THE TAILSPIN EFFECT - HURRY UP BEFORE IT BRINGS YOU DOWN
There is an effect I've noticed, which can occur at any point in your university career. It can start in the beginning of a semester (where it is easiest to notice) with a single course that is taken as a part of your curriculum, or a set.
What happens in a single semester looks something like the following:
1. For any number of different reasons, you start to get behind on your work at some point during the semester.
2. At first, it isn't really an issue, but then it begins to pile up.
3. You begin to have some anxiety about the amount of work that has piled up, or classes you may have missed, readings you haven't done, and become more and more anxious about how much work you have to do to catch up -- becoming MORE and MORE likely to procrastinate!
4. This increased likelihood of procrastination just makes it so amazingly difficult to get work done, that you complete assignments and study for exams, the FEAR motivating you to ONLY do work, often, at the VERY LAST MINUTE and thus your results turn out FAR worse than they could have been.
How This Plays Out Over Your University Career
For many degrees, missing key foundational knowledge in early parts of your career or semesters is likely to impact knowledge in later semesters and later years. I will always remember how classes I'd taken in accounting, economics, marketing, and/or finance were interconnected and would build on each other. At the very least it would require me to brush up on any concepts which hadn't been fully integrated previously during the next semester which would take more time and make the process of learning less efficient, compounding the issue.
The Problem At A Psychological Level: SELF IDENTITY / SELF-CONCEPT
A big reason it's important to deal with the problem sooner rather than later, is once procrastination / lack of getting the work done well or on time for ANY reason becomes a pattern over time, this becomes a part of the identity. The concept of "I am a procrastinator" or "I don't do a good job on my work," or, "I am irresponsible," or "I am my own worst enemy" can become a very challenging thing to change over time.
Many people in the space of self-help, NLP, & various coaching disciplines recognize the power of identity / self-concept / self-image as something which we will seem to automatically adhere to no matter what because it is deeply ingrained into the subconscious mind, which is why I help clients illuminate the stories & programming contained in the subconscious mind (connected to our identity) and change them. The sooner you can systematically engineer this change in your life, the sooner you can build momentum by beginning to identify as someone capable of making the necessary change and transformation; and further come into the identity of who you need to be to achieve the results you need to live the life you want.
But ultimately I know that it's got to be a choice you want to make if you've had it with the results you've been getting. Only you can decide that enough is enough and if you are a good fit, we can see if you're someone I can help by applying the techniques that have made such a difference in my life after having experienced these same problems years before. How I see myself now is night-and-day; allowing me to approach my work from a place of actual inner motivation I cultivated and aligned with systematically & strategically, making the process far easier than how I used to fight against myself through my university years.
That fighting against myself unconsciously, relying on constantly-draining willpower & inefficient use of force (the way most are advised to overcome these sorts of issues) wan un-necessary struggle I'd like to save as many people from as possible).
