You’ve probably promised yourself a hundred times since the new school year to start studying well, doing your homework on time, and not skipping classes. But by October you were already losing any desire to keep the promises you made to yourself.
No wonder – schools and universities are so stressful for all of us that we don’t feel like doing anything at all. Every one of us wishes we could get straight A’s and automatic passes! Unfortunately, it does not happen, so here are a couple of tips from Bidforwriting on how not to lose motivation to study.
1. Be Mindful of Your Bigger Purpose
In order not to lose motivation, you have to find it first. And for that, you must have a clear understanding of why you want to study well. What is your ultimate purpose?
- Do you want to score well so you can make your parents proud?
- Do you want to get straight A’s so that you can enter a prestigious university like Harvard?
- Are you preparing yourself for your dream career?
- Or do you study hard because you don’t want your friends to look down on you?
Whatever your reasons, you need to be clear with them. Because your purpose gives you the sense to guide and sustains you. When you are down or feel no motivation to study, think about your purpose.
2. Have a Clear Plan
You can, of course, decide that now you’re just going to start learning everything. But this will be of little use. To reach your goal and finish the quarter with A’s, you need a clear plan.
And your plan needs to be specific and actionable. For example, instead of saying “I’m going to start reading War and Peace early”, say “I’m going to read thirty pages of the novel every day so I can finish it all by January.” A clear and specific plan that is actionable and with a deadline will set you up to win.
Schedule each of your weeks that way. No one is forcing you to live on an army schedule and forget about entertainment, but, trust us, with clear plan things, things will go easier and faster.
Read: How to Turn Your Goals into Actionable Plans
3. Break Down Big Goals into Smaller Actionable Goals
If you have a big goal to improve your chemistry skills, that’s great. But thinking too globally is still necessary.
If you look at your textbook and think for a minute that you have to memorize everything in it, you’ll be mentally horrified. It is always better to break this big goal into lots of little ones…
First, you learn the Periodic Table, then you learn the valences, then you master the chemical equations, and so on.
Don’t you agree, it doesn’t sound as scary as “Learn all the chemistry” at one go? It’s like a game of tennis – you’re not likely to go up against Sharapova because you’ll probably lose, but you might as well go up against your friend because you have a chance.
That’s how your brain reacts to big versus small goals. And usually big goals are vague, this is why you want to break them down into smaller, manageable pieces where you can work on one at a time. If you want to learn how to set goals and achieve them, read this guide.
4. Find a Cheerleader
Not cheerleaders who support the players, like in the movies, of course. But friends who will become your best cheerleaders and remind you of the desired result in a difficult moment.
It’s very hard to be an excellent student and do well in school if your friends don’t support you, and at times they even encourage you to forget about physics and go to the movies. So, find buddies who have similar goals and study together.
Doing homework together is much more fun, interesting and you will also learn faster. Besides, having a buddy means you will be more accountable for what you have committed.
5. Celebrate Small Victories
It is important to celebrate all your wins and progress. Why? Because it’s good for your brain – that’s how it’s built. If you reward yourself in some way for the work you’ve done, every next task will be easier.
Our brains are constantly looking for rewards. That’s how we’re wired. The more you celebrate your wins, the more your brain will be conditioned to want more of those wins. And that means you can train yourself to study hard – by rewarding yourself properly.
The saying “All work and no play makes jack a dull boy” is right. Imagine you spend the whole day studying, and you have to repeat it throughout the entire year, without having days off, how would you feel? Not good, right?
This is why you want to stop and celebrate the hard work you have poured in. When you reward yourself, you will feel valued and will be more motivated to work harder in the future.
6. Relax, Take Time Off and Have Fun
You are not a machine. No matter how motivated you are, there is no way you can study 24 hours. You need to take time off to recharge, refresh, and replenish your mental power.
Studies have discovered that taking short breaks may help your brain learn new skills fast. When you are taking a break and relaxing, your brain repeatedly replays compressed memories of what you have just practiced/studied, allowing you to better consumed what you have learned.
Wanting to study well does not mean that you have to forget about everything in the world and lose yourself in four walls, stacked with textbooks. Studying can be fun if you stop treating it as a chore and start having fun.
does not mean that you will have memorized the incidents or names from the past, instead, you should make the subject like reading a storybook. The more you the story interesting, the more likely you will remember better, and score a better grade.