Log an Hour of Study Time

This is the part where I start to up the ante. 

As previously mentioned,  when I put "do some homework" on my list, the emphasis unintentionally fell on the word some.  When it comes to homework and studying, I have always had issues buckling down to get things done. My earliest memories of procrastination/ academically related stress are from 4th grade. My guess is I didn't have much school work to do outside of the classroom prior to that. It always seemed that no matter how much time I spent sitting in front of a book, I never got much accomplished. I don't just mean in 4th grade, I mean through college and my first round of grad school.

I'm not a totally oblivious. I did realize that when I sit down to work, I am easily distracted by, well, anything and everything. When I first took a reading specialist course back in New Hampshire, I decided to figure out how much time I actually spent studying. I would start the stopwatch on my iPhone. Every time I checked my Facebook, got up to get a snack, started glancing at some unrelated reading material, wandered aimlessly out of the room, went to the bathroom or did anything that wasn't actually school work, I would pause it. It is a practice I still use to keep myself (relatively) in line. In those early days of progress tracking, I might get an hour of work done within a 4 hour block. Now, I'm down to 90 minutes or so on a good day; three hours on a not so good day. The study log above helps me keep track of how consistently I work overall (or rather, makes me face how inconsistently I work). I recently started to use the "lap" feature to illustrate just how long I actually sat and focused on a task for.

I'd love to tell you this was an off day, that I have an attention span of more than 10 to 15 minutes, but the fact is this is way better than it used to be. DOUBLE DIGITS! Hooray!!! (Sometimes, I am shocked I graduated high school).

There is an exception to this rule/ habit: When I have a paper due in 2 hours, my fingers nearly fall off from continuous typing. This is how I know that somewhere in me, there is a reasonably focused person. The trick is now coaxing her out on a regular basis. (When I described this whole thing to a coworker, she asked if I had ever been tested for ADD. I pointed out that when attempting a preferred task, such as sewing, I can work for up to 5 hours straight. These were literally my words. This is how I find myself talking now that I work with special ed students. Oh, life as a neurotypical- another new favorite word). My hope is by hitting the hour+ mark everyday, I can focus on shaving down the time it takes to get to that hour and/or stay focused for longer.

Today's other accomplishments:

• Made the bed
• Read a book
• Did my homework
• Prepped tomorrow's meals
• Prepped the coffee pot
• Watched a Ted Talk
• Flossed my teeth
• Put on makeup
• Worked on Wedding stuff
• Cleared off my futon
• Cleaned the corner of my room
• Checked my bank balance
• Took a walk