I don't know who that guy is so I may be missing out on the joke here :P

It's from That 70s show. Not a bad show, if I remember correctly, it's been awhile since I've watched it.


^Relevant


Hey, does anyone have any good anti-procrastination tips. I could use some right now, if you couldn't tell. :P

FuzzyLobster wrote:Hey, does anyone have any good anti-procrastination tips. I could use some right now, if you couldn't tell. :P

Yes. Get on with your work.

It's often helpful to set aside a period of time for work with as few distractions as possible. This means turning the internet off if you can do the work in question without it, for example. (Archive some relevant reference material first if necessary.) Make the time periods short enough you can concentrate through the whole thing, but long enough that you can get properly stuck into something. When you're not in a work period, try not to worry/think about what you're supposed to be getting done too much. Implementing a strict work/slacking off time split has been the single best thing I ever did for my productivity levels.
Also, reward yourself for getting stuff done. A piece of chocolate for every hundred words of essay written; a trip to the cinema for getting a big project done; etc.

Sentynel wrote:

FuzzyLobster wrote:Hey, does anyone have any good anti-procrastination tips. I could use some right now, if you couldn't tell. :P

Yes. Get on with your work.

It's often helpful to set aside a period of time for work with as few distractions as possible. This means turning the internet off if you can do the work in question without it, for example. (Archive some relevant reference material first if necessary.) Make the time periods short enough you can concentrate through the whole thing, but long enough that you can get properly stuck into something. When you're not in a work period, try not to worry/think about what you're supposed to be getting done too much. Implementing a strict work/slacking off time split has been the single best thing I ever did for my productivity levels.
Also, reward yourself for getting stuff done. A piece of chocolate for every hundred words of essay written; a trip to the cinema for getting a big project done; etc.

Small goals that I know I can reach in a short period of time is very good for me.

Nero wrote:

Sentynel wrote:

FuzzyLobster wrote:Hey, does anyone have any good anti-procrastination tips. I could use some right now, if you couldn't tell. :P

Yes. Get on with your work.

It's often helpful to set aside a period of time for work with as few distractions as possible. This means turning the internet off if you can do the work in question without it, for example. (Archive some relevant reference material first if necessary.) Make the time periods short enough you can concentrate through the whole thing, but long enough that you can get properly stuck into something. When you're not in a work period, try not to worry/think about what you're supposed to be getting done too much. Implementing a strict work/slacking off time split has been the single best thing I ever did for my productivity levels.
Also, reward yourself for getting stuff done. A piece of chocolate for every hundred words of essay written; a trip to the cinema for getting a big project done; etc.

Small goals that I know I can reach in a short period of time is very good for me.

I agree with all of the above. Doing all of the work that doesn't require a computer first usually helps since the internet won't be on in front of you as a distraction. Alternating between tasks that you like and tasks you can't be bothered with works well too. I usually keep the two pieces of work I most want/like to do at the beginning and end of my to-do list, so I start off on a good note and I'm motivated to finish everything else to get to the nice task at the end.

Well, thanks guys. I've been sick so I need to do some fast catching up, this should help.

As for the avoiding distracting websites, this app is pretty awesome http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/ (even if I did figure out how to get past it in about a day).

FuzzyLobster wrote:Well, thanks guys. I've been sick so I need to do some fast catching up, this should help.

As for the avoiding distracting websites, this app is pretty awesome http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/ (even if I did figure out how to get past it in about a day).

Yeah, the problem with technical measures is that ultimately you can undo whatever they do, or they wouldn't be able to let you back on after the time's up. Some self-control is always going to be required.
Once you start to get into a routine it gets a lot easier. It's breaking the initial procrastination spiral that's the problem.

Reviving this thread to be self-centered... sorry about that but I wouldn't mind some non-judgemental advice (I've cross-posted to Facebook and I just know I'm going to get torn to shreds by my family on this). Don't in any way feel obligated to read the whole thing though, I feel like this is a bit of an imposition as it is.



I'm considering dropping out of university.

I think I like the idea of being a scientist more than what studying science in a formal setting actually entails. I quite enjoy learning about new ideas, but when it comes to reading scientific papers and textbooks, doing math problems and writing essays, I just don't find it to be enjoyable anymore. Not to mention having to learn all about the theory and almost nothing of the practice isn't working for me. This combined with the fact that I have many issues with the university system as a whole makes me think that it may be time to move on.

This compared to drawing and making things, which I love doing even if I'm not as good at it as, say, writing. I've spent the majority of my life in school, and - don't get me wrong - I'm good at it, but it would be wonderful if I could go out and get some real world experience for a change.

I keep trying to convince myself to stay, but I am at the point where I have realized that it is probably more for the friendships and support I've built up at my school, the general atmosphere, and the expectations that have been placed upon me, than it is the actual process of learning in a university setting. There is also the issue of time and money already spent (and my apologies to those of you who have helped me so much so far), however spending more doing something I'm not sure I want to do anymore could be an even bigger waste.

The problem is where to go next. There are several college programs that sound very promising, not to mention the fact that they might be more along the lines of what I want to do with my life. However it will be six months to a year before I can enter any of these programs. My only option until then would be to try my hardest to fight my longstanding social anxieties and find a full time job.

I've still got a few days to make my final decision, and any polite advice (for those of you who have made it this far, my thanks) is welcome.

How much time is left of your degree? A year? Three?

A little background on me first, because I'm not sure how much you know:

I have a physics degree. It's not a particularly great one - my exam scores weren't very good. I detested 90% of university. I hated breaking my hand on three pages of maths and getting the answer wrong due to a dropped minus sign on the first page, when I could just have stuck it into Mathematica and got the right answer in a few seconds. I couldn't stand pointless rote memorisation of equations and derivations, but they were required to pass the exams because it was too difficult to test any actual understanding of the material. I hated lecturers who didn't want to or couldn't teach and just spent an hour spamming equations onto the board, and I hated tutors who didn't want to be there and got frustrated when we didn't understand things.

I loved the one or two lecturers we had who wanted to teach and were good at it - who made the lectures interesting and clear. I loved the tutor who grumbled about the theory-heavy course with us and did her best to make it relevant and help us understand; I loved the tutor who could make any concept clear in a few words. Most of all, I loved labs - spending a couple of days fiddling with some apparatus, taking notes, and figuring out what was going on; or coding something and swearing at the output and tweaking things and researching and getting it working; or the time we built a simple computer from logic gates.

But these weren't enough - labs were such a small component of the course, the good teachers few and far between - and I got a rubbish mark. And it would have been difficult to talk my way onto a postgrad course with that mark, and I wasn't sure I could face more university anyway. So I left the field, and I have a job I adore (mostly) in computing now.

But here's the thing - being an actual practical scientist is nothing like the training for it. (Which is part of why I hated the training so much.) Any sane practical scientist sticks their damn maths into Mathematica if they want to get a useful result; if they need a formula they look it up. You get to do the lab stuff and pore over data and try and work out what's going on, and all the fun, interesting bits that don't happen much on the course.

Of course, it comes with its own problems too - funding issues and crappy pay and lots and lots of things straight-up not working.

So here's the question: can you get through however long is left of your course, and well enough to get a decent mark at the end, and put up with the negatives of being a scientist afterwards? Because if you can, it'll be pretty great. But if you can't, well, I sure don't blame you. Join the club. And don't be afraid to give up on something that's not going to work out - better to cut your losses and get out while you can.

As for where to go next, well, that's a harder question. I taught myself most of what I needed to get this job, and then it was just a case of convincing them I actually knew it despite not having a piece of paper. And it still took me about six months to find it after finishing uni. I don't know what I'd have done without being able to do that. Can you put up with a retail job or something for a few months until starting a new course? Do you have skills that could get you a better job?

interesting...
I plan on becoming a scientist (I'm currently in highschool), or a lawyer, or... nevermind.

I hope the training really isn't that nightmarish as you describe it because that would be a real shame :-/

evillaugh wrote:I hope the training really isn't that nightmarish as you describe it because that would be a real shame :-/

What Sent said is pretty much standard throughout Western education (i.e. Canada, US, Britain for certain)

It's not fun, for sure, but depending on what type of person you are, it could be hell or alright. Some people, especially in my old high school, were used to the rote and the marks and the dealing with the system.

I know for certain that the education and the actual research is so different, and the latter so much better. And interesting. Read journals, or if you're not used to that yet, read basic descriptions of older experiments. Pretty cool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershey-Chase_experiment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millikan_o ... experiment

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@Sent I dunno what high school was like for you but I'm pretty used to it to that lifestyle after 4 years, even if I detest it more than other people.

Nero wrote:@Sent I dunno what high school was like for you but I'm pretty used to it to that lifestyle after 4 years, even if I detest it more than other people.

High school was a cakewalk. There was hardly anything to memorise and the questions were easy. A couple of lines of maths at worst. It wasn't very interesting, but it also didn't require much effort or take much time. Uni isn't like that. Granted, I went to a particularly tough uni, but I worked my ass off for a long time to scrape by with the marks I got.

Fuzzy, can you get an internship or coop or something at your university? If so, I would suggest sticking it out for the networking and experience opportunities.

Also, check if you can get transfer credits to a different university or college. You might get a couple general courses depending on where you apply.

Edit: Fuzz go to your uni tomorrow and talk an academic advisor to find out what your options are and please don't drop out without a solid backup plan!

Thanks for all of the input guys! I've gotten some great responses (even from my family which was... unexpected. Although my mother is still threatening to move out of the house if I go through with it) and they've definitely helped me calm down a bit and work things out. Everyone sharing their personal experiences with school has helped reinforced the idea that even if I don't do things the way convention tries to dictate I should (high school --> university ---> job "it will work out and if it doesn't there's something wrong with you") I'll probably be fine.

Sentynel wrote:But here's the thing - being an actual practical scientist is nothing like the training for it. (Which is part of why I hated the training so much.)

That's nice to know, especially since some of the college programs I'm looking at are still very science-oriented but with more of a practical basis. Still, it annoys me to no end that universities still operate the way they do (and if I have to hear that nonsense about critical thinking skills one more time I think I'm going to break something).

To be honest, even though I quite like doing labs, and would love the idea of some sort of job that allows me to work outside more than I currently do through field research, I'm not sure how thrilled I am with doing straight research for the rest of my life (for one, it seems to me like many scientists are stuck researching one small idea and all of its associated details). I realized fairly early on that I was more attracted to the idea of being involved with some form of science communication (my thoughts kept drifting to a graduate degree in law or journalism afterwards); especially after seeing just how many people don't understand basic scientific concepts (Todd Akin, anyone?). Hell, I wrote an entire anthro essay on it.

Eventually I decided that I wanted to try for becoming a scientific illustrator (requires a masters), I've just not been enjoying the work it actually takes to get a science degree. I could switch into an art program and still be able to apply, but the ones in my city are (IMO) awful. Not to mention most scientific illustrators never get full-time work in that field.
I keep trying to just push through it (I feel like I'm just not trying hard enough, that I'm just giving up because it's not as easy as I expected) but the near-nervous breakdowns I keep having make me think that maybe it's time to consider other options. I still love learning the concepts for fun, but fortunately I live in a time where so much of that is available for free online (thank you, iTunes U), so paying for something that is merely for my own personal interest is probably a bad idea when I can earn some practical experience in college instead.

Sentynel wrote:I taught myself most of what I needed to get this job, and then it was just a case of convincing them I actually knew it despite not having a piece of paper

I can't help but think that I might end up doing something like that; working on what I really enjoy on my own time and hoping it pays off, meanwhile studying something that's more like to get me a job that I can pay bills with.

I've actually been doing some design work for a group that is making supplemental physics education videos for a class (no one actually understands what the instructor is saying half of the time) at my university. I can always continue doing that on my own time while doing a college program that can help me get a realistic job.

Nero wrote:It's not fun, for sure, but depending on what type of person you are, it could be hell or alright. Some people, especially in my old high school, were used to the rote and the marks and the dealing with the system.

See, I used to be really good at that sort of thing. Then after graduating I wasn't sure about going into post-secondary yet so I decided to enter this specialized high school art program (for students who had already graduated, it's a little hard to explain). In that program I had a lot of freedom to study/create what I wanted to, while still having to do a lot of work. Unfortuantely it kind of threw me off in that (although I still took chemistry and calculus in night school) when going back to a program with a very rigid structure and very theory-based work it was a lot more difficult. I've realized that I really miss actually going out and getting my hands dirty, so in that respect I feel like college might be a better fit.

Further note about the art program: what started out as 'just for fun' turned into the best two years of my life. Unfortunately the only art jobs I could imagine myself doing were animation or illustration, and 1. I can't actually afford any of the programs worth going into because they're out of the city 2. I can't help but feel guilty (perhaps irrationally, but I did spend much of high school thinking I was going to become an environmental activist) about choosing something "silly" to do with the rest of my life. 3. From what I have heard working as an animator essentially becomes 80% of your life and I'm not sure if I can commit to that. With a ton of bank loans, a lot of dedication, and some luck I could make it but if I crash and burn I crash and burn badly.

Luciene wrote: Fuzzy, can you get an internship or coop or something at your university? If so, I would suggest sticking it out for the networking and experience opportunities.

Yes actually, there's a science internship program that looked really great; but I was a little intimidated by the fact that even the people who were getting jobs with, for example, Environment Canada were in more hard science programs. And for my other major (archaeology) there are field work programs, but they're very expensive.
Unfortunately, I haven't taken high school or first year Physics, and I didn't take first year Calculus (scholarship issues), so that also limits what science courses I am able to take (I'm in environmental science, which turns out to be very interdisciplinary at UWO so I have to take a lot of more social-science based courses).

Luciene wrote:Edit: Fuzz go to your uni tomorrow and talk an academic advisor to find out what your options are and please don't drop out without a solid backup plan!

I live a litte far away for that, but I've called counsellors at both the college and university and they've been extremely helpful.

It turns out that it's actually not too late for me to apply at the local college starting in September which takes a lot of the pressure off. The program I'm most interested in is an urban planning/landscape architecture interdisciplinary thing, it might be good for me in that I can combine design with some sort of practical purpose. Also, 4 co-op work terms! And it's a Bachelor's degree as well. In the meantime I've applied to take a leave of absense from my uni program for a year.

Oh, and good luck, evilaugh!



Edit: Wow it would appear I am unable to say anything without a wall of text. Sorry. :P

I've seen a lot of municipal jobs for that sort of thing. Make sure you get experience with budgeting 'cos its essential if you want to move up to management level. Also knowledge of GIS might help I think.

@Fuzzy: You made the right choice. :)

Wow, I've never come across this thread before now :O

I'm going to apply for university (will be going for bachelorers degree in international business), next year when I'm done with high school ^o)

Not strictly academics but here goes my experience with an American:

American lady at bus stop: Where are you from?
Me: India
Her: *confused look*
After a few seconds, her face clears
Her: Do you not have a famous town there starting with D?
Since there is no well known town in India starting with D, I assumed she thought Delhi (the capital) was a town.
Me: Do you mean Delhi?
Her: No, something else. With the very huge sky scraper?
Me (incredulously): Do you mean Dubai?
Her: Yes, yes. Dubai is in India right?

Seriously??

On a real academic note: http://newindianexpress.com/cities/hyde ... 741291.ece
^ I was involved in the very final parts of the project and I got some of those results. :)

^ What part of America were you in? =p

To be fair though, it's not just Americans who would likely be ignorant of India and her geography (among other things).

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Also, those results are really interesting. Why do you think it is that specifically Indians have the genetic mutations and not other races?