Update
It's a month to the prelims and I can hardly focus on my studies. I've come up with 4 excuses.
1) Complacency
This isnt complacency as in--I've got As before and Im gonna get them again--but rather, complacency derived from the fact that from experience, little studying can bag at least a C grade. Of course, this isnt a very compelling factor because no one should be content with C grades, but still the relatively high returns to scale tend to give a false sense of security.
2) A change in lifestyle
A rather strange excuse, this one. For the most part of the past 1.5 years I was able to subsist on a 2+4 sleeping schedule. But with the weight of many things off my shoulders now my afternoons, of late, have become consistently free, changing my sleeping lifestyle to that of a full 6-8 hours per night. What's more, I dont keep late nights (5, 6 AM) over the weekends now. The irony of sleeping so much is that I feel more tired than before-- even on saturdays and sundays where sleep could take up almost 12 hours of the day.
3) Her.
Highly plausible explanation-- but only if you assume I think of her most of the time and get distracted from my studies as a result. Fortunately years of jedi training taught me how to be a master of my emotions. Hey how come they didnt teach me how to concentrate on studies?
4) Study Fatigue
Study fatigue sets in when you've had a hectic schedule for the past few months, when the only true break you could have was plagued by the compelling force to study which, when resisted, plagued by guilt that robbed leisure of its liberative powers.
Let's face it-- few people, save the RJ-sort kinds, are able to work consistently, persistently. I'm not a first-rate mugger, neither am I the kind of perfectly-balanced individual who can juggle studies, leisure, sports, social life like a clown who would juggle pins in the circus for his whole life. Im not a clown, nor a clown wannabe, nor a performer of any sort, and if I have to be in the circus of life the only place I would be at is the spectator stands.
4) is probably the strongest reason. 1) while valid to some extent, kills itself because awareness of the confidence trap, the hero-to-zero thing, should by right set me in the right frame of mind by moderating any delusionary confidence present. I'm not about to kill myself because of some base, generic flaw in human nature.
2) is just downright bizarre. Besides, while more sleep-time comes at the expense of work-time, the point we're investigating is the lack of mental focus, not the lack of time. I dont think 3) is capable enough of bringing down my whole fortress. In any case I have always believed as youths we have always a desire to have some leisure pre-occupation to ourselves. Even without her this pre-occupation would still be there, only in a different form. In this sense she's just responsible for "filling in the space", not taking up more space.
This leaves 4), and I would have to say it's a potent threat. I look at my econs notes and get restless within minutes, I cant bring myself to re-read the lit texts I have read previously but not adequately. The very thought of packing my files depresses me.
The solutions I took for myself are simple and still in the experimental phase. They include taking a nap, taking a bath, listening to music and doing maths, because maths has this unique quality of chaining you to the desk.
1) Complacency
This isnt complacency as in--I've got As before and Im gonna get them again--but rather, complacency derived from the fact that from experience, little studying can bag at least a C grade. Of course, this isnt a very compelling factor because no one should be content with C grades, but still the relatively high returns to scale tend to give a false sense of security.
2) A change in lifestyle
A rather strange excuse, this one. For the most part of the past 1.5 years I was able to subsist on a 2+4 sleeping schedule. But with the weight of many things off my shoulders now my afternoons, of late, have become consistently free, changing my sleeping lifestyle to that of a full 6-8 hours per night. What's more, I dont keep late nights (5, 6 AM) over the weekends now. The irony of sleeping so much is that I feel more tired than before-- even on saturdays and sundays where sleep could take up almost 12 hours of the day.
3) Her.
Highly plausible explanation-- but only if you assume I think of her most of the time and get distracted from my studies as a result. Fortunately years of jedi training taught me how to be a master of my emotions. Hey how come they didnt teach me how to concentrate on studies?
4) Study Fatigue
Study fatigue sets in when you've had a hectic schedule for the past few months, when the only true break you could have was plagued by the compelling force to study which, when resisted, plagued by guilt that robbed leisure of its liberative powers.
Let's face it-- few people, save the RJ-sort kinds, are able to work consistently, persistently. I'm not a first-rate mugger, neither am I the kind of perfectly-balanced individual who can juggle studies, leisure, sports, social life like a clown who would juggle pins in the circus for his whole life. Im not a clown, nor a clown wannabe, nor a performer of any sort, and if I have to be in the circus of life the only place I would be at is the spectator stands.
4) is probably the strongest reason. 1) while valid to some extent, kills itself because awareness of the confidence trap, the hero-to-zero thing, should by right set me in the right frame of mind by moderating any delusionary confidence present. I'm not about to kill myself because of some base, generic flaw in human nature.
2) is just downright bizarre. Besides, while more sleep-time comes at the expense of work-time, the point we're investigating is the lack of mental focus, not the lack of time. I dont think 3) is capable enough of bringing down my whole fortress. In any case I have always believed as youths we have always a desire to have some leisure pre-occupation to ourselves. Even without her this pre-occupation would still be there, only in a different form. In this sense she's just responsible for "filling in the space", not taking up more space.
This leaves 4), and I would have to say it's a potent threat. I look at my econs notes and get restless within minutes, I cant bring myself to re-read the lit texts I have read previously but not adequately. The very thought of packing my files depresses me.
The solutions I took for myself are simple and still in the experimental phase. They include taking a nap, taking a bath, listening to music and doing maths, because maths has this unique quality of chaining you to the desk.
1 Comments:
Agreed to the maths thing. But revising is still the main problem.
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