What to Do When You’ve Fallen Behind on an Assignment

Recover when You’ve fallen behind on an assignment by Converting Overwhelm to Action

A few years back I was feeling sick every day. It sucked (and it does relate to college). I was taking tons of medicine to combat my allergies to everything in the world (yes, I am prone to drama) and still having to limit what I ate and where I could go. I was watching my kid play outside through a window one day when I realized my doctors were only providing quick fixes to my acute issues, but no one was working to address the real problem. The symptoms I was having were just that: symptoms of the real issue.

What I really wanted was to stop feeling sick every day and go outside to play too! I dove into a long journey to discover the cause of my health issues and heal the problem instead of only treating the symptoms. I won’t say I’m 100% there, but I have made significant progress. Yesterday we ran around the front yard like wild animals and watered our garden!

Why am I sharing this? My quest has me thinking about all of the other problems in our lives. There are so many college students feeling terrible about school on a daily basis and using quick fixes to treat the acute issue or symptoms. I want to help you address the quick fix when you need to, but also start thinking about healing the real problem.

When we do both, life is so much more enjoyable!

Define the Problem

Our first step is to be very clear in identifying the immediate problem. This probably feels like a no-brainer and you want to skip ahead, but don’t! Most of us are pretty terrible at clearly identifying a problem. Instead, we are really good at compound analysis of problems (it’s how we’re wired). You may be thinking something like this:

I haven’t been studying regularly and now my paper is due on Friday and I’m not going to be able to finish it and then I will fail the assignment and now I can only pass the class with a C and I needed a B average to get into graduate school.

All of it feels like the problem, but it isn’t.

The immediate problem is that a paper is due on Friday. You’ve fallen behind on an assignment. Period. The rest is the drama surrounding it and isn’t going to help us with an immediate solution. It may be helpful in solving the larger problem long-term, and on this note I want you to think about two parallel ways to solve your problem.

Quick Fix or Problem Solved?

For every problem we can apply:

1. a quick fix to meet the short-term need (paper is due on Friday)
2. a long-term solution to the overall problem (haven’t been studying regularly)
3. a combination of both

If you landed on this page because you are scrambling right now and have fallen behind on an assignment, focus all of your energy today on a quick fix. Write the paper or prep for the exam! Remember that a quick fix requires a big time commitment right now. You have a short timeline to do something and have to commit a lot of time over a few days to make it happen.

I wish I had some magic solution to offer. It feels like too much to do when you’ve fallen behind on an assignment; it’s overwhelming, and often it seems like it never goes away. The reason we keep needing quick fixes for our studies and spending tons of time at the last minute is that we never address the root issue and work on solving the problem.

Long-term solutions to study problems are the key to making consistent progress in college and avoiding the last-minute panic before every assignment. They’re also challenging. Fixing root issues requires daily attention and you are able to space out the effort and time commitment over many days so it is much more manageable.

The same amount of work always has to get done, but you can approach it in different ways.

Consider these two scenarios:

Continue studying with big gaps in effort followed by intense all-nighters.

You may spend no time studying for 2 weeks and then spend 30 hours studying the next week because the paper is due or the exam is scheduled. For a 3 weeks period, you spend 30 hours spread over 5 days, meaning:

30 hours of work ÷ 5 days of effort = 6 hours per day

You feel stressed and guilty for the first two weeks because you know you should be studying but aren’t. Taking time off from studying should feel awesome, but it never does unless we have planned ahead for it. Then in week three you are exhausted and overwhelmed trying to fit in all of the study time around the other commitments in your life. Basically, you feel awful the entire time…it’s no wonder we struggle to feel motivated!

Address the problem and create a regular study routine.

Take the same amount of effort but spread the 30 hours of study time over the full 3 weeks. Let’s even take Sundays off and only study Monday–Saturday!

30 hours of work ÷ 18 days of effort = 1.6 hours per day

You may not feel like studying every single day but commit to taking action anyway. You feel proud and committed to school every day when you stick to your study schedule. You don’t feel exhausted or overwhelmed because you know if you keep doing a little bit of work every day you will be prepared for the exam when it’s time.

To properly prepare for this exam we have to commit to one of these scenarios, right? Which one feels better to you? If we’re being honest, it doesn’t even feel good while slacking off because we know we should be doing something.

If you are consistently falling behind on assignments, finishing at the last minute, pulling all-nighters, and scrambling to keep your head above water, you have likely not addressed the root issue yet to solve the problem.

Next Steps When You have fallen behind on an assignment (or a course)

Maybe you’re starting to recognize a pattern in your habits and want to know what to do about it. Don’t worry, I gotcha! Use these four steps to address both the immediate need and the real problem.

1. Define the Problem

Define your immediate problem with one sentence. Remember, the problem is what you need to do right now. Most likely this is an upcoming assignment or exam.

2. Focus on a quick fix for acute pain (urgent assignment)

You can’t focus on long-term solutions with the stress of having fallen behind on an assignment hanging around. Handle the problem right in front of you and don’t worry about anything else. We need to create an action plan quickly and then focus all efforts on execution.

First, make a list of everything you need to do to complete the assignment or prep for an exam.

It sounds simple, yes. But it isn’t. I know it isn’t because of the number of emails I get from confused students who have no idea what to do next. Also, because I’ve been there! It’s easy to get so caught up in the mental drama that we can’t identify the concrete things we could do right now to make progress.

In case you are feeling this way right now, I have a couple of general templates to get you thinking:

Take one of these general lists and apply it to your specific assignment. Finish step one, then move to step two. Don’t allow yourself to get stuck on any one step for too long.

You have to stay focused on getting results as quickly as possible. This means managing your phone usage and other distractions. Try using the Pomodoro technique to stay focused.

Focus all of your energy on completing the assignment in front of you. And when it is finished…

3. List Causes of the Problem

To avoid ending up in the same situation next month you must address the root issue and work on a long-term solution. Spend a few minutes to think back over how you got into the situation:

• What isn’t working for you?
• Why aren’t you making more steady progress?
• What do you wish you had done differently?
• Imagine you have switched roles with your best friend and are offering advice on what they should do next. What would you suggest?

Try not to come up with the *perfect* answer. Don’t even aim for the best answer. Try to come up with an answer to get yourself thinking for now.

As you identify causes, please offer yourself some kindness. I promise you are in the 99.9% percentile for ending up in a jam. We all do this! This means we all have the opportunity to adjust our efforts in order to get different results.

4. Identify a solution for the actual problem

From your previous list choose one thing to work on. Don’t start by trying to fix all of them—it’s a recipe for failure. Pick one.

We can handle one thing!

Decide how you want to do things differently to change the issue. How can you maximize your daily habits to help?

Let’s think back to our earlier issue:

I haven’t been studying regularly and now my paper is due on Friday and I’m not going to be able to finish it and then I will fail the assignment and now I can only pass the class with a C and I needed a B average to get into graduate school.

Right away I see the major cause: I haven’t been studying regularly.

This problem needs to be reversed so we study regularly. I’m a fan of starting small with new habits, so I would start by adding a 10-minute study session each day. I would stick with this for at least a couple of weeks, preferably until it feels easy to do. Then I would double it to a daily 20-minute study session. Starting small and building as you go is a great way to keep your motivation up and ease into new habits. Most of us work really well with this approach.

And remember, you have to start by addressing your immediate need first; finish the upcoming assignment, but don’t stop there. Think about the future YOU. How can you change your approach today so that future you won’t fall behind on an assignment and stay up all night to finish at the last minute?