It’s Technically Focusing if It Has 50% of My Attention
While class attendance can count for points in some classes, actually paying attention counts for something much more important than merely attendance. I call these “actually-understanding-the-concept points,” and to get these, you must attend the lecture both physically and mentally. I have no problem with physical attendance. Like most college students, I can wake up as early as 6 AM while performing midnight study sessions and only complain a little about being tired. My problem comes from actually being there mentally.
My mind is best described as one of those memory games. It starts out alright, and I’m asking myself important questions and taking detailed notes. Then, I enter a “focusing” period, where I focus so heavily on the concept at hand that everything else vanishes from existence itself. This is followed by the “burn-out” period, where suddenly I lose that focus and begin to wonder about aimless things.
Did I submit my timesheet? Is there some kind of event scheduled on campus today? Do I have enough time to complete all my homework today? …Then, it hits me right in the face. I’m supposed to be solving for X right now, not trying to plan out my entire week! I once again focus… and the same exact thing happens.
My theorized source of this problem is something that plagues everywhere in this day and age, stress. I just want to accomplish it all as soon as I can that my brain can’t seem to grasp the concept of a “tomorrow” problem or even an “in-an-hour-10-minutes-and-23-seconds-from-now” problem.
Top-down design is easily one of my favorite problem-solving methods, but it certainly becomes daunting when there are so many small tasks necessary to succeed. As midterms approach like a video game final boss, I hope to come up with new strategies to battle my classwork… and also focus.
