Are you losing motivation to study? Do you feel like giving up on the semester already? In this post, I am giving you 8 tips on how to feel motivated to study again so that you can finish this school year strong! After taking online classes for the past few months and studying for the MCAT, I’ve definitely had days where I just wanted to give up. It’s honestly the worst feeling because you know you have to work but your mind and body are saying NO! Whenever I feel unmotivated, I follow these 8 tips to encourage myself and keep me focused. If you’re losing motivation to study, I promise that this post will help you!
Related Post: How To Get A 4.0 GPA This Year | 12 Realistic Tips From a Straight-A Student
Related Post: Life Update: Graduating College, Studying for the MCAT, Losing Motivation
Here are 8 Tips on How to Feel Motivated to Study Again:
1. How you’re feeling is completely normal, and most importantly, temporary.
Right now, most of you are attending online classes at home. You have to understand that this kind of learning environment is not natural! Our whole lives, we have been accustomed to learning inside a classroom and interacting with our classmates and teachers. You have to admit that one of the things that makes school bearable everyday was being able to see your friends and meet people. With everything online, there’s less social interaction and increased distraction in our homes. It makes complete sense that you are more prone to lose focus and motivation in this current learning situation.
The first step for overcoming your lack of motivation is to accept that this feeling is normal, and most importantly, temporary. Feelings come and go. If you work towards it, you can overcome this unmotivated state! The first step in doing so is to simply accept the fact that you’re unmotivated and be willing to take on a new mindset. If you continue to think negatively and make excuses for not working, you’ll never get anything done!
Related: 5 Life-Changing Organization Tips for Online Classes (Free November 2020 Calendar Templates!)
GET YOUR FREE MONTLY AND WEEKLY CALENDAR PRINTABLE
FOR NOVEMBER 2020!
Trust me. This free calendar will make your life so much more organized! Click the button below to receive it directly in your inbox.
2. Don’t discredit your hard work.
You’ve worked so hard to get to where you are right now! Don’t let all of that hard work go down the drain because you’re feeling unmotivated to study for one test! In college, one bad test score has the power to make or break your overall grade. If you’ve been getting good grades the past few quarters/semesters, you don’t want to break that streak. I encourage you to think about all of the time and energy you’ve invested to get where you are now and use that as motivation to keep going!
3. Always keep your ultimate goal in mind.
Another way to motivate yourself is to always keep your ultimate goal in mind. What is your goal in life? Why are you in school? My ultimate goal is to become a doctor one day. So, whenever I feel unmotivated to study, I think about how I need good grades to get accepted into med school and eventually become a doctor. My future depends on it! Your goal doesn’t have to be as long term as mine. It could be to just graduate high school or college or get a 4.0 this semester. Whatever your goal is, use that as motivation to continue studying!
Related: Affordable College Apartment Bedroom Decor Ideas
4. Find a study buddy or form a study group.
Like I said earlier, one of the best parts of school is being able to talk to classmates and socialize with friends. With everything online, you might not get that social factor. If you’re someone who values this, I suggest forming a study group or finding a study buddy! It’s always nice to have people to vent to about your teacher/professor, ask for help, and study with. Over the summer, I didn’t have the best experience in one of my online classes because the professor was confusing and tested on things he never covered in lecture. However, I was part of a study group and had a study buddy, and it felt really comforting to know that I wasn’t alone in this challenging course. Working together can even help you get a better grade in the end! My point is, studying with other people (even if it’s through Zoom) can make the overall learning situation fun and give you motivation to do well!
5. Take timed breaks while studying.
I always feel like I’m preaching to myself whenever I advise you to take a break! I’m the worst at giving myself breaks, but I’m learning! One of the reasons why you may feel unmotivated is because you’re probably working too much without any breaks. These unmotivated and tired feelings may be your body’s way of telling you to take a break!
If you feel unmotivated while studying, try taking a timed break. For each hour I study straight, I usually give myself around 10 minutes of break where I’ll watch Youtube, check social media, or just get out of my room. I really believe that planning your study schedule ahead of time and timing your breaks will prevent you from accidentally spending too much time on social media and then ending up being too lazy to study.
Read this post for how I plan my day around studying!
6. Do something that makes you happy each day.
Give yourself something to look forward to each day as a sort of reward after studying! After a long day of studying, I usually exercise for about an hour. Even though I’m far from happy while exercising, afterwards I feel very fulfilled and happy! Do something that will take your mind off of studying and just relax. You can go for a walk, watch Netflix, exercise, cook, or read!
7. Create a good study environment.
If you’re studying on a bed or somewhere super comfortable, chances are you’re going to get relaxed and lose motivation to study. If possible, try to study on a desk with good lighting and minimal distractions. Keep your phone off of you until your timed breaks. Only study on your bed if you know for a fact that you won’t get distracted or if you’re doing light work!
Related: 9 Best Skin Care Products for Oily Acne Prone Skin
8. Plan something fun at least once a week
Since I’m out of school and just studying for the MCAT, I have the opportunity to create my own schedule. In my last post, I talked about how I study around 10 hours a day for the MCAT for 6 days a week. On my rest day, I do minimal to no studying, and I always make sure to plan something fun for that day. Some things that I’ve done are go out to eat, explore local areas, or just have a nice movie night. I like to plan what I’m going to do on my rest day at the start of the week so that I have something to look forward to! It definitely makes studying more bearable. Since you’re probably in school and won’t be able to afford a whole rest day, you can always just plan something fun to do one weekend morning or night, and study the rest of the day!
Conclusion:
Losing motivation is the worst feeling, but I promise you that it is temporary and you have the ability to overcome it! Please let me know if these tips helped you or if you have some motivation tips of your own to share. Thanks for reading! 🙂
love,
blaze ann
