Mental Fatigue

Hello all,

Currently attending WGU and working full time as a carpenter during the day and I get a lot of mental fatigue. About an hour into studying at night and I become exhausted.

Anyone else struggle with this and what strategies do you employee aside from coffee and brut strength?

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Nutsy

Once you are through your first semester, or couple of classes, you will know the pace you need to set for yourself to be successful. Thus, once you can say that a class usually takes about X amount of your time, you can develop your work/study schedule. This helps because you won't be worrying about needing to studying. My guess is that feeds into some of your mental fatigue. (At least it does for me.) Also, when you are at work, or off, and not doing coursework, you can mentally shutoff thinking about school, and enjoy the moment.

techfiend

Are you studying interesting subjects? That was key for me at first, coming in with A+ and studied net+ followed immediately by sec+. I had to find the right time to study uninteresting courses and knocked them out quickly.

boxerboy1168

techfiend wrote: »

Are you studying interesting subjects? That was key for me at first, coming in with A+ and studied net+ followed immediately by sec+. I had to find the right time to study uninteresting courses and knocked them out quickly.

That's probably it I am taking the 902 again on the 27th. I fit in some cisco here and there because I'm tentatively starting a networking job in a few months but these CompTIA exams are just brutal.

boxerboy1168

Nutsy wrote: »

Once you are through your first semester, or couple of classes, you will know the pace you need to set for yourself to be successful. Thus, once you can say that a class usually takes about X amount of your time, you can develop your work/study schedule. This helps because you won't be worrying about needing to studying. My guess is that feeds into some of your mental fatigue. (At least it does for me.) Also, when you are at work, or off, and not doing coursework, you can mentally shutoff thinking about school, and enjoy the moment.

I feel like I have so much to learn that it doesn't matter if I study 4 hours or 1 hour a day but I just gotta narrow the scope and stay focused but I have been studying for a year.

I have a tendency to over analyze myself so maybe I'm just being hyper critical and I'm actually progressing at a good pace.

--chris--

I DEFINITELY had this issue when I first started working on my BS. I was tackling homework after working all day and it was a grind most of the time.

I started waking up earlier and doing homework before work. I still grind through my days, but now at least I am doing the homework when I am fresh. The quality of my HW has gone up, grades improved, I don't dread it like I used to. I might not be as strong of a team member at work, but you have to prioritize your resources and I choose myself over my work.

Also taking breaks from school & work for a day or two (weekends) as needed and focusing on anything else can help. Physical exercise is great for recharging mental capacities. Family time, trips, reading non-tech books/fiction, binging netflix, whatever gets your brain disconnected from work & school can really help.

edit: That also means not visiting here, reddit/r/techwhatever, twitter, blogs, etc...

boxerboy1168

oh interesting... Hmm. Damn I hate waking up earlier but if it improves my ability to enter this career field then I guess I need to stop being a whiney ***** and handle it

--chris--

boxerboy1168 wrote: »

oh interesting... Hmm. Damn I hate waking up earlier but if it improves my ability to enter this career field then I guess I need to stop being a whiney ***** and handle it

Honestly, I was never a "morning person". But I transitioned and now am the worst type of morning person, the kind that's got more **** done by 9 am than most of the world.

Side effects include finding time to workout, completing all homework early, learning _____ (whatever you want because you now have time), more family time after work, less stress, etc....

It was the best change I made in my life. Some tips, if you are married/have a live in SO:
-Use some sort of silent alarm clock (I use my watch)
-Have your next mornings clothes put together, in different room so you can slip out without waking them
-Do 5-10 minutes of something physical first (get the blood moving), then have coffee/whatever then study

The first month is the hardest. Then you will notice you can't sleep in on the weekends. Then you will notice your annoyed when you do sleep in.

tech4lyfe

Rest. Rest is highly recommended, as you could be experiencing physical symptoms of burn out (which is a real medical condition). https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/high-octane-women/201311/the-tell-tale-signs-burnout-do-you-have-them

We all burn out at different rates, but if you over do it you could be damaging your studies. I'm feeling the same thing just studying for the CCNA Cyber Ops, which some may find laughable, but there's so much information that I'm becoming burnt out from it and I haven't been able to study for more than 30 minutes a day.

It's the same thing with physical exercise - if you exercise too hard you could strain a muscle. Studying should treated just as such. As others have said, make sure you exercise and eat right. Exercise makes your blood flow faster to the brain. There have been studies done that say exercise can literally make you smarter than the folks studying 12 hours straight on a couch (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201310/scientists-discover-why-exercise-makes-you-smarter)

Be sure to find your pace. For some, an hour to two hours a day is ideal. Don't procrastinate, otherwise you'll have to do those 5-6 hour sessions a day after your job to catch up.

yoba222

I also have a hard time studying at the end of a work day. I find that the most productive study time happens first thing in the morning, beginning maybe 15-20 minutes after waking up. With a cup of coffee, with even the driest topics it's pretty much impossible to pass out.

Another strategy from when I was in college, take the textbook to a gym and read it while walking on a tread mill. Impossible to fall asleep that way.

boxerboy1168

yoba222 wrote: »

I also have a hard time studying at the end of a work day. I find that the most productive study time happens first thing in the morning, beginning maybe 15-20 minutes after waking up. With a cup of coffee, with even the driest topics it's pretty much impossible to pass out.

Another strategy from when I was in college, take the textbook to a gym and read it while walking on a tread mill. Impossible to fall asleep that way.

Tuesday I'm going to start studying in the morning. Maybe can I get a new gym membership.

technogoat

Eating the right food or knowing what food works best with your body

I was experiment with different types of diets

Working out, going outdoors, or having fun at social events

having other hobbies

These help me above
also, knowing how to study properly and retaining information

boxerboy1168

I agree, I've gotten my learning habits down pretty well

I really do need to study in the morning I think it'll give me more time at night to work on the skills I want rather then the skills I have to have for school