Motivation...

Schooling isn’t easy. Whether you’re in high school, college, online courses or anything in between, there are struggles. 

This year has been especially hard. COVID-19 has been a burden on just about everyone, students included. I am currently in a lighter load semester, with only 13 credits, but I am still struggling with motivation to want to keep going. I have no drive to continue or desire to finish. There are a few things I do to motivate myself, or even reset myself if I am in a rut. 

I have been in one of those ruts this week for some reason. Maybe it’s the change in weather or the lack of social interaction. But, no matter what it is, I find myself not necessarily procrastinating, but rather just not wanting to do anything. I’d rather sit on my couch and practically do nothing. This is how I have been feeling about everything though; school, baking, reading and more. But, this cannot continue. We are all in the same shoes with this pandemic and the only way we can get around this rut is to focus on ourselves. 

So, now on to how I focus on myself:

I try a few different things, but these are similar to what I do at the start of the school year to reset. 

• Deep clean

- Don’t underestimate the power of deep cleaning your space. Organize, scrub and vacuum it all. I tend to clean when I am feeling down, because having a clean space is always comforting. It also helps me feel like I am completing a task without actually doing schoolwork. 

• Be outside

- Despite the fact that it will probably be cold here in Wisconsin soon, spending some time outside is vital to your body. I love to get out to take a walk or just sit and enjoy the sunshine. I feel like this is a good way to reset and just take a breather. 

• Bake

- This can look different for you- whatever your hobby is, get back into it. I always feel a bit more motivated after I’ve baked something. It’s like completing a small task and getting back into what I love. 

• Change your space

- Move your desk or study space to a new area, or even just reorganize it. This is a fresh start or at least a cleaner start. Within this, I also really like to purchase something for myself as motivation. Something like a new pack of pens, a new planner, new slippers, ect. Anything I use while studying could be something I get. 

The next are a few tips I have when it comes to motivation while physically studying: 

• Find out what makes you procrastinate and why.

- For me, my biggest distraction is my phone. I seem to find myself scrolling way more than I should, especially when I should be studying. Other distractions could be tv, gaming, or other side activities. Once you find out what is keeping you distracted, you are better opt to figure out how to fix that. For me, I normally put my phone on the other side of my room or even in a different room, with the volume off. I also turn off messages on my Macbook, that way I’m not tempted to see messages and get up to get my phone to respond. 

• 12 minutes:

- I wish I could give a person props for this, but I honestly don’t remember where I heard this. One big rule I literally live by is to start working for 12 minutes. Once you’ve worked for 12 minutes, you can either decide to continue working or stop. More likely than not, since your brain is turned on to the focus mode, you will keep going. This 12 minutes quickly turns into much longer periods of time. 

- Another way of doing something similar to this is using the app Flora to focus. Essentially, you set a timer in the app and it plants a seed. Each minute the timer is going, the plant grows bigger and bigger. Over time, the app makes a little virtual “garden” for you. If you use anything else on your phone besides that app, your tree dies. This is a great incentive to keep working hard to see a full garden!

• Make lists & start the hardest item first

- I literally write lists for everything I do. Groceries, cleaning around the house and homework assignments all turn into lists. Once I make a list of all the things I have to do, I prioritize it. I try to do the hardest assignment first, that way the rest of the work seems like a breeze. 

- Another side tip when it comes to lists is to use breakdown lists. Here’s an example (this is literally my list for last week)

• Homework list: Study for English 360 Exam & take exam, Read Ch. 4-5 in Reading textbook, Video upload, Revise Paper 2, Discussion post 

This list, at first, looks daunting. But then I pick the most important/the hardest item to cover first and break it down. Then I can cross it off the master list and my miny list. There’s something so satisfying about crossing things off a list. 

• Breakdown list: Assignment: Study for English 360 Exam & take exam, Go over notes, Make a flash cards, Practice flash cards, Take practice exam 

Once I have finished the items on the breakdown list, I feel accomplished and can move on to the smaller or easier assignments. 

• Use color!

I take notes quite often. One way to enhance my notes is to use color. This includes highlighting, color coordinating or even drawing boxes around the important things. I like to make my notes look aesthetic, because then it makes me want to look back to them. 

• Take breaks

Yes, you heard that right. Take a break! You deserve it! One way to lose motivation is to not take regular breaks. Your brain and body needs breaks. Give yourself some credit. Grab a snack, watch an episode of your favorite show or even take a nap. Once you feel refreshed, you can get back in the swing of things. Not taking breaks can be detrimental for your health and can wear down on your mind and body very quickly. 

Whether these ideas work for you or not, you need to give yourself some credit. Between everything you are likely juggling; school, work, friends, family, extra curricular and more, you can easily get burnt out. I’ve been there. Take a step back to regain yourself and start fresh. I promise you, it’s like a whole new beginning.