What Would Help You Get Started (and Stay There)

You sit down to get some schoolwork done. One thing looks easy. One will take a while. You are not sure what another question is asking. And you have to decide where to start. What do you do next?

Different problems need different strategies. Some help you start. Others help you organize, get unstuck or improve what you are doing. The goal is to build up enough useful strategies that you start thinking, I've been here before. I have something I could try. Why bother? Because the sooner you get unstuck and the less time you waste, the more time you have left to do whatever you want with it.

Is Something Following You Around?

There is something you need to do. You also really do not feel like doing it. So you do something else first. Then something else. Unfortunately, the unfinished thing follows you around anyway. There is a wonderfully strange strategy for this: Eat the Frog. Your “frog” is an important thing you have been avoiding. Instead of spending the day finding new ways not to do it, deal with your frog. No actual frogs are involved. (They are relieved.)

Try it: Find one small thing you have been avoiding. Decide on the first move and do it. That thing was following you around. You dealt with it.

Link: Why does doing the frog matter?

What Actually Needs My Attention First?

Most times your frog should be first on the plate. Sometimes something else needs your attention more because it has to be done tomorrow. Priorities help you decide what deserves your attention first. Look at three things you need to do. What needs attention soon? What matters most? Does something need to happen before something else can happen? Choose what comes first and explain why. A good decision now can save you from sorting out a bigger mess later.

Link: Is the hardest thing always the priority?

Where Did My Time Go?

You think something will take ten minutes. Twenty-five minutes later, you are still working on it. There goes the time you thought you had for something else. Try predicting how long a small piece of work will take, then time it. Were you close? You aren't trying to become a human stopwatch. You are learning how long things actually take so your next plan is better. Fewer surprises from schoolwork means more control over the rest of your time.

Link: Why are we sometimes terrible at guessing time?

Let Something Else Do the Remembering

Instructions are in one place. Something unfinished is somewhere else. There is something you need tomorrow. Trying to hold everything in your head is not much of an organization system. Use a folder, calendar, checklist or another system that works for you. Your challenge isn't to remember everything. It is to make sure Future You can find it. Less hunting and restarting means more time actually getting things done.

Link: Why doesn't your brain need to remember everything?

“I Don't Get It.” Now What?

“I don't get it” tells you there is a problem. It doesn't tell you what to do next. Pull it apart: What do I know? What am I missing? What could I ask? Who or what could help? Find something you don't understand and turn the confusing part into a question someone could actually answer. You haven't solved everything, but you created a next move. The faster you find why you're stuck, the sooner you can do something about it.

Link: How do you turn a giant ? into a useful question?

Feedback: Now Do Something With It

Feedback isn't just someone telling you what was wrong. It is information you can use to make your next attempt better. Try something, get one useful piece of feedback, change something and try again. What changed? Did your next attempt improve? More importantly, could you use what you learned on a similar problem later? Useful feedback keeps you from repeating the same attempt and hoping for a different result.

Link: What makes feedback actually useful?

What Will You Try Next Time?

You now have several ways to help yourself learn. There are others too. Routines make starting more familiar. Reflection helps you notice what worked so you don't have to discover it all over again. Sometimes your first strategy works and sometimes it doesn't. Try something. Notice what happened. Keep it, change it or try something else. When the result is good enough, move on.

That is the point of building your own collection of strategies. When something gets in your way, you have a better chance of thinking, I've been here before. I have something I could try. Less time stuck and less time wasted means more of your time left for whatever you want to do with it.

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