You assume is was organized or focused in school or college as opposed to just generally curious enough to know tons of information while also being able to focus on lectures (because most were in topics I was interested in, especially in college) without taking lots of notes that made me pretty good at tests.

The reality? I got diagnosed and on meds and looking to therapy to close the gap. It turns out my grades were driven by good test taking and an ability to churn out a BS ridden paper that should have taken weeks in a day or two of pure panic. I have never needed to take a test at work to get my job done, and have grown weary of the panic fueled rushes to get things done by deadlines.

You don’t! Or at least I didn’t. Slowly finding habits that help me care for myself on a somewhat regular basis. Accepting I have limits and moderating my activity accordingly. Modifying my environment to keep me on track enough.

Make doing things important to me easy and saying goodbye to lower priority stuff I can’t manage. Finding a balance I can keep. Being realistic about what I can and can’t commit to.

Sorry. I was the opposite. College was a slow decline as I burned out. Literally started first semester with straight A’s and ended my fifth year (yeah not a good idea to grab another major) with mix of c’s and d’s. If I had gone any longer I would have washed out.

I’m chiming in though I completely crashed and burned during my uni. I don’t do well with abstract consequences, the further they are from actually affecting me the less I can function. Once my mum kicked me out of the house I went from 0-100 real fast. Unfortunately seeing as I was made redundant a year ago but am comfortable financially, I have no incentive to do much lately. It’s a work in progress.

Real life is more complex than college. It’s unlikely you’ll find a pattern. There’s just too much chaos.

I went with medication. Now when the chaos hits, I can reflect and choose to pivot.

What if I went from great student to degenerate drug addict and don’t have a degree?

I haven’t gotten back to that yet.

But I’m on meds now. So the next thing I’m gonna try to do is fill my schedule a bit more. If I’m doing more, that’s less time for my brain to fill that time with analysis paralysis and more time doing stuff I enjoy. The byproduct, hopefully, is that my brain will just be happier overall with the added stimulation. Or so the theory goes, at least.

I went from top of the class to “smart, but lacking effort” before I got to high school.

Haven’t really moved on from that phase since.

Personally, I use Hemi-Sync focus frequencies.