and plop yourself in a study environment (usually a library), take a deep breath, and focus on what you're reading. Don't let the omgihavenotimetofocus mentality seep in and just start studying. The hardest part is just getting started. You will get better at studying as medical school progresses I assure you.

 

[Brain Bucket]

See a shrink if you think it might be something else. If you've just started medical school, I assure you, this is not burnout. The best thing you can start doing for yourself is accept that this is your shortcoming, deal with it like an addiction and prepare in ADVANCE.

After the test, make a list of short, mid, and long term goals and how to realistically go about them.

Also make a list of what will happen should you fail out. Future prospects, employment etc. If you're realize you're ok with failing out, you don't belong in med school.

You then need to start implementing your goals and manage your time well from the start. Since you realize you tend to shut down closer to the test, this means you really need to get your prep done WELL in advance. You could make a spreadsheet with the dates for all the tests for the rest of the semester. Break down your readings into pages/day, questions/day and stay on top of it. Send it weekly to a loved one who's willing to help you out and have them stay on top of you. Say you didn't meet your reading goals for tuesday, let them ask you why you didn't and how you're gonna make up. No one gets through med school alone, and if this is the kind of help you need, seek it.

Just my 2c. Good luck!

 

[thepoopologist]

I guess I just didn't expect to be burned out like this as soon as the second block. I don't know if this is just me needing to adjust or what, but so far med school and I are not getting along.

Cramming in med school means starting a week before the test. I've seen some people do it in 3 days, but they were memorizing machines.

 

[drdisney]

Cramming in med school means starting a week before the test. I've seen some people do it in 3 days, but they were memorizing machines.

I am a memorizing machine and I think that's part of the issue - I know it's worked out for me in the past when I left it till the last minute. I actually managed to cram anatomy in 2 days and I did pretty well on the final.

But obviously I don't want to go through med school like that. And it didn't work out well for me this time when I couldn't even work up the energy to do my bare minimum cramming.

 

[GadRads]

I have done that cramming stuff several times, but it's a bad idea. Just try to do something each day, even if it's one hour of studying. The hardest part is to just start. Once you start, you will be well on your way.

 

[Anastomoses]

Naltrexone, wtf?

Yeah, apparently it's been found to help lessen certain addictive behaviors.

Just try to do something each day, even if it's one hour of studying. The hardest part is to just start. Once you start, you will be well on your way.

I think this is a great technique. Put your laptop/books/study material in a certain place that makes them ready-to-go...and just focus on starting. Once you start, you're in.

 

[Silent Cool]

Cramming in med school means starting a week before the test. I've seen some people do it in 3 days, but they were memorizing machines.

^^This.