I love your self-awareness, and your willingness to seek out accommodations and supports! I only wish I had been able to access this kind of information about myself in college.
But I absolutely relate to the inability to meet deadlines, the challenges of reading uninteresting material, the stress/anxiety of falling behind, and the allure of putting off bedtime! My hyperfocus was to do with raising and breeding animals. Oh, the hours I spent reading research articles on mouse coat color genetics, when I should have been working on a physics project, LOL.
I only reached self-awareness about the nature of these issues in my 30s, and subsequently spent that decade helping myself to develop the supports and strategies I needed to overcome them. I can share some things that have helped.
Like...learning to listen to my body. Lately I've been learning about natural movement and intuitive eating. This knowledge about alignment and muscles and hunger and nutrition helps me to cue in to my body's other signs, like how it feels when I exercise and get to sleep on time and drink less alcohol. That feedback is more powerful than any self-shaming or external accountability about "you really should be doing..."
Learning to rely on written reminders instead of remembering tasks and deadlines. I have kept a Bullet Journal (
https://bulletjournal.com/pages/learn) for nearly 8 years. It has truly changed my life. It's been a long and evolving process, and it still isn't perfect (if I want to procrastinate a task, by gosh I will!) but it gives me just enough of an artificial "deadline" boost to motivate getting things done, without being meaningless and numbing like a long to-do list or a pre-printed planner. It also gives me a reason to look at my digital calendar and not forget appointments! My daily task list lets me focus on a small number of achievable next actions, and still trust that all the bigger projects and things to be done another day are captured securely in other parts of the system. Again, the feeling of success and positive feedback when I follow through and live up to expectations around a project or deadline, is MUCH more powerful motivation than is self-shaming or external accountability, at least for me.
How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler. (
https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Book-Classic-Intelligent/dp/0671212095/) Okay, I didn't read the whole thing -- it's a thick book! But the core chapters helped me to bridge the gap from being a "good reader" (good verbal scores, a high reading level from a young age, able to move fast through high-interest material and draw connections) to having the reading SKILLS to tackle difficult works. Concepts like taking advantage of the clues the book gives you in the table of contents; doing an "x-ray" speed read without pausing to worry about comprehension; then doing a closer read and taking notes -- these things have helped me to tackle much dryer works than I've ever been able to read before, and unpacking the knowledge within is so satisfying!
Good luck! Keep loving yourself and giving yourself grace, and being aware of all the good in your life. You're on a great track! Enjoy the adventure that is adulthood.
