Hard Work!!!

[sandy]

I find it to be very difficult to be a normal student. My mind often jumps here and there. I end up getting distracted and addicted quite easily to distrctions. Is it a common sorrow for all INTP or only me.

I scored a B grade in all my exams this time, although I am usually the topper. And nowadays working hard seems to be a distinct dream.

Inspite of all the bad remarks I am getting i feel calm and composed? Is it normal or abnormal??

Can anyone please help me through this problem?

 

[Tannhauser]

I went through 3 stages as a student:
1: Lazy, unfocused and only seldom engaged in the material except right before deadlines
2: Soldier-like approach to learning, "working hard", machine-like treatment of the curriculum
3: An almost meditative approach -- for the most part just contemplating over concepts, never working long hours, disregarding boring stuff, working "hard" only when it came naturally, mostly thinking about stuff while sitting in coffee shops and taking walks.

First one worked only during undergraduate years when things were relatively easy. Didn't learn much and forgot almost everything. Second one worked for getting OK grades but did never really give me a good understanding of the concepts. Third one was the only one that really worked and was the only one that yielded an actual insight into things.

I also knew some students who were highly "successful" at exams by going at the curriculum like machines. These are usually the ones who are the most clueless when you ask them to apply their knowledge outside exams.

 

[Alias]

I seemed to be able to pull myself together and do a lot of work, but I'm not sure how.

Just don't give up. If you think that anything is completely useless, remember that it's suppoxed to be. These problems are meant to be harder and less useful than real life, and they train and prepare you. It's kind of like resistance bands, or punching a tree. If you want I can link a video that explains what I mean, just ask. It's directed more to high school, but it still works for college.

 

[FlorisV]

I find it to be very difficult to be a normal student. My mind often jumps here and there. I end up getting distracted and addicted quite easily to distrctions. Is it a common sorrow for all INTP or only me.

I scored a B grade in all my exams this time, although I am usually the topper. And nowadays working hard seems to be a distinct dream.

Inspite of all the bad remarks I am getting i feel calm and composed? Is it normal or abnormal??

Can anyone please help me through this problem?

In preparing for my high school exams I was on my lifetime top of mental abilities. No classes in those months and I studied 6 hours a day, in blocks of 1,5 hours. The first would be followed by lunch. The second by physical exercise. The third by supper. The 4th by watching snooker on tv. I had bought great summaries with enough tests to practice on.

We've always had this policy at home, created by my dad, for me and my brother, to videotape all that we wanted to see on tv and watch it on friday or saturday. Worked for us. Now it's even harder with emails, social media...perhaps there is a simple way to block or limit your internet access on those days where you need to study.

So what helped me was structure, efficiency and calmness. Distractions were planned between the hard work, which was not so hard because I had a pretty clear mind and almost everything was repeating stuff I had already learned once. Not that I would remember everything it's always been temporal.

The mind jumping all sorts of places, I know what it's like. A really, really calm environment helps because you're thinking all the time and now, at least there's less stuff to analyze. Mindfulness training really helps if you do it daily and seriously.
Don't be harsh on yourself if your mind wanders off, won't be the last time in your INTP life...;-). It's only human and mindfulness teaches to let those thoughts be but also distance yourself from them and see them for what they are (temporal, fleeting).

Don't forget physical exercise. It is good for the brain (better blood and oxygen flow). Tai chi can also make you more focused.

You are being labeled an underachiever, as I was. It kind of depends how much you're into a certain topic or class. I remember wanting to work harder for math.

Being an economical, calculating student means you study efficiently in the sense that you only do the barely necessary because (in my country) nobody really cares about the grades you got, not the universities and not the. I know this is different probably in the US? But it's not "wrong" unless it gets you into trouble. I want to post a more universal question about the INTP "ambition" because I am a slacker type.

 

[Sir Eus Lee]

My "School stages"
1. Pre k to 6th. I wasn't in tune with my surroundings, but I was smart enough to do well enough that that didn't matter. Basically just did the work I was supposed to and got good grades. Same old same old.
2.Middle school. Basically began to understand the outside world more, but still kind of out of it. Socially retarded still. I kind of ignored school, not like I didn't do it, I just never reevaluated my standing with it, just did work and got good grades. Basically 2 years of playing MTG at lunch with school as a side thing.
3. 8th, and high school. Perfected the art of minimal work while still getting As. I did the necessary stuff, nothing more. For example, i rarely studied, and was the top of my geometry class and had the highest grade on CP chemistry midterm. Also still pulled off an A for a history class ran by Satan. Began to be concerned with social aspects and slowly manufactured a persona over time, transitioning from a social weirdo to some combination of a class clown and a hermit, who everybody though was smart. 8&9 were the learning periods, 10th was a year I basically absconded from social situations and just played melee in one of the teacher's rooms at lunch. I finished all my homework in 3rd period in the second semester.
4. This year I'm typing this while I'm supposed to be doing work so you tell me. Although my social life has kind of flattened and now I'm kind of average and appear "normal" in social settings.

Basically school is just me riding by on minimal work and natural smarts. I can count on my hand the times I have studied, and on two the times I have revised a rough draft.

I'm not necessarily bragging about not studying, because my grade sometimes did take a hit for it.

 

[Nofriends]

Make yourself more competitive, if I am frustrated and want to outcompete people I pretend their faces are on the toilet paper...

You could also think of yourself as a power...
1. Draw a large circle
2. Have you and your competitors in the circle
3. The harder you work the more authority you establish, and the less competition there is.
4. Whenever you move places your authority stays with you, and you scare off or supersede less advanced humanoids.
5. Congrats, your hard work has paid off.

You could also think of fleeing hard work as losing the war and dying.
First thing in the morning you should be in a big rush to prepare for the day, and if you are not fast enough a sniper will shoot you in the head.
Once you start working hard, pretend that you will be killed if you are caught procrastinating or researching irrelevant things.

 

[Sinny91]

I went through 3 stages as a student:
1: Lazy, unfocused and only seldom engaged in the material except right before deadlines
2: Soldier-like approach to learning, "working hard", machine-like treatment of the curriculum
3: An almost meditative approach -- for the most part just contemplating over concepts, never working long hours, disregarding boring stuff, working "hard" only when it came naturally, mostly thinking about stuff while sitting in coffee shops and taking walks.

First one worked only during undergraduate years when things were relatively easy. Didn't learn much and forgot almost everything. Second one worked for getting OK grades but did never really give me a good understanding of the concepts. Third one was the only one that really worked and was the only one that yielded an actual insight into things.

I also knew some students who were highly "successful" at exams by going at the curriculum like machines. These are usually the ones who are the most clueless when you ask them to apply their knowledge outside exams.

That's useful, I've found the same.

 

[Intolerable]

Big dreamers are often hit the hardest with procrastination and indecisiveness. I too suffered from this for many of my formative years ( hence my late start ).

The reason for this is simple. Imagine your thoughts come with a price. Every thought costs you a little time and energy. Both of which are finite resources in a given day.

Because dreamers often have grandiose ideas occurring in their minds they spend a fortune of their day just imagining how things could be / what goals could be. This is the concept tax. This isn't the only tax though.

Recurring thoughts, that is reminders also come with a fee. This is the reminder tax. Over time unmet goals / dreams not realized start to accumulate at the forefront of our mind and tax us heavily. Our minds cannot cope normally with all these non-productive thoughts happening and so it simply shuts down until one or more of them are resolved.

So the story goes. Dreamers need to remind themselves that any thought too big to process, any goal too big to accomplish must first be broken down into manageable pieces. It sounds beneath you to do that but don't worry we've all thought that before.

Getting a birds eye view of the goal you're trying to accomplish isn't bad to start with. But you must not let it linger in your mind for too long. Define the basics of it and then write that down. Writing it to paper / disk defers it from your mind. It allows your mind to focus on other things now. You've accomplished one goal. Now you can start to break apart the basics of the goal into very small manageable pieces. Then, spend more time breaking those manageable pieces up further until your tasks are all very simple. This is by design to keep your mind from wandering.

One of the best things I learned about agile software development was how to manage big ideas this way. You can generally tell who the big dreamers are in the software industry by how large their code blocks are!

 

[Nebulous]

I find it to be very difficult to be a normal student. My mind often jumps here and there. I end up getting distracted and addicted quite easily to distrctions. Is it a common sorrow for all INTP or only me.

You're not alone.

I scored a B grade in all my exams this time, although I am usually the topper. And nowadays working hard seems to be a distinct dream.

Ah, the feeling of watching your grades descend; your classmates and peers accomplishing so much while you feel so helpless.. Telling yourself that, logically, you are not helpless; you just need to get yourself together and do your work. Everyone else does it; how hard can it be? But you don't get yourself together, your grades continue to descend, and you're not sure how to fix it. You read up on different study skills, but never get around to putting them to use...

Inspite of all the bad remarks I am getting i feel calm and composed? Is it normal or abnormal??

...and in spite of the aforementioned, you feel calm and composed. The only thing that manages to get you is thinking that you should feel worried, and wondering why you don't.

Can anyone please help me through this problem?

I second this question

 

[Aviator8]

Hang on, people aren't here to hear people who naturally succeeded, they need people who faced the same problems. *gestures to unseen lurkers who are failing for advice*
Come on, what about (only listing a few to have self restraint against dumping all my problems) the impression of over exertion in the classroom, general disinterest in life especially school, computerized homework, inability to think of homework as a product of my time and effort, mental refuse to do anything more than five minutes before it's due, inability to sleep when I need to, and innability to wake when I need to, perfectionism or else nihilism, obsessivivness, tangents and cotangents and cocococotangents, rebellion, benge researching(one of my worst tendencies), being a waste of time energy and space... Yet I still have a 3.0 as an average, however, if I had to rate my effort, >33%. More effort=more disinterest//upsetedness.

No help from those who know best as they have no crude entrails, only sympathetic pats on the head from those whose minds were in sync with were they needed to be.

 

[Architect]

Learning to focus and work hard is THE predominant problem that INTP's face. General advice? I'm not sure any exists. We all have to struggle with and defeat - or be defeated by, that daemon. The solution though isn't really defeating it, but merging with the problem, becoming it. It's the nature of the Hero's Journey really.

Taking one of Aviator8's points "general disinterest in life especially school," - well? What can anybody say that will give you an interest in life or school, if you won't do it yourself? Nothing ... it's a problem you have to solve yourself.

 

[Grayman]

Oh sounds like you do work hard and have good focus. You just haven't managed to direct that toward assigned tasks. Instead you obsessively focus on what interests you. Perhaps you just need to find ways to use what interests you toward the tasks you are assigned.

 

[Grayman]

I think an INTP who puts tight linear focus on a task will perform worse and learn less than an INTP who is more fluid in achieving their tasks. While we are slower and less efficient at first our innovation and expansive learning can make us a unique asset.

 

[lioness]

I've always worked in bursts of energy, so during college, that's when I worked. It worked for the most part. That, and I was a great last minute studier and test taker. I was terrible with writing papers though...


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