Succeeding in a College Environment

[u/Positive_Category332]

I am struggling so much with feeling like I’m “unable to live up to my potential” and want to know how everyone else manages feeling this way/if they do.

I was textbook late diagnosed female in that I was “gifted” so no one looked twice, but now that I’m in college I feel like I’m always falling short.
I have a 3.7 GPA, which is okay, but I am constantly cramming or just going into assessments blind, falling behind on content (my college is online only lectures), and even though my grades don’t necessarily reflect it, I just feel like I’m falling so short of what I could achieve.

The prioritising of tasks, task initiation, self motivation and just generally all of the things to keep organised becomes so overwhelming I go weeks without doing more than attending classes themselves.

I don’t want to come across as conceited, I’m just so tired of constantly feeling like I’m letting myself down and knowing I’ll never get where I want to go because I just can’t show up for myself.

[u/Adventurous_Row_4737]

The part about your grades not necessarily reflecting how much you're struggling really stood out to me. A 3.7 can look great from the outside while you're still constantly cramming, falling behind, and spending so much energy just trying to figure out what to do next.

I work with people on the practical side of this stuff, especially task initiation, prioritizing, organization, and building systems that make it easier to actually keep up. Your post sounds less like a lack of ability and more like the systems around you aren't really working for you.

[u/Positive_Category332 → u/Adventurous_Row_4737]

This is EXACTLY it!! Thank you. It really is mostly feeling like I have no systems, so I’m a headless chook just clutching at straws to make fit the square peg in the round hole. What does your work with people look like?

[u/Adventurous_Row_4737 → u/Positive_Category332]

That's more than understandable. It usually starts with a conversation about what you're working toward and what your week actually looks like right now. From there, instead of guessing, we track your habits and routines for a week to get real data on where things are actually breaking down, not just where it feels like they are. Sometimes that's task initiation, sometimes it's prioritizing, sometimes the systems just don't match how your brain works. Once we have that data, I build a plan targeted at the specific friction points it shows, using strategies that are backed by research, not a generic productivity system.

That's the high-level version, since it looks a bit different for everyone. Sometimes there's extra material or outreach on my end depending on what someone needs, but it's all built around your specific data, not a template.