Transcript:

You’re listening to The Parents of Hardworking Teens Podcast, episode 98 and some of the ways your teen might be Staying Deceptively Busy but Disappointingly InEffective. Not to fool you into thinking they’re studying when they’re not. Nope, this is where they are inadvertently fooling themselves into thinking they are being productive, when in fact they might well be better off just taking a break and doing something more fun, or doing things in a different, more effective way to optimise their return on effort.

Hey VIP’s! I hope you and your teens are fantastic.

First of all I want to say a big thank you to all of you who shared your feedback and stories of what has been the most useful or impactful thing that you or your teen has learned from the podcast, or from any of my resources, webinars or videos.

I know that writing a message or email takes time and effort and with the way life is today, we don’t need to voluntarily add more to our to-do lists, so all of you who shared, thank you so much.

It has been really touching to hear some of your stories and a couple have also made me laugh out loud. But it really does make a huge difference and impact on me to know that what I’m sharing and putting out there really is helping you.

I will now be collating all of your feedback and a few requests in there as well, over the next 10 days and creating what I hope will be a super-valuable episode 100 of this podcast. I still haven’t decided what it will look like, or what exactly it’ll be in terms of format or content, but I am excited for it and will do my very best to make it really special.

Now, onto today’s episode and a topic that is very ME.

A) Because it’s very tangible and practical. 

And

B) because I definitely did a lot of what I’m going to talk about when I was a student. 
And still find myself doing the equivalent of some of this today. And that is falling into the trap of doing ‘busy’ work rather than productive work. Where we get that ‘feelgood factor’ or even create a false sense of security at having done some sort of work, and yet, it isn’t going to produce any sort of tangible or valuable outcome.

Here are the top 3 things that I see students doing, and that I used to do, that keep us feeling busy but are also keeping us from being productive and effective:

Number 1 - unnecessary research. 

The time I see this most is when a student is actually uncertain or lacking confidence about the actual task, like what to do or how to get started. And so they keep doing more and more research about the topic or even about the task in general rather than actually getting the task done. 

An example might be that they have to write and perform a TED talk about an issue.
And because they don’t really know how to write the talk, or how to meet the criteria, or they’re nervous about speaking and delivering their talk, then they busy themselves with more and more research about their chosen topic, or watching lots of TED talks, thinking that these things are going to make it all easier or better.

Now, yes they do need the information they need for the task, but there comes a point where they have enough info, they now need to get going. And if they don’t feel able to get going, then it is usually an issue with understanding the task, or maybe the success criteria, that’s the real issue. Not a lack of info about the topic.

Busy but ineffective activity number two is re-reading a novel or re-watching the film or documentary or whatever it is they are supposed to be writing about. 

This is usually a procrastination tactic rather than a needed study pre-requisite.

In my experience, if your teen is putting off getting started on their English essay, the thing that’s holding them back is usually NOT their knowledge of the text.
It’s instead their understanding of the question and how to respond to it. AND double-whammy: solving the latter - the real issue or thing that’s uncertain, will usually take a tenth of the time it would take them to re-watch or re-read the text.

Busy but ineffective activity number 3 is: making super-neat, ultra beautiful notes.

Whether that is in their exercise books, on paper, or on revision cards.
Notes need to be readable and effective at showing and processing information. 
They do not need to be beautifully coloured, shaded and crafted, with a dual font at the top. 

Yes, we can take pride in producing high quality work, BUT, even better is to get savvy about what quality really means and represents. 

Is high quality visually appealing, but with little comprehension and understanding?
I’m talking here about copying information or diagrams down, with little actually DONE with that information. Or is high quality something that is visually fine - i.e. readable and logical, but actually has created understanding, in a way that will be retained AND is time efficient?

I would argue it’s the latter. 

Now, a side note- here while we’re on notes.

IF your teen is choosing to spend their time doing something because they enjoy it, that’s fine. All good, we should spend our time on fun things in life as well. 
So, let’s say they enjoy the activity of calligraphy and producing fancy pretty writing. All good - but just so they know - that is for fun and not in any way going to help them academically. So maybe do simple writing for their notes, so they create more free time to perhaps design an actual fun piece of calligraphy, maybe with a life quote, rather than a heading of the structure and function of the kidneys.

Just saying.

Just like, from number 1 and 2 if they are enjoying the novel and want to re-read it, or they are really into the topic and enjoy finding out more, GREAT. They can totally spend their time on those things. Just don’t mix them up with what’s actually required or going to help them in their study. Don’t mistake those things for study. Keep them for enjoyment.

Now, these are just three activities I see students spending time on, that aren’t a problem in themselves to be doing, but are not contributing to their tasks or likely their results.

Like I say, no problem with doing them, but there IS a problem when your teen feels like this is time they’ve spent studying.  Like, I spent two hours making palm cards for biology. BUT actually, they’ve just copied out information, from pages or resources or a laptop screen, without really processing it, and because they took time to make every card extra-beautiful, what took them two hours, could’ve taken them 45 minutes AND been a lot more effective if they’d recorded and recounted all of that info as a table, key bullets, a mind map, flow chart and done it all clearly but simply and with colour coding that represents the concepts rather than just what colour combos look aesthetically pleasing.

If they’ve spent all weekend researching or reviewing for an essay, but not yet started the essay or are still struggling to write it, then likely the research or their understanding of the novel was never the issue. And they could’ve spent 40 mins say on a 1-1 next level coaching session with me and figured out the areas of uncertainty and solved for them.

The main reason I wanted to make this episode is that so many parents tell me that their teen is studying so many hours every week, and I would suggest that at least some of that time might be spent on unnecessary or in effective activities.

And the other reason is that it can create a false sense of security. It makes us feel like we are working hard, when actually those tasks are not cognitively doing very much at all.

It doesn’t actually make us think or understand or process anything.
We can copy out a page of notes without understanding anything on that page. 
We can re-read a whole Shakespeare play and be no closer to knowing how to write the essay on it.  Often these busy activities don’t take any actual mental power, there is no cognition required.  It’s the equivalent back in our day of arranging your CDs into alphabetical order instead of doing your homework. 
And dare I say it. Your teen may well be better off actually taking a break and having that time out of study, To refresh, keep their life balanced. Because if it’s not really accomplishing anything, other than making them FEEL productive, then honestly, that may well genuinely be the better option - IF they are then studying effectively and productively at other times.

So, I want to invite you and your teen to have a really critical eye out from now on for study-like activities that are keeping them busy, but may not be the most effective way to be working OR the thing that’s actually going to move the needle or produce the outcome they want. 

Here’s to a productive and effective week - take care - and I’ll see you back here next week :)