I am in the deep, deep throes of the massage therapy school equivalent of senioritis.

The rationalizations are so easy:

  • We’ve covered all the important stuff already; what we’re learning now is just frills.
  • I’ve been getting amazing grades this entire time.  If anything, I’ve been overstudying, and should cut back now.
  • We get to drop one test grade a quarter, so it might as well be this one.
  • Right now I’d be better of focusing on [something that doesn't involve studying].
  • What I’m doing now is much more important for my future career.,
  • I’m in a terrible mental place right now, and need to [do something else] in order to get myself ready to study.  Otherwise, I’ll never retain any of what I’m looking at, anyway.

Of course, 99% of the time, it’s all a bunch of crap.

The other 1% makes these excuses look terribly convincing, though.

The last one is especially pernicious.  Sometimes it’s true that I”m genuinely unable to function, and by taking a walk, making some tea, getting that check in the mail so that I know I’ll have electricity tomorrow, or patching up an argument with a friend, I can right myself enough to function.  Other times … I’m just happy with the track I’m on and don’t want to shift gears.

How do you tell the difference?

You study.

Just for 20 minutes, wholeheartedly, using whatever method comes easiest to you in that moment.

If after 20 minutes you still feel like a nervous wreck, by all means, go and get out of the house for an hour before trying again!

But if you’re like me, 99% of the time, you weren’t unable to study at all.  You just had a lot of inertia, and you objected to getting started.  But once you got on a roll … it wasn’t that bad.  It might even have felt pretty good to be productive!

I always have to remind myself of this fact.  I even have it written down: “Remember, you hate getting started more than you hate actually doing anything.  You’ll feel so much better once you’ve gotten down to it.”  I still forget.

Twenty minutes later, I have half of the dishes done, or walked a mile and a half, or reviewed the arteries of the upper limb, and my only regret is not having started an hour earlier.

How do you know when you’re really unable to study, and when you’re just weighted down by inertia?  How do you get past initial resistance? Please share!

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