Official : Post Daily Routine & Self Assessment (Mains 2020)

whatonlysaid

missionmangalsaid

Still in post-prelims inertia, unable to start anything. Had set a schedule since 13th but unable to keep up with sheer volume of work to be done. Don’t know how you guys are managing. Posting my first schedule today:

world history notes- 3 hrs

post independence consolidation- 3hrs

awfg- 1 hr

lets hope things pan out well today. Hoping to get much needed momentum going.

my question to you guys is how you’re keeping yourself self motivated and avoiding procrastination during the day. Thanks

That inertia is a horrible cycle... been having bouts since last year but with decreasing frequency and duration. Some things that help me avoid it:

1. Work WITH yourself, not against yourself. Find the balance between forcing yourself to do something you don’t want to, and humouring yourself. Figure out distinct moods you experience and what kind of topic works best with each. You might find a pattern. You can then arrange items from your daily list accordingly. For example, I realised that I can’t get into anything with a lot of depth first thing in the morning. After I have one quick tick on my whiteboard from an easier topic, I am energised to get into something that’ll take a few hours. So I started doing discrete ethics topics first thing in the morning, followed by a good long optional sesh. After lunch to avoid the break extending into the next session, I make the next session short so I’m under pressure. If my plan says “03.00 to 04.00” with a small topic instead of “03.00 to 06.00” with a big one, I’m more likely to sit down to work at 3pm since the heat is on. It’s like a project where you’re both the manager and the only team member. So you have to understand how your mind works and manipulate/direct it into working.

2. See if making shorter slots works for you. And don’t be too ambitious! I usually give myself 10-15 minutes more for a topic than I think I’ll take, so I get a feeling of accomplishment when I have 10 minutes left - I’m writing this on a break like that(“Fake it till you make it”) . The time you lose in these short breaks will be much less than the massive chunk of time you lose if you’re not feeling motivated and energised.

3. Sit down for as long as it takes and write down every little bit of work that has to be done. Every single nook and corner of the overwhelming labyrinth in front of you. Then organise it into parts that make sense to you. Write down dates for the next couple of weeks. Figure out how much and what needs to be done for each. Write that down beside the date. Be honest with how much you can do in one day - this is crucial. Now step back and look at that beauty of a plan. That’s your torchlight. You just have to keep moving forward, one day at a time. Worry only about one day. If you fail to finish 100% of one day, try to adjust it in the next two. If you fail at 3 days, the pressure will show up again. Either your targets were too high or your daily time clocked too low. Honestly identify which. Make the plan again. You’ll find that you are getting closer to realising the plan with every iteration as you get used to it. Sooner or later you’ll be finishing it exactly down to the last minute. It’s a beautiful feeling. Just gotta hang in there until you reach it!

4. Make your reward proportionate to and conditional on the work put in. If I’ve successfully finished my morning session targets I happily watch an episode of Bandish Bandits over lunch. If I haven’t then I finish lunch quickly and try to make up for at least some of the time lost (so I watch quick B99 excerpts :p)

5. Figure out one area in the whole syllabus that always has your back. That you’ll feel like doing even when you don’t want to do anything else. This is your best friend who’ll never let you down. Use it when you can’t do anything else but also don’t want to give up. At the very least you won’t have wasted time.

6. Talk to people when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes it’s good to be reminded that the world will still go on even if you finish only 30 pages instead of 50. Usually talking to friends/family - people who seem strangely normal to me because they’re not obsessing over a whiteboard - hits a reset button in my head. Studying becomes much easier once the feeling of being overwhelmed passes. 

7. If the day refuses to pick up no matter what you do, ruthlessly kill it. I just go to bed. Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it... yet. (A quote khaas from my favourite childhood book). An early start the next day plus the guilt of the previous day usually makes it a much more productive one. 

You’re certainly not alone in feeling this way. All the above worked for me, it may not for you. But you can figure out things like this that do. After all there’s no wrong way to study as long as you end up learning. Good luck and thank you for reading if you lasted this long :)

HotBloodPrincesaid

missionmangalsaid

Still in post-prelims inertia, unable to start anything. Had set a schedule since 13th but unable to keep up with sheer volume of work to be done. Don’t know how you guys are managing. Posting my first schedule today:

world history notes- 3 hrs

post independence consolidation- 3hrs

awfg- 1 hr

lets hope things pan out well today. Hoping to get much needed momentum going.

my question to you guys is how you’re keeping yourself self motivated and avoiding procrastination during the day. Thanks

Don't get overwhelmed by the amount of work. Just do things one by one, but maintain the overall balance of syllabus portions. First para me sheer vol of work likha hai aur last para me procrastination ka zikr hai. They are self contradictory, nahi?. Stress me lagte ho.

One one item of syllabus coming, stress going. Next point of syll coming, further stress going. Simple hai yar. :)

joy and enthusiasm amongst the combatants at all time is a strong indication of victorious side.

P.s. ye joy vali baat vaise toh mahabharat me bhishma yudhishthir ko kehte hai, lekin maine whatsapp pe padhi thi. 😋😁