How much effort to put into schoolwork?

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I've been taking classes again, trying to get a second degree. I have never been good at taking classes, because I have difficulty focusing on more than one class at a time, completing work on time, and keeping my anxiety levels down. I have absolutely no trouble learning any of the concepts, however, and never have for any class.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, trying to work out what my problems are and how to fix them.

I realized I put entirely too much effort into my work. Many times more effort than the others in the class. This has been the case with every class I can think of. I never am satisfied with my work and I usually feel that there are more things to improve even when I turn it in.

This doesn't help me at all, because I am putting in more work than is necessary even to be the best in the class. An A is an A, and I don't get extra credit for being the best several times over. Besides, it stresses me out and then I procrastinate and get behind.

I feel part of the problem is that other students are lazy, and professors have learned to accept mediocre work. This isn't necessarily always the case, however.

Another problem is that I'm a perfectionist. I see things others do not, and also think of things that they do not. Nothing is ever good enough. So I go overboard and put in too much effort.

How am I supposed to know if I'm doing too much? I never seem to be able to tell until after I've turned in my work. I see what others have done, or I get excessive praise, and then I realize that I did it again. I just can't tell, because what everyone else has done looks "half-a**ed" to me. I've tried talking to one professor about it, but even when it was explained to me what was necessary for the assignment, I did too much.

How can I learn to have better judgment about these things? Does anyone else have this problem? Are my standards too high, or are others' standards too low?

When I went to college, I usually put in enough effort to obtain an A-minus. Sometimes, when I really pushed myself, I got an A. I also got a few B's.

I usually waited until the last minute on papers. I was a great procrastinator. Even though I went to college in my 30's and 40's.

I started in my 20s. I had no idea how to study, or plan. I'd never even written an essay. I withdrew from a few classes because of the stress. I would procrastinate when writing papers, because I'd be too nervous to even think about writing. I'd turn it in 2-3 days late and receive a note saying that my paper would have been an A, but a letter grade was reduced for each day late.

Then over time I taught myself how to study. I'm in my 30s and only now feel I've really learned how to manage taking classes, yet I still struggle. How do people manage so many classes at once? I can't focus on that many things at once. I get overwhelmed.

It took me 8 years to get my Bachelor's. I usually only took 2 classes a semester--sometimes 3. I worked full-time, too.

I always made sure I didn't fall behind the syllabus. That was the key to me.

I had practically no social life whenever I still had assignments to do, so I rarely had any end-of-term rush to get anything done. The result was that while everyone else was in a panic and cramming for finals, I was enjoying the nearby bars and restaurants in relative peace.

You guys are so much better at managing things than I am. I wonder why it's so difficult for me? I just get confused when too much is going on in my life, and I feel pulled in too many directions. I forget to do things and lose focus. I focus very, very, well when I am dealing with one or two things, but otherwise I'm terrible.

I don't have any good ideas for how to solve this problem.
I was going to suggest that you take two classes to avoid obsessing entirely on perfectionism for one class.
This past term, I took two classes and did research focusing on one project, and that helped me not obsess too much over perfecting any one thing.
In the beginning of the term, I did obsess, even trying to perfect the formatting for my homework, but as I got busier, I had less time for obsessing over trivial things like formatting, so I stopped obsessing.
I put in a lot of effort for both classes, but also had to balance classes with research, so I had to accept good enough for classes to have time for research.
In my mind, I felt not as good as I wanted for my classes, not as perfectionist as I knew I could be, but the result was A+ in both my classes and successful research project.
So I think the approach of 1) spreading focus over more than one thing and 2) giving up super obsessing helped me.
I don't know if these would help you, as you said that you have trouble taking multiple classes, but how long has it been since you took multiple classes?
Maybe try two classes?
I think that having multiple things to swap focus helped me develop better executive function skills.

That's the main thing with keeping up with assignments. You can keep a weekly planner to remind you when certain assignments/tests/papers are due. Also prioritizing assignments based on how much you have to do as well as the due date is important. Unless some sort of extra credit is involved, only do what the professor asks you to do for an assignment, but put as much effort into doing that right as you can. Time management is a big thing too. Come up with a schedule for when you'll study for each class. As far as how much time to work, I've always heard 3 hours a week for every credit hour, but I made As with less time than that, so that's really entirely up to you.

Yi Ge Ren: You're quite bright---I can never hope to learn Mandarin on my own!

Am I right about the origin of your screen name?

Nope...I wasn't.

I wonder if the song I mentioned is about being comfortable in your alone-ness.

Early on, I made the decision to let my social life suffer for the sake of my scholastic life. It wasn't that difficult either, since most of my fellow students seemed to invite drama into their own lives with binge drinking, promiscuity, and risky stunts. While they were outside acting like idiots, I was in the library learning everything I could on the subjects I was taking.

"Oh look! There goes Nordie again! I'm surprised his arms haven't fallen off with all those books he's carrying!"

"I'm surprised he hasn't gone blind from all of those books he's reading!"

"And what else makes you go blind and your arms to fall off? No wonder he doesn't have a girlfriend!"

When I'm in school I focus too much on school to the point that nothing else gets done unless it's crucial. An example would be college algebra - it was extremely difficult for me after not having any math for over 12 yrs. To get the A I wanted took every second of my time - I had a tutor I saw twice a week, dvd's that had hours of explanation, several books and computer programs that I had to use cause math doesn't come easy to me. Laundry barely got done, no tv watching, all hobbies came to an end, I didn't have time to have my Ma come visit and she had been visiting me weekly before that, cleaning the house stopped and I had paid all my bills one month but forgot to mail the house payment. I just wonder how I'm going to function when my online classes start because I've always been used to going to classes physically.

You'll have more time on your hands.

I am taking online classes myself because I prefer to teach myself, and I need to do things when I have the time...and to avoid people.

I have a house to take care of, with a child and some cats. So online is better.

I just can't shop, keep the house clean, cook, do laundry, do yard work, keep doctors appointments (I have many), pay attention to my child and pets, then focus on schoolwork.

I know of people that do it, it's not like I don't have the time, I just can't focus on keeping it all together. Something gets neglected because I can't mentally keep track of it all. My mind wants to obsessively focus on one or two things and that's what I do best. In real life, that just doesn't work.

I put an excessive amount of effort into my work. Sometimes I work harder at my work than others in the class, but I have no problem with that. It has gotten to the point where anything less than an A is not acceptable to me. I really don't have much of a social life at school, so most of the time I am either in my room doing school work or in my room doing my own thing because I am to tired or worn out to go out and do something. I get burned out after a while and it gets to the point where even my best efforts result in grades I am not satisfied about.

I am a senior in University about to graduate soon, and I still have not mastered time management, academics to fun and social things that is.

It is a difficult thing to master, especially if one is a perfectionist, I think.

Hopefully once you graduate, you won't be so hard on yourself and can have a social life.