Procrastination Forum

[bigboi403]

ok im in my first year of college and i am most definitely going to law school.and have a serious problem with procrastination i mean ill wait about 20 min before a class starts do the assignment(essay,paper) and ill get a B or an ok grade for 20 mins or work. the day ill get the assignment i say to myself i need to do it but cant bring myself to do it and i want to fix this habit before i start law school

[CanadianWolf]

Seems to be a psychological and/or maturity issue that needs to change prior to attending law school. In a similiar vein, many desire to be wealthy but lack the discipline & willingness to sacrifice to achieve that status. Decide whether you are a dreamer or a doer.

[DocHawkeye]

This won't be as big an issue in law school since, as a 1L, almost every assignment is made the day before it is due.

[shoeshine]

ok im in my first year of college and i am most definitely going to law school.

Why?

[CanadianWolf]

To delay entering the workforce ?

[quiver]

ok im in my first year of college and i am most definitely going to law school.and have a serious problem with procrastination i mean ill wait about 20 min before a class starts do the assignment(essay,paper) and ill get a B or an ok grade for 20 mins or work. the day ill get the assignment i say to myself i need to do it but cant bring myself to do it and i want to fix this habit before i start law school

I did this all through undergrad then turned it around in law school. I highly recommend actually trying in undergrad though. In hindsight, it's much easier to do well in undergrad, work your ass off for a good LSAT score, and get into a T14 than the alternative (transfer, T1 or T2 with higher probability of unemployment, etc.). Do the work now; future you will thank present you.

[DocHawkeye]

Perhaps it is the prestige. As the dean of my law school said at orientation "people with JD's as seen as smart people." I've only been in law school two months, and, even if only MOST of the people I'm in school with graduate, it will be clear that not everyone with a JD is a smart person.

[bigboi403]

why do i want to go to law school- i want to help people for a little while then make the money. i know how it feels to get the short end of the stick. i just want to learn how to beat procrastination

[BarbellDreams]

Flame. Thanks for playing.

[KibblesAndVick]

I used to be a huge procrastinator. In high school and at the start of college I didn't care about getting A's or doing as well as I could. Like you, I would do things last minute and be completely satisfied with B's and mediocrity. This gave me more time to party, play video games, work more hours at a paying job, or whatever else. This seemed like a good trade off at the time.

During sophomore year of college I turned it around and started doing the readings for class, put more time into papers, and studied more in general. I basically became an A student but the weak start still drags down my cumulative GPA and makes things more difficult than it needed to be. If you don't start trying harder you're going to regret it deeply in a few years. But, at that point it will be a few years too late to do anything about it and you'll just be pissed off. So here's a few things that helped me. Maybe they'll help you.

1) You need to realize that college isn't hard if you study liberal arts. It doesn't take that much work to get A's in all your classes. You just have to make a modest commitment and follow through on it. The trade off between grades and whatever else you want to do doesn't actually exist. You can have the best of both worlds.

2) Keep in mind the reasons why it's important to get A's. During college it can be hard to see how important grades are. When you're filling out applications to law school the difference between an A and a B seems bigger than it does at the time. You might not want to take it on faith that your perspective will change and then you'll be kicking yourself for being lazy - but it will and then you will.

3) Tell people around you what school work you're about to do. Tell your roommates you're going to go write 5 pages of a paper. Saying it out loud will make you feel guilty if you don't follow through on it. It also forces you to think specifically about what you're going to do. There's a difference between thinking to yourself "I should do some work tonight" and saying out loud "I'm going to read 30 pages from Book X at 8pm." I know this is a bit childish but it's an effective way to stop procrastinating. You'll think ahead and get better at organizing your time.

4) Major in something you genuinely care about. You'll be more motivated to study and do schoolwork if you think it's interesting.

[shock259]

Not sure what you are really expecting us to say here. If you don't do well in undergrad, you won't be able to get into a decent law school.

There's not some magic pill you can take that will turn you into a productive worker. You just need to stop it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYLMTvxOaeE

[bigboi403]

this is an example of what i usually do. end of class i have an essay this was thursday and then i read over it right now its monday and its due tommorrow morning im just going to wait until i get to class and then do the whole essay turn it in.

[TheFactor]

Flame. Thanks for playing.

I give it a 6/10. Extra points for originality.

[jamesireland]

I believe I have the solution to your problem. I'll type it up and post it here later.

[TheFactor]

I believe I have the solution to your problem. I'll type it up and post it here later.

i see what you did there

[Mal Reynolds]

ok im in my first year of college and i am most definitely going to law school.and have a serious problem with procrastination i mean ill wait about 20 min before a class starts do the assignment(essay,paper) and ill get a B or an ok grade for 20 mins or work. the day ill get the assignment i say to myself i need to do it but cant bring myself to do it and i want to fix this habit before i start law school

What is the point of posting this? If you recognize it's a problem then change it.

[AVBucks4239]

Since you just started undergrad, think back to high school. How many people do you know that completely blew off high school and didn't get into the undergrad they wanted to? Don't they all say, "I wish I would have tried." Now they're stuck at commuter schools or the shitty in-state school that nobody wants to go to. Why would you think it's any different for law school? Really, the only difference is that the competition gets much, much, more difficult.

Face it, good grades in high school and undergrad are pretty easy to get. It is usually not on a strict curve. Do the work, get the A, move on. Having a good GPA will make life a hell of a lot easier when you are applying. You don't want to be "that guy" on here posting a thread on, "How do I write an addendum on why my GPA sucks."