Finishing Applied Physics Courses

[MasterD]

Joo,
I currently have to finish my last 7 courses (all 80 hour courses) in my own time of my Applied Physics Master's degree and I am procrastrinating the hell out of it, especially on a day when I feel a bit less energetic. Is the GTD method a good system to learn and to help me finish my courses?

The major issues I have are that I just don't start the day of right (I have to work on my courses... but hey, let's do this first) and if I do I tend to stop and do distracting things that don't help me finish it. I also tend to get overwhelmed when I see all the work ahead of me. What are some good methods I can use to force me to immediately start working on it, stay with it and not get overwhelmed so fast?

Thanks a lot for your view.
Dirk

[ScottL]

Mark Foster (Forster?) has a good article called:

"I'll just get the folder out"

which is useful for dealing with procrastination (assuming you really want to do it). I don't have the link offhand, but google should find him (he's british).

Also breaking the task down into smaller tasks e.g. task 1-first 5 hours of first course, etc. Reward yourself periodically when you've reached whatever goals you think e.g. 1/2 way through course 1, etc.

And since you can't work on it all the time, google structured procrastination and use the time you're not working on those to do other things that need doing.

[jmhutch]

Here is the article:

http://www.markforster.net/get-the-file-out/

Great stuff!

[Cpu_Modern]

I don't have the link offhand, but google should find him (he's british).

After reading his stuff you will just know he is british.

[MasterD]

Thanks guys,
The "I'll just get the file out" mentality is awesome. I'll remember that for the rest of my life.

Of course, it does not solve everything, but at least it will get me going (I can remember times I did it, and it worked) on days that I just do 'let's do this first things'.

Now bought Tony Robbins Time of Your Life/RPM system and got David Allen's book and I will make it a 90 day goal of me to take out the best parts of both systems and to integrate both systems into my life. That's one of the best combinations currently available, right?

Structured procrastrination seems useful to... now I have to find something to do that is 'more important' than working on my courses... I hope I soon get bored/overwhelmed with integrating the time/life management systems of Tony Robbins and David Allen....

[darlakbrown]

Thanks for sharing - I hadn't read that article.
Another tip, which essentially gets to the same point, that has helped me (from Meg at David Co telecoaching):

Ask yourself:

If I could do nothing else right now but work on X Project, what would I do?

Immediately, this helps clear your brain of all other distractions and the sense of overwhelm that comes from tackling such a huge project.

Also, it helps to remember that you don't do projects, you do next actions towards accomplishing the projects. You'll learn all about that as you read the book.

So yes, I think GTD can help you. But I would probably recommend tackling GTD first so that you can motivate your self on a more tactical level and just get some things done.

[dschaffner]

Dirk,

for more great information on beating procrastication, look here: http://www.43folders.com/2005/09/08/...ass-run-a-dash

- Don

[Brent]

GTD is a long-term solution to procrastination. I wouldn't recommend it for short-term problems.