It's happening again

Stinicker

A brief background of me, I dropped out of Secondary School in first year at 14. I simply hated to write and taking down notes were the bane of my short existence there. Also having to do homework in the evenings drove me up the walls and I would often refuse to do it leading to conflicts with teachers and me falling behind in studies.

4 years ago I enrolled in a Community College Business PLC course and within 3 days I had given up and gave up the course then. I simply cannot concentrate on things which are not interesting to me. I know it sounds weird but all my life I have been this way and whilst I am very intelligent I tend to learn on my own from books and nowadays the internet. I have learned tonnes of stuff off this website for instance.

As I have no education I decided this year to try and face up to my demons and got enrolled in a FAS course in a subject I have a good enough interest in and started the course last week. Whilst the first few days were all fun and games and getting to know each other this week has seen a knuckling down and already I am disinterested, bored and just fed up, I can't follow the course and do not study, I cannot do study and I rarely did homework in school either. I have to totally separate my personal life from college and I refuse to let one interfere with the other. I am pretty sure at this stage I have some sort of latent learning disability because I cannot concentrate of some things no matter how hard I try and if I am interested in the matter I take to it like a fish to water and totally get it.

I am seriously thinking of dropping out of this course already and I will be back to square one again it seems.

Cavehill Red

The first thing you need to do is change the record. By that I mean, stop telling yourself that there is something innate within you that cannot study. Thinking in a rigorous and focused manner isn't fun, though it can be immensely rewarding, and finding it difficult to knuckle down affects everyone, especially those like you without a habit of doing so.
Once you can accept that it won't be the same as just unfocused surfing the net for things that momentarily attract your interest, then you can look at what prevents you from doing the work. Do you get easily distracted? Are there circumstances in which you find it easier to read and work? I like to study late at night, when there is no noise or distractions, for example. I find I focus better. Others find going to a library or dedicated place to study is useful.
Finally, if you think this might be a genuine medical issue (dyslexia, or ADHD, for example) perhaps consider seeing your GP and getting a referral for testing.
Whatever you do, don't drop out yet. Challenge yourself to see it through to Christmas. That's not that far away. If you can make it that far, then you can challenge yourself again to make it through another six weeks. If you make it to then, you can challenge yourself to make it to the end of the year.
Bottom line is you can do this, with support from friends, teachers and if necessary medics. Give yourself this chance. Don't rob yourself again.

Teyla Emmagan

Studying is a skill, you have to learn how to do it. It's often boring and tedious, but when you get the knack (and you've obviously never learnt it) it will come easy enough. Note taking is the same. Of course it's going to be hard for you if you've never done mastered either before (which will also make it more likely that you'll repeat the pattern and drop out when you lose faith in yourself).

I don't know much about the support structures in FAS courses, but are is there someone in there that helps people who struggle with the studying side of things? Surely they are used to people like yourself who have no formal education? I have never heard of a learning disability that would be so specific in terms of not 'letting' you learn things you aren't interested in. You have to focus on the end goal, there are parts in any course that people will take to and find easy and other parts they will struggle with. Normally the overall marks will pull you up if you're weak in one area.

You should stick with it, and get over this for once and for all. You've already made the decision to go back, there is no point now you've got this far letting yourself be overwhelmed by old patterns without a fight. Of course you can do it, it's just a case of finding the tools you need to get over the early hurdles. If you stick with it, you will be fine in a few weeks. But if you drop out again you'll only end up kicking yourself and it will reinforce your lack of self belief in this area. Speak to someone.

Cavehill Red

What Teyla said. Seek help everywhere you can. Maybe read a book on study techniques. Set yourself targets (I will study X hours this week) and reward yourself when you attain them (Yay! I did X hours of study this week - off to the cinema I go!)
You need to create your motivations to study and you can use both carrot and stick. Example of carrot - imagine being given your certificate when you finish your course. Example of stick - imagine being here this time next year, wondering what it might have been like if you'd completed your studies.

Jeninfer123

trouble focusing and lack of motivation or losing interest quickly could be an indication of Adhd .