Studying Through The ADD

Thanks to my previous apathy towards assigned reading material this semester, I have done more law school reading in the past week than in the whole spring semester.

It's amazing how my interest in course material exponentially increases a week before exams.

I've noticed that my method to finishing all my readings is similar to my method for completing a running workout. First I use goals to break up my big task. Ex: I will read Chapter 7: Responses to Domestic Producers in Import Competition before I can have lunch before I move onto Chapter 9. I break up my workouts in a similar way by telling myself that I will run three miles on the indoor track before having a five minute walk break and moving to the treadmill.

I always retain ultimate discretion in deciding when these goals need to be altered. I'll skip righ to lunch when the hunger pains become so great that I keep reading the same line over and over again. And I will prolong my workout if I need to showup a cocky highschool boy on the track.

Another similarity is my generous reward system. If I finish all my reading goals for the day, I get to roam facebook, check the weather outside, watch clips of my favorite American Idol, or blast Chris Brown and booty dance in my underwear. If I finish my six mile workout goal, I get to eat an abundance of powdered donuts, an entire bag of microwave popcorn or the remaining half of the box of cheezits I started this morning.

There's one difference though, when I start a workout it's virtually impossible for me to not finish it. There is no use in completing half a workout. To fully benefit, reach maximum sweat capacity or reap the runner's high, I have to do the entire thing. My body doesn't even finish warming up until the end of mile 2.

When I study for exams, it takes an incredible amount of will power to force myself to the end. Getting to the end of each page requires an incredible amount of mental self-mutilation. And sadly, I've been known to quit a measly three pages from the end of a chapter or throw my chips in early for an ice cream sandwich.