I have a problem. I leave all my academic work until the last minute. Consider my current dissertation.. 5000 words due in September.. this phase of the course "started" in early July. I am now starting to panic a bit and that eventually will get me into the mad situation where I'm cramming the essay writing into the last few days. It is only then I manage to achieve any focus and interest in what needs to be submitted.

Can anyone provide advice on how I can motivate myself sooner. I would love to write 500 words a night for the next few nights just to get into it, but I just know the footie will come on the TV or a bottle of wine will appear and that night's intention becomes a distant memory...

HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP !!! (thanks!)

I would love to help, but I have the same problem. So plenty of sympathy but no actual help. I suppose if you failed it might kick start you, but thats a bit drastic and I havn't tried it (yet.... Roll on Thursday!)

Sorry, MrB, lots of sympathy, but no constructive help because, guess what....I'm another one!

When I did my OU courses the assignments were always finished ten minutes before the last post went. I even drove the 15 miles to my tutor's house with my last Cognitive Psychology assignment, for which no extension was possible.

The worst year was when I did Social Psychology, because my tutor lived in the same town as me. I used to post my assignments through her door on the due date....whereupon her dog ate them.

I can't give you any 'proper' advice because I'm much the same - a 'crammer' - in fact I have a presentation to do for tomorrow and here I am on the forum....

Do you find that when you do 'panic' you become incredibly productive? That's how it is with me, and I seem to derive my drive/inspiration from the adrenalin rush. Without it, I can't seem to focus at all. I have no qualms about working into the early hours of the morning as needed. I've been like this all the way through school, university, post-graduate exams..... thankfully it hasn't done me any harm and I've passed all my exams first time!

I did try and prepare for one of my professional exams 8 weeks before the exam date - it didn't work. I looked for distractions (I even watched the cricket I was that desperate!) and finally panicked with two weeks to go......Now I accept that I am the way I am, and I expect I'll be finishing my presentation at 2am or later.....

All the best - I hope some-one else may be able to suggest a strategy that works for you. Good luck in your dissertation!

I'm back with an idea. What I'm doing is taking on a LOT of work, so that I know there is no way I'd be able to cram it all in unless I actually knuckle down and do it. Kind of like forcing myself to do it. I'll report back and see if it works sometime over Christmas I expect....

Oh dear Mr B...But you know, even by realising that you have poor motivation, you obviously have the dedication which will help you succeed .

I don't want to sound too harsh, but it'll probably come across that way. You need to realise how much easier it would be if you worked ahead of the deadline. Imagine how much more enjoyable life would be without the added stress as you near the deadline. Would you rather enjoy a period of time, not really worrying about writing your dissertation but with it always at the back of your mind, preying on you, OR would you rather spent a few hours each day/week working on it and then having a feeling of complete relief when it's finished before the deadline? I know which one I chose, and it was hard at the time but it paid off.

Personally I believe it comes down to self-discipline. It'll sound childish, but 'reward' yourself for working, ie watch the football, but only once you've done sufficient work for that evening, rather than tell yourself you'll write 500 words once the match is over.

I wish you all the best, and I'm hoping I can come up with more suggestions. I had to be strict with myself last winter, and I hated most of it, but here I am, ready to fight another year of essays and deadlines .

Me too! So I can't help - I could give you a lot of advice which I've been given in the past, but none of it has helped me...

Aaaaaaaaagghhh, even reading these posts has my stomach churning! I seem to be of the ilk who need to be sure that all is done - with time to spare. I remember, for years after finishing studying, many moons ago, sometimes wakening up in the morning with the idea in my head that I hadn't finished an essay - that sort of panic I can do without. I do have an old school pal who is studying at present. She's just like you though, extenstion... extension... extenstion... beer & ready salted to hand... candle burning at both ends AND in the middle, formula 1 type drive up to the college to deliver offerings, 30 seconds before THE deadline!!!!!
She was the same at school - minus the beer and driving

I think it must be how we are built.

My advice? Get cracking, then you can

Set yourself a deadline and convince yourself that it must be done by then.

Hi MrB - Busy Bee here. There is nothing worse than a blank sheet of A4 in front of you. The only way I got through last year (and A871 the year before) was to KEEP WRITING (or word-processing of course). This is so important. Even if its a load of nonsense to begin with at least you have got all your ideas down 'out of your head' and visually 'down on paper' or 'on the computer screen'. You can then edit to your hearts content.

The markers will want a logical sequence of 'events' in your project so that the reader can locate themselves when needed. This will help you think clearly too. Keep it simple, concise and don't forget to say the obvious - it might not be to your reader.

Miss Ross is right to say try and get ahead of the deadlines and reward yourself with a break afterwards

Pleae do PM me if you want any more help. Have you finished all the research now?

It will be a great project - just don't stop working! Good luck

Thanks for the offer... I never really start the research, or at least I don't feel I do.. I'm quite good at finding material, getting books and locating articles (and I'm off to the BBC archives on Wednesday) ... but I guess I don't really read it all thoroughly.. I just cook up an argument in my head as I panic more and try to find material to support it. A cart-before-the-horse approach I think !

I do exactly the same! However much I try to settle down and start work, I can never get motivated enough until right before the deadline, when the pressure is on. And then I invariably stay up until about 3 or 4 in the morning! Stupid, I know, but I can't change!

I'm afraid I was the same at university - I once wrote a 5,000 word essay in one night with all the resources spread on the floor around me and two under fives in bed - not fast asleep!
I started at 9pm and finished at 4am and delivered it at 9am - the deadline.

I have become a LITTLE more disciplined since then and found that time spent planning was not wasted. Each session I would do a bit then write the plan for the next session. Make the sessions as short as you can - commensurate with a feeling of accomplishment, then its not so much like pulling back teeth to get started.

I think your cart-before-the -horse approach is the right one! It is your 'voice' that the markers want to 'hear' when they read your project. I made the mistake of quoting too much in my early TMAs and will lose you marks. Have confidence in your argument - and try not to wade through too much evidence.

The BBC Archive is fantastic and a quiet few hours there should settle your thoughts. Probably a good plan would be to try and find some primary sources for the 'deepest' part of your argument and balance it with some well chosen secondary sources. Thinking back I saw my project as a bit like a swimming pool with two shallow ends with the deep end in the middle!!

It is probably a mistake to try and read all your material too thoroughly - there isn't time!!

I am not much of a planner either - I sometimes went round the sun to meet the moon before I got there in the end

Lists! I spent 3 years on my masters and then ended up writing almost the whole thing (all 200 ish pages) in about 3 months. I had lists and plans for sections up the ying yang and I swear I would have completely lost the plot without them. Ticking things off said lists is also a nice way to see that you have actually achieved something.

I bet you've done more (or thought about it more) than you think you have!

Good luck! (and what's your topic by the way?)

Not wishing to sound negative (rather the reverse) but I don't believe you can get distinciton in grade 8 let alone an FRSM with a poor work ethic. Trust yourself, you'll get it done.

Your cover is totally blown, sorry! Coming to the Forums to ask for advice on work ethic is next door to googling "procrastination" as an alternative to actually getting work done.

I can hear a certain chip off the old block upstairs giggling over some stupid video clips on "Nico Nico Douga" instead of getting on with a book summary which he KNOWS is going to take him at least 1 hour longer than the time he has already allotted to the task.

The other chip off the old block is actually virtuously practicing scales. I believe he does this by imagining that his teacher is in his room watching in horror as he reads Horrible Histories instead of getting out his music.

The old block, on the other hand, notices that it is 8:59am here, and has yet to start a short translation to deliver at 9am...

Brilliant Technical Solution for use in dire straits: Visualize the preferred path of action and the fruits thereof - really ham it up. Otherwise a living image of happy self with finger on scroll button arises before the inner eye, crushing out the poorly visualized image of self successfully buckling down. So titivate your mental image of your better self!

Oh yes you can. I have two.

Nah - not possible; you may have a 'poor work ethic' with what you think is work (essays etc) but not I suspect for the 'work' that really engages you heart and mind - like music.

Right now my ability to procrastinate has landed me with no option but to work the dog in the rain - should have gone out earlier

I'm just a good sight reader with a fear of failure.

I'm exactly the same - I've always got down to the research part of things really quickly and produce sheet after sheet of notes and ideas.......but can never get my thoughts into order until the pressure of the deadline looms. And then the pressure stimulates the brain into clarity somehow.....I've always been the same too - at uni I remember cycling through the street at 2am to deliver essays I'd only just finished!!! And more recently on the CT course (well 8 years ago......) the same thing happened.....(although I didn't cycle through the streets to deliver the essays - Scotland to Manchester is a long way to cycle at 2am...... )

Write down the chapter/section headings. Then start writing the easiest chapter/section. This is probably contrary to standard advice, which tends to be to start with the most difficult section first in order to get it out of the way and because it will take the longest, but I find that starting with an easy chapter/section gets the juices flowing and by the time I get to the difficult chapter/section, I'm in full flow and can do it a lot more easily. Also by that time, the deadline is more pressing, and there's nothing like a pressing deadline to concentrate the mind

Thanks for all your advice.

The problem with taking a structured approach is that I am too lazy even to do that because it will actually mean I have to read the papers, articles and books I have managed to accrue. Somehow I can't be bothered. Shame one cannot take a tablet to stimulate that part of the brain which kicks in when the deadline is really looming and the focus and effort becomes absolutely 100%. Such an innovation would surely make a lot of money, and I would pay big £££ for it !!