# Anxiety while doing school work



## rb27 (Jul 17, 2005)

So I was on Spring Break this past week and I really wanted to start doing some reasearch for a paper that's due in about two and a half weeks. Yet, every time I thought about getting started, I convinced myself not to. So here it is, Sunday, and I haven't done squat. I don't think it's laziness, at least not all of it. Trust me, I'd love to start doing something on it because it's on my mind and I feel anxious when I think about how much time I've wasted. It's just that when I start I get, I dunno, anxious about it. Like I dread doing the work and I'm afraid I'll realize that something's wrong and I won't be able to finish the thing. The same thing happens with tests. I put off studying because I'm afraid I won't understand the material. Does that make any sense? I guess it's like my procrastination causes me anxiety, which forces me to procrastinate even more. Does this happen to anyone else?


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## adordan (Oct 15, 2005)

I'm the perfectionist that never starts. The key thing that will help you get through these assignments is just to start reading and writing. It doesn't have to be crash hot, you just need to make a START. Try to forget your standards, and work on getting some material that you can commence with. It gets much easier once you have something that can be built on and improved. Plus, it gives you a lot more time to think about the changes and final touches that need to be made for a well written assignment, without having the anxiety of finishing on time.


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## rb27 (Jul 17, 2005)

adordan said:


> It doesn't have to be crash hot, you just need to make a START. Try to forget your standards, and work on getting some material that you can commence with. It gets much easier once you have something that can be built on and improved.


That's very true.


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## rb27 (Jul 17, 2005)

Kalima said:


> I just saw their procrastination as something they had control over and could stop at any time while I saw mine as something I couldn't control bc I was always of afraid of trying to do the work and failing anyway. So I'd wait till last min to do assignments and study for exams.


Yeah, that's exactly it. I don't have such a hard time with reading assignments, but anything like a test or a paper, where I'm going to be directly evaluated on, really gets to me.


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